​We left Melville with the feeling that we needed more, but could we, dare we, go off the beaten path? Only a short deviation, perhaps, just across the way?  Yes, we would do it…
And there we were, standing in front of a large barn-like structure, an open doorway to another world.  Then we read the sign on the giant door – “Carpe Diem” – and we had to enter.  In front of us, on the far side of the room, was an altar to Bacchus.  Another altar sat far to our right.  We neither walked forward or turned right.  Rather, pulled by the allure of some strange music, we turned left into what could have easily been Pan’s Labyrinth.  And soon we found what was pulling us into this maze.  No, not Pan’s flute or the call of the Sirens, no, it was something far more powerful.  You see, they had taken those old records off the shelf!!!

​Reminiscing about those days of old, we wandered the maze.  Finally overcome by our great desire to again taste the nectar of the gods, we made our way to Bacchus’ altar on the far side of the room.  The nectar was there, and we tasted of it – Chardonnay, Grenache, and Pinot Noir, lots and lots of Pinot Noir.  We retreated to a comfortable nesting place not far from the altar, leaving only to refill our drinking vessels.

​But I was not satisfied.  I knew there had to be more, so I begged the priestess serving us for more.  More she had, poured from a black bottle, a dark red elixir, complex, fruity, with nice tannins, smooth as silk.  Cabernet Sauvignon was the name on the bottle.  I called over my fellow explorers, and they in turn tasted this wondrous liquor.  So good it was that we made an offering of plastic to the priestess, and she, in turn, gave us many bottles to help us along on our journey.
You may ask what god made these wondrous elixirs?  Well, his name was on the bottle:  Babcock.  Fortunately, Babcock is not stingy with his elixirs.  One can make offerings of gold, silver or plastic to obtain 2-6 bottles per quarter of a year, with savings of 20 or 25%.
Our thirst satiated, we left the wonders of Babcock, stopping only to take many, many pictures.  Then it was on to dinner and then northward, to explore other venues where we might find more of the wonderful nectar of the gods….

​Doc Ed did some scouting for us, hitting the wineries in the Santa Barbara area.  One of the wineries that he loved was Melville Winery, so we stopped there first on our way north.  As expected, it was well worth the visit.  Melville is located in Lompoc, on a main road going through the northern row of Lompoc wineries.  Very nice facility, with outside seating and a nice view – see pictures below.

​The tasting room is quite comfortable, but only had high chairs for seating – not my favorite set up.  Water available, but one had to buy munchies if so inclined.  Pictures of the inside follow.

​All of their wines are estate.  You can select tasting from one of two menus, a $15 dollar one and a $20 dollar one, though they don’t necessarily hold you to either one.  Menus are shown below.  I must admit to being a little perturbed by the winery.  You see, here they had some really great wines – in particular one super Pinot Noir – yet they served them at room temperature, which, while nice for the visitors was not particularly nice to the wines.  I just don’t understand why they didn’t serve them at the right temperature, especially their Pinot Noirs which really need to be served in the 55-60 F range.

​Now on to the most important thing, the wine.  Unlike many wineries, they pay particular attention to the clones, both of their Pinot Noir and their Syrah.  Attention to such details results in some pretty good wines.  For example, their Anna’s Pinot Noir is a mix of two clones – 667 and 114.  And it is fermented with the stems!  The result is a very, very good wine – which, not surprisingly, I am not the first to notice.  It was rated 96 by Wine Enthusiast!
But it wasn’t the highest rated.  That award goes to their Donna’s Syrah.  A mix of two clones – Estrella and 1 – it has a nice high black pepper, and was rated a 97 by Wine Enthusiast!  Bought some!!!  I really like the black pepper in wines, but to date only had Zinfandels with such high black pepper notes.  Also of note is their mixed clone Estate Pinot Noir – really good wine for the price.  Bought one of those as well.
The winery has three club levels – Premier Cru, Grand Cru, and Monopole – requiring purchase of 9, 18, and 36 bottles a year (in three sets), with 15, 20, and 25% discounts and 2, 4, and 8 free tastings per month.  Grand Cru membership limited to 600, Monopole limited to 200, so there is some exclusivity in joining the higher-level clubs.

​Right next door to Shadow Mountain in the Warner Springs area is Sierra Roble Winery and Vineyard.  This relatively-small winery with magnificent views in all directions specializes in Bordeaux-style wines.

​The facility itself is small, with most of the seating outside.  Note from the pictures below how nice it is.  Also note the fans in the ceiling, which I am sure really help on hot summer days.  The tasting room itself in very small.  To make it easier to sit outside and just enjoy the wine they have a “serving” window from the tasting room to the porch so you don’t have to go back inside to get the next pour.  Very nice!  See pictures below.

​Red wines are kept in individual chillers, though they could be a little colder.  Of course, they have water available.  As mentioned above, and seen in the following tasting menus, the winery only deals with Bordeaux varietals.  The best red, as one would figure, is their Cabernet Sauvignon.  It is a pretty rare find – a good local Cab at a decent price.  Of course, if you have a good Cab, you should have a good Bordeaux blend – ergo, their second-best wine is their Ava’s Cuvee, with 60% Cab.  And, yes, I came home with a bottle of the Cab…  An important note should be added here, namely, the Cabernet Sauvignon available is a 2014 vintage.  Unlike most other Cabs sold in Southern California, it is ready to drink, i.e., the tannins have been nicely aged.

​Now a word of warning.  Most wineries in our area are pretty generous in their pours.  Advertised one ounce pours average closer to 1.5 ounces.  Some wineries will get a little carried away, with pours closer to 2 ounces.  Well, they were a bit more generous than that.  How much more?  Let’s just say that it was a good thing I wasn’t driving – and that was after skipping one pour!!!
Their wine club is 3 to 4 shipments per year of 2-3 wines selected by their winemaker, at a 20% discount, 25% off cases, and 10% off other merchandise.

​From the pictures below of Forgotten Barrel Winery you would think it was located somewhere out in the country.  It is not.  It is located only a few blocks from the center of Escondido in a residential neighborhood, just off of Upas.  Just a winery, no vineyard, i.e., they make their wines from purchased grapes (though they do have some vines along their driveway).  Does that make it an “urban” winery or a “suburban” winery?  Well, their wine is pretty good so who cares!
​There are several nice outside areas to sit and drink wine.  The tasting room itself has only a small seating area reserved for wine club members, but they do have a large indoor facility to hold weddings and the like.  Pictures follow.

​As you can see from the tasting menus below, they bring grapes in from all over the place – Napa, Fallbrook, Valley Center, San Diego, Santa Rita Hills.  Wine lots are often pretty small – sometimes as little as five barrels of a specific varietal.  Hence, they depend on selling small amounts of a lot of varietals vs. large amounts of a few varietals.  Tasting is either $10 per person or $15 per person, depending which menu you want to follow.  Pictures of the tasting room follow.

​I am happy to report that they served the red wines at a good temperature -- I would hope that this was not just because it was a cooler day.  Given that the young man who served us is a level 3 Sommelier it seems like a given…  Anyway, water was readily available, and while they didn’t serve any munchies, they were also available.  No restaurant, of course, but they were setting up for entertainment when we left. 
Now to the wines.  Of the wines on the tasting menus, the best, by far, is the Syrah.  It is really good (bought some).  Below I’ve posted their price list with some wines not on the tasting menu.  The one outstanding wine on it is their GSM – also bought a bottle of it.  But that is not all!  Doc Ed had visited this winery a few days before the two of us dropped in and he got them to let him taste wines not on either list – a Pinot Noir made from grapes from the Alexander Valley, bottled but not yet released, and Tannat made from grapes sourced locally, still in the barrel.  According to Doc Ed, these are really, really good wines.  On the down side, as is the case in many small wineries, they reserve their best wines for their wine club so neither of these wines may become available to the public.

​As for their wine club, it is a 3 bottle per quarter club with a very nice 25% discount, and 20% on other wines and anything else they are selling (mostly food items – munchies and the like).  Complementary wine tasting is limited to two per month.

I first found Winderlea Vineyard (winderlea.com) over ten years ago.  At that time I was searching for Oregon Pinot Noir to ship home to my Chicago cellar to contrast with my collection from California.  Right from the first tasting at Winderlea, I knew I had found my wine!  Since then, I have returned many times, and happily referred friends who were visiting the area. 
Compared to California Pinot Noir, grapes grown in Oregon produce wine that are similar to the French “burgundy” style.  Growing in a cooler, more northern location, Oregon wines will have less of a fruity nose and palate.  They will taste more earthy, and have a bit more acid to provide structure to balance the alcohol and tannins.  The end result is a lighter, more elegant wine that provides a pleasant alternative to the more fruity, bold and assertive California wines.

The wine club at Winderlea ranges from six to twelve bottles per shipment, which are released three times per year.  While they suggest the composition of each wine shipment, they permit substitution to customize the order.  Price discounts range from 15% to 20% depending on the level of club membership.

​Speckle Rock Vineyards are located on Highland Valley Road in Escondido.  They’ve done a great job on the tasting room and near exterior, with a great view on one side and some nice picnic grounds on the other side.  Now here’s the kick – it’s all temporary!  They have plans to replace this facility in a couple of years.  Some pictures below.

​Speckle Rock is one of the newer wineries in San Diego County, and, with 25 acres planted, one of the largest.  I’ve known about them since before they opened their tasting room a year-and-a-half ago but held up visiting while they got their act together.  And did they ever!  We planned on dropping in for a brief wine tasting and wound up spending an entire afternoon there, with absolutely no regrets.

​To begin with, this is a very innovative winery.  How so, you ask?  Well, most wineries first age the wine in active oak casks, then move them to neutral oak casks.  Speckle Rock does the initial aging of their red wines in concrete vessels – see picture below.  The concrete obviously does not add oak flavors to the wine, but what it does do is mellow out any acids while allowing oxidation similar to oak casks.  After six months in the concrete “eggs” the wine is moved to oak casks to complete the aging process.  As far as we could tell, this really works.

​Tasting is $15 for five pours, i.e., a taste of the five wines that they have available for tasting.  The three reds on the list shown below are superb. We managed to also get a taste of their just-bottled 2018 Pinot Noir and their 100% Tempranillo.  The Pinot Noir, made from grapes grown in Oregon, will be  maybe the best available at any winery in Southern California, so watch for its release.  The Tempranillo was, well, Tempranillo, and, well, I really, really don’t like Tempranillo…  As I learn of their releases I will report them in the Winery News section.

​Their wine club calls for the purchase of 6 bottles every four months so 18 bottles per year (my wife’s a Math teacher, so I have to get that right).  They are a little stingy on the discount at 10% and complementary wine tasting at only 6 per year, but do offer their wine club members wines that are not available to the general public.

Solena Vineyard (solenaestate.com) is a delightful destination in Willamette Valley.  Their grapes come from their 80 acre property, as well as multiple vineyards throughout Oregon and Washington.  They offer Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon.  Most of their Pinot Noir offerings are blends of popular clones such as Pommard, Wadenswil, and Coury, however it can be difficult to determine which clones are offered in the bottles. 
The welcoming and well-decorated tasting room is open daily from 11:00 to 5:00.   The Solena staff were friendly and very knowledgeable about their product.  I appreciated that they checked each new bottle before serving it.  Several groups of guests were present when I was there, and all seemed to get an appropriate level of attention.

​The wine club membership levels are either three or six bottles every quarter.  Membership brings a 15% to 20% discount, along with free tastings.  Because Solena owns Hyland Vineyard, membership at Hyland brought free tastings at Solena.
In addition to the main tasting room, Solena also had a separate room for tasting which included an impressive kitchen area.  I could picture bringing a group for wine and food pairings!  Also, according to Solena’s website, they have a cottage on the property which is available for convenient overnight accommodations.

​Correcaminos Vineyards is a boutique winery located in Ramona, not far from the center of town.  We arrived there late in the day, close to sunset, which worked out great – we had the opportunity to spend time with the owners.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get pictures of the view from their winery.  Suffice it to say it is pretty nice.
The wine tasting is done in a tent, seen below.  We sat at a fire pit table (with fire going – it was cold that afternoon), and they brought the wine to us.  The wine bottles for tasting are held in individual coolers (see picture below), so you can be sure that you’ll get wine served at the right temperature even in the summer -- and they give you munchies!

​Wine making is a complex process, and not everyone approaches it in the same way.  The standard for making red wines is to age them in oak barrels, the best being French.  Oak works well because it allows a small amount of air into the barrel to oxidize the tannins, adds oak tannins that improve the complexity of the wine, and, of course, gives the wine an oaky flavor.  The problem with oak barrels is that they are very expensive to purchase (upwards of $2,000 per) and are used only two or three times, adding significantly to the cost of the wine.  After two or three uses, the interior of the barrel becomes so inactive that it is said to be neutral, i.e., it adds neither oak taste or oak tannins to the wine.
Now suppose you don’t want to add oak flavors or tannins to your wine.  Well, you can age the wine in stainless steel, plastic, or even concrete.  Or you can age the wine in neutral oak barrels – after all, not all used barrels can be turned into tables.  As you can probably guess, this is exactly what they do at Correcaminos Vineyards.  And because the wine is aged in neutral oak barrels there is little chance of “over-oaking” the wine – they can leave it in the barrel until it is at its peak.
The wine tasting was the $10 for six tastes from the menu shown below.  One interesting byproduct of neutral oak barrels is that the cost of making red wine is not significantly higher than white wine.  Hence, Correcaminos charges the same for reds and whites -- $30 per bottle.

​The big surprise for me was that my favorite of their wines was their First Note, a white wine.  It is made from the Symphony grape, a variety developed by UC Davis for growing in hot climates, i.e., Southern California.  Of the reds their Spaghetti Strap best, by far, a wonderful Super T blend.  Bought a bottle (see picture).

​They have a wine club.  Members are expected to purchase 2-4 bottles of wine per quarter.  Discount is 20%, and wine club members get two free tastings (or glasses of wine) per visit.

​Koi Zen Cellars is the first urban winery I’ve visited, and it is quite urban.  It is located in an industrial park near Home Depot in the Carmel Mountain region of San Diego.  Not a very nice outside, but the interior is well done, as shown below.  This particular urban winery does not have an affiliated vineyard – they buy all of their grapes from vineyards all over California, but not necessarily the same vineyards from year to year.

​The entire operation sits, as noted above, in an industrial park.  Their 800 or so sq. ft. facility was pretty packed when we visited as they had the barrel room filled with fermentation vats.  These were very large plastic boxes with just a plastic sheet over them to keep bugs out of the mix, as shown below.  Their wine maker pulled away one of the sheets so we could see the must (crushed grapes – seeds and skins included).  First time for me.

​The facility is broken down into essentially three lounges, two with bars.  Very nice interior setting.  The server we had is a Sommelier (level 2, I believe) and at least one other person in the operation is a level 3 Sommelier.

​Wine tasting is $10 for 5 tastes.  As shown below, most of their wines are made from French varietals, with grapes mostly from California.  One very unique wine is a Chardonnay with oak chips in the bottle.  The one outstanding wine in the listing is their Syrah.  We bought a bottle.  Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the bottle before it was consumed, so I have posted a picture of their award-winning Pinot Noir which, unfortunately, was not available for tasting.

​They have a wine club, two bottles every other month with substitutions allowed.  Discount is only 10%, and members are limited to two free tastings per month.  Like many wineries, they hold wine pick up parties with food and music.

​If you are visiting the Willamette Valley, Hyland should be one of your destinations.  It is about 40 miles southwest of Portland, and situated among several fine vineyards. I first found it about two years ago, and it has become my first stop every time I return to the area. 
Hyland is one of the oldest and largest wineries in the area, with 180 acres that were planted in 1971.  Like other vineyards in this region, Pinot Noir is the main grape varietal that they serve.  For you white-wine lovers, they also produce Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Muller Thurgau.  Hyland wines regularly win awards, and commonly have a 90+ rated wine listed in leading publications.  Some of the fruit from their property was used in the 1985 Burgundy Challenge in Paris!

Unlike the practice at most of the other vineyards, Hyland distinctively serves several single-clone wines rather than blends composed of multiple clones.  Here you can taste pure Wadenswil clone, a cold weather grape registered in Switzerland that can have an interesting pepper finish.  Also available are pure clones of Pommard, Coury, Dijon 115 and others.  I like this approach, as it lets me taste the pure flavor of an individual clone, rather than mixed blends which tend to blur together in my mind and in my mouth.  See tasting menu below.

​Hyland has a friendly staff with much better credentials than I have found at other places.  The person I most commonly see serving the wine is a sommelier (level 3) which is rare in my travels in Oregon and California.  Rebecca is very knowledgeable and makes the tasting very educational.  Also at the winery is a sommelier (level 4) who teaches monthly classes at the tasting room, among his many other duties.
The wine club has several options ranging from 2-3 bottles every quarter, up to 4-6 bottles per quarter.  Both provide free tastings, and 15% to 20% discounts on the wine.   While Hyland suggests the composition of each wine club shipment, they freely permit substitutions to customize the wine shipment order.  Hyland (hylandestateswinery.com) is open for tastings from 10:00 to 5:00 daily.