California: St. Ynez (WINE!) Valley

Ahhh, the first vacation since starting my job over 10 months prior! It was very much needed! To make the 10-day break relaxing, we opted to mix something we knew (less stress, organizing, planning, thinking…) with something we missed (hello diving!). For the first half of our trip with ventured back to the the St. Ynez Valley for its awesome and low-key wine country. We enjoy it better (and they have more of our style of red wines) than either Napa or Sonoma Valley. Also, many less people, less pretentiousness, and entirely more affordable overall.

We were lucky that our friends Shawna and Tim were able to join us from Pittsburgh, such that they coordinated their flight to layover in Chicago, so we were all together landing into LAX. We landed in LA, picked up our rental car, and immediately headed North via the Pacific Coast Highway for wine country!

Early morning airport love; happy vacation eyes

We immediately set course for one of our favorite vineyards: Demetria Estates!

You could not ask for a more picturesque Saturday afternoon. Perfect weather, perfect company, and wine. We broke into our first tasting flight while sitting out on the patio, enjoying a fresh warm summer breeze, listening to a singer strum tunes on an acoustic guitar. It was THE PERFECT START to the trip! That, and we re-signed up for our membership here, to receive wine shipments throughout the year. This was one of two wine clubs that we had previously belonged to, and had to give up when moving over to Abu Dhabi in 2014. This was also the estate where you could rent the guest house on the property and have open access to the tasting room, but prices has dramatically risen over the years, so we opted to not do that this time around.

Enjoying the nice deep breath of relaxation and a calm mind

Our amazing travel companions: Shawn and Tim!

From Demetria, we made our way back towards our hotel to check-in, and stopped at Andrew Murray Vineyards en route. What goes better with amazing wines???? Amazing chocolate. And that is exactly what we did. As well as also signing up for their wine club, obviously. This stop, and Andrew Murray wines, ended up being my top stop for taste on the trip!

Mmmm, chocolates and reds. Yes, please and thank you!

Our evening ended us staying the town of Solvang and enjoying a nice dinner at Mad and Vin. Dinner was interesting, as we opted to skip entrees and share wide assortment of tapas, and it was AMAZING. Highly recommend this restaurant, and their appetizer spread!

After dealing with the annoyance of a flat tire to start our day, we headed immediately north to be there for when Presquile Vineyards opened for the day. They have expanded SIGNIFICANTLY since we were last here, to include moving their winery north to the Santa Maria Valley and opening an absolutely incredible estate. This was one of our previous favorites, of whom we also relinquished our wine membership moving abroad, and it has only gained in awesomeness over the time. And obviously, we are back in their wine club now. Their new location is breathtaking. Seriously, their tasting room is my dream home layout with floor to ceiling windows, walls that completely fold away allowing the outside in, and the views. If we were to renew our vows, this would be the place! That and their charcuterie board is the best that we have every had. This is a *MUST VISIT* if you are ever in the area!

Reluctantly (seriously, I could have stayed here ALLLLLLLLL day!), we ventured on, knowing that there was more to see and taste, and we were wanting to do that. Next stop: Foxen Vineyards. They have two tasting rooms: the original shack and the nice new one less than a mile up from the original. We stopped at both. They serve different wines at each, so it is worth both stops!