Easter Sunday April 24, 2011
Tokyo, Japan
Sunny and Glorius
Writing this post from Tokyo. I'll write a post regarding my Japan trip later. This post is about our last day in Santa Ynez Valley.
So on our last day in Solvang, we got up early (around 6am or so) again because we were sound asleep by 9pm the night before. We decided to have breakfast and then walk and explore the Santa Ines Mission. It is the 19th of the 21 California missions established by the Franciscan Fathers. Padre Junipero Serra founded the first 8 missions beginning with the mission San Diego de Alcala in San Diego in 1769. The Santa Ines mission was founded by Fr. Estevan Tapais on September 17, 1804. One of their main "missions" was to convert the Chumash Indians (who have lived there for centuries) to Catholics. The aqueduct and the lavenderia were built by the Chumash. According to the history as told by the mission, the relationship with the Chumash was very close. So close that when their was a revolt of the Indians against the Spanish military and the mission caught fire, the Chumash put out the fire and protected the mission. Unfortunately, after the Mexican revolution, the Mexican Franciscanss took over the mission and mistreated and abused the Chumash. So once again, the native Indians suffered in the hands of the conquerors.
The mission is quite beautiful. Some of it has been restored as a massive earthquake in 1812 caused heavy damage. The bell-tower was rebuilt with the help of some of the newly arrived Danish settlers in 1911. Here are some photos of the mission.
The mission bell of Santa Ines: The bells were used as guide posts for the El Camino Real which is the footpath that connects all the missions in California (Highway 101 and 1 covers a great portion of El Camino Real).
The mission church and bell tower.
View from the grounds of the Mission (more grapes)
I found this map interesting. The area highlighted in yellow respresents how much of North and South America was controlled by the Spanish. Amazing. Even more amazing how they lost it all. Colonialism does not work!
Inside the church
The mission's cemetery
After spending about an hour at the mission, we stopped at Solvang Bakery to have a Danish, as we were in the Danish capital of America. We shared a cheese Danish over coffee and tea. The bakery was quite cute, and supposedly very popular with Japanese and Chinese tourists.
The cheese danish from the Solvang Bakery
A pic of a fabulous cake from the Solvang Bakery
It was then time to complete our Sideways Wine Tour. Sandra drove her own car this time as she and Belinda were going to head straight back to Oakland after the tour.
Our first stop of the day was Kalyra. Kalyra is where Thomas Haden Church's character meets Sandra Oh's character. Sandra Oh's character works at Kalyra. Kalyra is owned by and Australian named Mike Brown. Kalyra means a "wild and pleasant place" in the aboriginal language. The winery is pretty cool as it's low key and looks like a surfer shack. We tried 6 wines, 3 white (2009 Grenache Blanc, 2009 Barrel Select Riesling, 2009 Semillon/Verdelho) and 3 reds( 2008 MC2, NV Cashmere Blend 62, 2007 Merlot). All were quite tasty but I liked the 2009 Semillon/Verdelho and NV Cashmere Blend 62 the best. Verdhelho is a Portuguese grape so adds interesting flavor to the wine. The NV Cashmere is a blend of combining grapes from 2 hemispheres (Australia Shiraz and American cabernet and merlot). And it is a wonderful combination.
But our favorite was our bonus tasting - 2008 Orange Muscat. A very yummy dessert wine. So I ended up buying a two bottles of it (one as a gift) and a bottle each of the NV Cashmere and 2009 Semillon/Verdelho.
Kalyra Winery
Our next stop was the beautiful Sunstone Winery. It's not on "The Sideways" tour but was recommended and once we stepped on the grounds we knew why. It is gorgeous! The winery is housed in a beautiful hacienda covered in wild roses. Unfortunately, I was so mesmerized by the winery I forgot to take photos of the inside. All of their wines are made from their own certified organic grapes. They specialize in Bordeaux and Rhone varietals. We did another tasting here and I again I picked up a couple of bottles of their estate wines.
Sunstone Winery
Our next stop was the funky Mosby winery. This winery, too is not part of the Sideways tour but recommended. It is the only winery in Santa Ynez valley that specializes in Italian grapes. We had a fun time doing the tasting and the sommelier was quite a character. I ended up buying a bottle of wine called Le Seduzione - The Seduction. It is made from the extremely rare grape called Legrein. This velvety violet colored wine offers aromas of dark plums, cocoa and wild wood mint. Mmmm.
The Mosby Winery
The next stop was Melville Winery. Again, not part of the Sideways tour but highly recommended. It's a large winery and was fun cuz in addition to the wine tasting, they had a large spread of local cheeses and unique cookies and pastries ( eg thai curry shortbread, lavendar cookies, etc) for us to enjoy while tasting wine. Also, on our first night in Solvang, we shared a bottle of the Melville Pinot Noir for dinner. We had fun tasting the wine and food and both Sandra and I bought a bottle of Verna's Estate Pinot Noir in honor of Sandra's mother Verna who passed away.
Melville Winery
Our next stope was Sanford located in Lompoc. The Lompoc area is known for growing pinot noir grapes as the area is about 10-20 degrees cooler that most of Santa Ynez valley. We definetely felt the change in temperature when we got out of the car. The Pinot grape is very sensitive so needs cooler weather. Now this winery is part of the Sideways wine tour BUT, we found out that Sanford was bought out and the "Sanford" that is mentioned in the movie is now called Alma Rosa. Anyhow, we enjoyed our tasting especially since we were able to taste the wines that are only available at the winery. And they served chocolate!
Sanford Winery
So our last stop was Alma Rosa (formerly Sanford's tasting room). This winery is the first winery the main characters in the movie visit. It is here where Paul Giamatti's character explains wines to Thomas Haden Church's character. It is also in this winery where Thomas Haden Church is caught wine tasting while chewing gum.
So happy we stopped here as it was Paella Sunday, where for a total of 20$, one can taste all the Alma Rosa wines, enjoy a spread of cheeses, sweet local strawberries and a wonderful paella. Richard Sanford the owner mingled with the guests. It was magnificent. I did not buy any bottles here as I can get them in So Cal. However their Pinots are just devine!
Alma Rosa
That's Richard Sanford on the left.
And as all good things come to an end, we accomplished our Sideways Wine Tour weekend. I am so lucky to live in California and it truly is a beautiful state despite all the political/economical problems. I highly recommend visitors to the US, make an effort to explore California beyond LA, San Diego, Disneyland and SF. There is so much more to do. And Santa Ynez is still "undiscovered" so you don't see the hoard of tourists you see in Napa Valley
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