I had the pleasure of joining a few friends for a trip up the Coast to Santa Barbara. Well, Los Olivos and Lompoc, to be exact. After a Mexican feast at La Super Rica, we headed up the San Marcos Pass with tortilla-filled bellies to the beautiful Saarloos & Sons tasting room in Los Olivos.
Saarloos & Sons is a family business in every sense of the word. As we walked through the front door, we were warmly greeted by Keith Saarloos and his mother, Linda. The tasting room – er, house (built in 1886), was surprisingly very modern, a bit opulent and a lot of funky. I felt as if I had stumbled into some kind of interior design boutique. A boutique with wine. A boutique of boutique wines. OK- let’s move on.
We saddled up to the bar and began the tasting with their Daughters Chardonnay. We progressed to their well-known Purper Hart Syrah, then 194FIVE Union, Ring Effie Unk , 0 &nd 2 and lastly the exceptional Extended Family Pinot (there were only 9 bottles left after we made off with one). As we swirled and sniffed and slurped and swallowed, Keith shared his vision of each wine and his philosophies on wine making. Each wine has a story, every name a significance and each grape a purpose. You can taste the love in these wines. And the skill. If you want to taste them, you’ll have to head to Los Olivos. Or Silver Lake Wine in Los Angeles (they exclusively carry the Purper Hart and Daughters).
Just as we were nearing the finish line, the house began to fill up with visitors. Keith’s father Larry popped in from the vineyard and minutes later, Larry’s brother Harvey stopped by. When they say it is family-run, they ain’t lyin’. And I almost forgot to mention Drew, whom I now otherwise refer to as the soda fairy. I could tell by the childlike glee in Keith’s face upon Drew’s arrival that something in those boxes he was carrying was magical. In those two boxes, were bottles of Drew’s Pop Culture sodas in the following flavors: Ginger Pear, Ginger Tamarind and Blackberry Hibiscus. We cracked open several bottles and Linda brought us a tray of ice and glasses to cap off an already fantastic tasting. On a hot day, these were perfect and a lovely little palate cleanser.
Drew in the background. The glorious Ginger Pear in the fore.
And by hot, I mean HOT. Larry called in to the vineyard for a weather report. The automated voice stated it was a sweltering 104.5. With that, we bid the family Saarloos adieu (or rather, goede middag) and headed to a cooler and breezier destination- Lompoc, aka “the Poke”, for some more vino at Dragonette Cellars. Stay tuned…
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