Foley vineyard, originally uploaded by jmayer1129.

Built next door to the winery building in 2005, Foley’s large tasting room and event center is built with the consumer in mind. Don’t let the gravel parking lot fool you; everything here is polished and new. The front patio and lawn area offer a breezy spot to stop for a lingering lunch. The tasting room houses a substantial collection of culinary goods and gifts hoping to appeal to wine-drinking clientele.

The bar is an elongated U-shape that juts out of the right side of the airy room. The bartenders were generous with their pours, starting off the tasting with an off-menu 2007 Pinot Gris. Aged seven months in stainless steel, it had a very slight gold color and very thin veins. The nose was equally as light as the hue-a hint of mango and a very soft sweet citrus taste with a tiny short kick of spice to finish it off.

Another stainless steel fermented selection, the ’07 Chardonnay with a release date of March 2008 and was made completely from Clone 76 of their Rancho Santa Rosa vineyard. Light shown through the subtly gold wine and had a bit more flavor than the Pinot Gris. It started with a peach nose and quickly moved into a somewhat liquorish citrus zest and a continuing burn.

The 2006 Rancho Santa Rosa Chardonnay was released in October 2007 after 10 months on French oak(39% new) and malolactic fermentation. This wine was made from a mix of clones 4, 76, and 96. This Chardonnay exhibited a genuine gold color and a citrusy fragrance that disappeared from the main light toasty taste in my mouth and was followed by a prolonged dry finish.

Up to this point, all of the wines were produced with grapes from Foley’s estate Rancho Santa Rosa vineyards. Winemaker Alan Phillips created a fresh tasting dry rosé with equal parts Syrah, Grenache, and Cinsault. The Syrah came from Foley’s vineyards, while the Grenache and Cinsault were sourced from Fess Parker’s Camp Four Vineyard in the eastern Santa Ynez Valley. The color was beautiful-a lucid peach with a dash of rose. A peachy nose displays touches of ripe strawberries and juicy watermelon and these diluted flavors play for an instant on the tongue only to disappear into a short crisp finale.

Two reds were left to finish off the tasting menu. First up was the 2006 Rancho Santa Rosa Pinot Noir. A medium cranberry, this selection contained a few small strands of yeast floating about. The nose was quite light with hints of cassis and oak mixed in with ripe berries. Once in the mouth, the bulk of flavor circles around a jolt of peppery spice with a cascading short finish.

The 2006 Syrah, also from Foley’s Rancho Santa Rosa vineyard exhibited a bright blood red color. Aromas of oak combined with dark plum and black cherries with a touch of fresh churned butter. The wine had dense mouth feel as a rush of fresh cracked black pepper was prominent throughout, lingering after the liquid was gone.

The Foley property certainly is new and spacious offering up a selection of wines typical for the region. I felt that their wines were easy to drink and might pair equally well with a variety of foods. For the casual drinker looking for citrusy whites and lighter reds, Foley may be a good option.

My tasting was: $10 including a Riedel logo glass

Foley Estates Vineyard & Winery

6121 E Highway 246

Lompoc, CA 93436

http://www.foleywines.com/

It was the first weekend of June and my appetite for wine-tasting was whetted by my recent Los Olivos Wine Trail trip. I decided to venture up a bit along the Santa Rita Hills area. The first stop on the itinerary was Dierberg & Star Lane Vineyards. The winery signs in Santa Rita Hills aren’t always the biggest or most well placed, so after a safe U-turn, I was headed up Drum Canyon Rd towards a large forest green and red accented barn. With a well-trimmed green lawn in front and the title, “Dierberg * Star Lane” underneath their star logo on the face of the structure, I knew we had arrived.

Surrounded by new vineyards and the hills in the distance, this was a beautiful new property. Opened in 2008, the facility was almost spotless. Walking through the huge barn doors, the scent of freshly cut wood filled the air. The tasting room is an offshoot of the main room, directly to your right as you walk in. With a small z shaped wooden bar, it’s easy to imagine the room getting crowded. Not so this afternoon as we received prompt service from 1 of 2 bartenders.

There are two tastings available: one from the Dierberg and Star Lane Vineyards line and one for their declassified brand, Three Saints. Ideally, I would have liked to taste both, but with limited time that afternoon, I opted for the Dierberg and Star Lane tasting. Although the tastings don’t come with the Riedel red wine glasses they’re poured in, I appreciated the use of the wine glasses to help showcase the wines.

The bartender started by pouring a small amount of 2006 Star Lane Sauvignon Blanc from their Santa Ynez vineyard into our glasses. The nose was full of citrus and fruit with strong aromas of lemon, grapefruit, and sweet peach. Once in my mouth, those citrus smells faded into the background of light oaky flavors. This Sauvignon Blanc ended abruptly with a clean finish.

From the Santa Maria Valley, the soft gold 2005 Dierberg Chardonnay smelled lightly of toast which turned into smooth citrus on the palate with a crisp finish. This wine was a pleasure to drink and my favorite of the two whites offered.

Looking forward to getting into the reds, the 2005 Dierberg Pinot Noir from Santa Maria was first up. The Pinot Noir had a dark cranberry hue and a fruity nose full of cherries and raspberries. On my tongue the wine was very smooth and the full flavors of dark berries were prominent. It finished off with a dry spicy ending.

The last two wines were grown in the Santa Ynez Valley Star Lane vineyard. The ’04 Star Lane Syrah was dark purple with a deep black cherry nose with hints of vanilla. In the mouth, the body was dry and smoky with a long slightly bitter coffee-flavored finish.

Finishing the tasting was the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, a deep red with hues of milk chocolate. The nose smelled strongly of ripe currant and left a light dry mouth feel with a short spicy kick at the end.

These wines are all estate grown and I found the flavors to be big, boldly displaying their individual characteristics. The newest Dierberg vineyard surrounds the tasting room in Drum Canyon and will see its first harvest this fall as six clones of Pinot Noir were planted in 2005. I’m looking forward to coming back and trying the new Santa Rita Hills selections in the future.

My tasting was: $10 not including a glass. Three Saints tastings are $5.

Dierberg & Star Lane Vineyards

1280 Drum Canyon Road(off the 246)

Lompoc CA 93436

http://www.dierbergvineyard.com/

http://www.threesaintsvineyard.com/