Wine Tasting We Will Go!

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, my favorite Costa Rican came to visit after 5 years! This girl is a globe trotter so I had to make sure I showed her SoCal is where it's at in 3 short days. So I had told her about Santa Barbara and nearby wine country and she was game. Turns out she's never been wine tasting-oh the pressure was on!

We started in Los Olivos for wine tasting with cupcakes at Saarloose and Sons. Really the star was the cupcakes from Enjoy, but it's always a fun experience.

Next was across to Refugio Ranch, which does an amazing job with the wines and makes you feel right at home. I also would recommend coming in pairs so you can share tastings or you'll get real tipsy real fast.

And more wine at one the hidden gem Bell Street Farms in Los Alamos. If you are doing wine tasting near Solvang or Los Olivos, make sure to eat and grab a glass there. Jaime, the owner, is AMAZING! He'll help pick out the best wine and the food is farm fresh. Plus, he made sure to leave us with a hug.

Last stop was a new stop for me at Martian Winery. It's out on a dirt road that really has you questioning if you are on the right path. The wines were too good! Possibly the best we tried all day! Oh gosh, now I want to go wine tasting again! Anyone want to go?

Happy Wednesday! xo

Link up on Random Wednesday, What I Wore, Treat Yo Self

Wine Tasting Highlights

Obviously, I'm still thinking about my wine tasting adventures and for very good reasons (you see those cupcakes up there. yeah.). Hope you don't mind, but I didn't have time to share it all yesterday. So I wanted to highlight some of my favorite places in Los Olivos, which is about 30 minutes north of Santa Barbara. Think countryside, rolling hills that you just can't believe you're not looking at a painting. The drive alone is so worth it! But let's talk wine and cupcakes and truffles! For sometime, I've been a huge fan of Sarloos & Son's and their cupcake pairing from Enjoy. Those cupcakes are unreal and you can find her on Instagram if you can handle all the goodness. So clearly I like my sweets and then we discovered a new favorite, Rufugio Ranch. This tasting room has a pairing with the most unique and tasty chocolate truffles! One had passionfruit, another curry, and chai! I can't even tell you how well they tasted with the wines. The people were also so informative and welcoming that we came back a second time. Yes, you bet we did that truffle pairing twice! And as you can see from the bottom right picture, picking out a favorite from Rufugio to take home was really tough;)

Happy Hump Day!