About the author
My name is Brian and I am a big fan of wine. My wife, Katee, is also a big fan of wine. Together we enjoy copious amounts of wine. Let's get one thing clear, I am not a wine professional. My tasting notes are generally very simple and operate on a less exact rating scale (not 100 points like the big boys). Also, I try not to pretend to be some wine expert. My hopes for this blog is to simply document the various bottles, wine country trips, and other wine related events that my wife and I experience. All that being said, I hope that you find what I have to say interesting and can possibly take something away from it.
I really like this guy! He is going to do big things as the Mayor Elect of Saarloos and sons...here is the link to his blog.
http://kbvineyards.tumblr.com/
For the last four years, my wife and I have been going to Solvang for our anniversary/Katee’s birthday. This trip has never disappointed and continues to get better. I would estimate that we have been to roughly 30 wineries in our four years going. Our recent trip produced some real gems and I would like to share it with you.
I present to you, Sarloos & Sons, in Los Olivos, CA. A mere three hour drive from the greater Los Angeles area. The tasting room was packed compared to some of the other tasting rooms we had been to, so we instantly assumed this was either trendy or had something substantial to offer. The latter proved to be the case. Victoria was our lovely tasting “guide” for the afternoon and she suggested we get a flight of cupcakes to go along with our tasting. I am not a fan of cake, period. However, my wife is, therefore, I like cupcakes. A quick walk across the room to the Enjoy Cupcakes counter, and $10 later, we were coming back to see Victoria with six small, ornately decorated cupcakes to go with our wine tasting. Unfortunately, I do not know what the exact flavors of the cupcakes were, but they were actually very good and went well with the wine.
Now, on to the good stuff. For the first time ever at a tasting room, I was impressed with every single one of the wines we tasted. So much so, that for the first time ever, my wife and I joined their wine club. To put this into perspective, we have been to roughly ten wine regions, 150+ tasting rooms, and we have never joined a wine club. Not to say we did not buy bottles, but we were never compelled to join any of them. By the way, their wine club is a great deal.
Ok, back to the tasting room. The ambiance in Sarloos & Sons is great. Shabby chic would be a good way of describing it. Come to find out, it was a spa/salon a little over a year ago. I am assuming some of the decor was a holdover from its previous life.
Enough Brian, on to the wines. Our tasting consisted of the following in order of tasting:
- Solo, 100% Syrah, 2007
- 1946 The Moon, 60% Syrah/40% Cab Sav, 2007
- Brothers, 44% Cab Sav/10% Cab Franc/4% Petit Verdot/42% Merlot, NV
- Daughters, 100% Chardonnay, 2008
- Mrs., 100% Pinot Noir, 2008
- Extended Family, 100% Pinot Noir, 2008
Unfortunately, the idea to blog about my wine exploits came after this trip, and I do not have the tasting notes memorized. However, when we open the bottles we got with our wine club membership, we will share with you then. Rest assured, Sarloos & Sons is definitely worth the trip.
Thanks again to Victoria and Keith for the wonderful time. I hope to be Mayor on FourSquare there.
Check out their website @ www.sarloosandsons.com or on facebook.
Cheers!