Bien Nacido Vineyards, the world-renowned property in the Santa Maria Valley, has just opened an estate wines tasting room at 2963 Grand Ave. in Los Olivos.
The facility will offer flights of wines from both Bien Nacido and sister vineyard Solomon Hills for tasting and purchase.
The tasting room held a soft opening early in September, and is currently open for business, manager Patti Wilkinson said.
For $20, guests will be poured a flight of five wines: The 2014 Vin Gris (rosé), the 2012 Bien Nacido Chardonnay, the 2012 Solomon Hills Chardonnay, the 2010 Solomon Hills Pinot Noir and the 2011 Bien Nacido Vineyard Syrah, Wilkinson said.
Other wines available for purchase are the 2011 Bien Nacido Pinot Noir and the 2011 Bien Nacido Grenache, she added.
The Miller family, fifth-generation farmers, purchased the vineyard in 1969. Bob Lindquist of Qupe Cellars was the first winemaker to produce a wine from the vineyard: A syrah, in 1987.
Both labels and vineyards recently earned “great scores” from Wine Enthusiast, Vinous Media’s Antonio Galloni and Robert Parker, as well as praise from the Wall Street Journal, which described the nearly 900-acre Bien Nacido as one of California’s Top 5 Vineyards, said Nicholas Miller, whose family owns the vineyards and several wine production facilities.
Wine Enthusiast rated a Solomon Hills Vineyard chardonnay at 94 point and a Bien Nacido Chardonnay at 93, Miller told me.
In a recent issue of Vinous, editor Galloni called Bien Nacido chardonnay the highest scoring wine on the Central Coast, and described Bien Nacido as one of the best wineries in California, Miller noted.
In an August article entitled “Santa Barbara: On the Road,” Galloni wrote: “Bien Nacido is best known as a historic vineyard that has played an important role in the development of American wine by supplying ambitious winemakers with top-notch fruit since the 1970s. But Bien Nacido also makes wines under its own label … much of the credit goes to winemaker Trey Fletcher, who arrived in 2011, vineyard manager Chris Hammell and the Miller family … simply put, Bien Nacido Estate is now one of the hottest wineries in California.”
Galloni rated wines, some of which are still in barrel and thus display a variable score, and Bien Nacido Vineyards shared the news on its Facebook page, noting: “We’re honored … new scores from Antonio Galloni and Vinous Media:”
2014 Bien Nacido Vineyards Pinot Noir 92-95
2014 Solomon Hills Vineyards Pinot Noir 93-96
2014 Bien Nacido Vineyards Syrah 93-96
2013 Bien Nacido Vineyards Chardonnay 95
2013 Solomon Hills Vineyards Chardonnay 95+
2012 Bien Nacido VIneyards Pinot Noir 92
2012 Solomon Hills Vineyards Pinot Noir 94
And from a recent issue of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate came more high scores on some current releases:
2012 Bien Nacido Vineyards Chardonnay, BNV, 92 points
2012 Bien Nacido Vineyards Chardonnay, Solomon Hills, 92
2012 Bien Nacido Vineyards Pinot Noir, BNV, 92
2012 Bien Nacido Vineyards Pinot Noir, Solomon Hills, 91
2012 Bien Nacido Vineyards Syrah, BNV, 92+
The Bien Nacido Vineyards tasting room will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday, Wilkinson said.
Bubblyfest returns to Pismo Beach Oct. 2-4
Following sell-out debuts at 2014’s Bubblyfest by the Sea and the Pop-Up BubblyFest in San Francisco last April, organizers expect tickets for the Oct. 2-4 event to sell out well in advance.
Event Producer Holly Holliday calls Bubblyfest by the Sea an “upscale and educational event” dedicated to sparkling wines and Champagne.
For the second year in a row, Bubblyfest will be held at Pismo Beach’s SeaCrest Oceanfront Hotel, 2241 Price St. Yes, it overlooks the ocean, and the view is nothing short of spectacular.
Tickets went on sale in February, and the VIP tickets were gone within a week, Holliday said. As of Sept. 11, a few remained available: for the Grand Tasting Saturday, as well as Friday’s excursion, dinner, seminars and cocktail party.
Visit the website here for details on each event from Friday through Saturday.
David Glancy, Friday’s seminar facilitator, founded the San Francisco Wine School, and is one of just 12 people in the world to pass both the Court of Master Sommeliers’ Master Exam (MS) and the Society of Wine Educators’ Certified Wine Educator exam (CWE), Holliday said.
Web and tickets (if still available) can be found on the website here and more information is on the event’s Facebook page here.
— Laurie Jervis blogs about wine at www.centralcoastwinepress.com, tweets at @lauriejervis and can be reached via winecountrywriter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are her own.