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Harvest Festival 2005 |
Getting to Rancho Sisquoc if you are a stranger to Sideways Country can be a formidable task ... not only is it near the "end of the road" just to get to the access road off Foxen Canyon by the little church on the hill, but there are so darn many superb wineries along the way that are essentially impossible to skip! As I drove out from near our Ranch, Vineyard, and new Winery on Mail Road off Hwy 246 near Buellton, I was one of several big, white Silverado pickups (I know I mention it every year) sandwiched between Hummers. Why, you may ask, do we drive our biggest, most rugged vehicles to these affairs. Well, when you get to the parking area you find out fast ... there are more bumps, humps, field clumps and small hills and valleys than you can count and even these behemoths get a little rattled when your spot is half a mile out! Of course, you can always ride out on the buses which seem to get the Primo parking spots with the short walks to pick up your wine glass.
If you attend both the Harvest Festivals and the Vintners' Festivals in our beautiful county you have probably come to realize that these Fall events are usually clear, warming in the afternoons while the Vintner's Spring Festival is usually very windy, cool to cold and sometimes drizzling ... I much prefer the Harvest Festival weather and it is usually much more pleasant for Alicia to setup our booth and spend hours getting pouring volunteers from among the knowledgeable family members present.
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The Rancho Sisquoc Sign |
Hogs at Rancho Sisquoc during Harvest Festival 2005 |
And speaking of the Casa Cassara booth, they put us way in the back with the longest, hardest walk this year. And still people trudged up to stand in the shade of the glorious oaks and sniff, swirl and taste the result of grape juice and yeast ... an aroma that heavily permeated the air.
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Dan Cassara inspects the wine ... notice that smile! |
It was very clear that owner Dan Cassara was extremely pleased with the product as he swirled, tasted, swirled, tasted, chewed, swirled, tasted, chatted, swirled ... well, you get the picture.
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Brian and Jeff doing the honors |
Brian and Jeff pouring |
Happiness at the Casa Cassara booth. |
Heavenly aroma! |
We poured 2002 Cuvee Pinot Noir, 2002 Pinot Noir Burning Creek Vineyard and 2002 Syrah Santa Ynez Valley. These wines are our finest examples of aged wines. Folks who got the opportunity to try them were very pleased. These wines are what is left of the 2002's and are very limited. The 2003 vintage is very bright and full flavored wines. They are limited as well. Following these wines will be the 2004 vintages hopefully ready by the end of this year. All of these wines were hand produced by Casa Cassara Winery and are meticulously taken care of for excellence in flavor. Please look for them in the near future at the Olive House.
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Alan Hancock Junior College |
Music on the air |
Plenty of eats |
The smell of food in the air! |
This was a special year at Casa Cassara because of family events that have both expanded us and brought us closer ... we had four generations of Cassaras at the festival as well as a fiancee ... yup, a lot of love in the air along with grape juice and yeast! We also had our very good friend, Jeff Feeley, owner of the Olive House in Solvang where our wines are available for tasting and purchase, pouring and discussing each of the vintages available and those still in the barrels.
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Danielle with son Garrett Daniel Thacker |
Kimberly and Tim |
The bottom line: lots of great wine, good food, family joy ... a pleasure to eye and palette.
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A recent addition to the valley out Los Alamos way is the Flatbread outfit whose fame revolves around those marvelous ovens. |
