VinoCritic.com
                                                                                        The web's leading source for free unbiased wine reviews.

                  Archives (and Reader Blogs):  Your turn to rate the wines

Please also click here to visit our main web site for in-depth analysis of our recent wines of the week, special events,  and wine-scene news from San Diego and  beyond.

Sea Smoke 2003 Botella Vineyard (Santa Rita Hills AVA, Santa Barbara County, California USA)

Print the article

This entry was posted on 2/8/2006 7:47 PM and is filed under California and Oregon Pinot Noir.

Sea Smoke is a relatively new winery. They only produce Pinot Noir, and they do it well.  The winery started in 1999, and their first commercial release was from the 2001 vintage.  The most recent vintage, the 2003, represents their third year of production.  Despite their short existence, Sea Smoke is getting popular quickly.  It is almost impossible to find a bottle of Sea Smoke at your local retailer.  If you try to order on-line directly from the winery, they politely tell you they are "sold out".  A very pleasant problem for any new business!  They produce three different Pinots, all from their own vineyards.  The most expensive is called "Ten", the middle wine is called "Southing", and the least expensive is called "Botella".  The Botella retails for $26.00.  I was fortunate enough to have a bottle of the Botella at the Black Horse Grill Restaurant in Del Mar.  It sells at the restaurant for roughly twice the retail price, which is standard mark-up in the business.  (They had some of the other Sea Smoke offerings as well, for a higher price).  The wine was delicious.  It has the velvety smoothness typical of fine Pinots, but had a full bouquet that is not common enough amongst California Pinot.  You get hit on the nose with a strong cherry/wild berry scent.  The wine is very fruit forward, but has enough tannin to give it some real back bone and make it interesting.  A nice long finish rewards the drinker of this fine elixir.  I give it four stars.  What do you think?

 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this entry
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
    Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

    • 2/12/2006 10:39 PM Warner Springs Wino wrote:
      I like the SeaSmoke too, but they are not very friendly if you go to the area for wine tasting.
      Reply to this
      1. 2/12/2006 10:53 PM VinoCritic wrote:
        My understanding is that they don't have a tasting room open to the public.  I have had no interaction with the winery, so can not comment on "friendliness".  Since they sell out all their wine each year, I suppose they do not see the need for public wine tastings.  As more wineries open in the area, and competition increases, they may have to cater to the public more.  Also, if they plan to expand, they will need to increase their customer base.  But for now, I guess there is really no motivation to cater to the general public when they sell all their wine through their mailing list.  For whatever it's worth, I am not on the mailing list either, so if I want a bottle, I have to pay inflated auction prices or restaurant prices...........VC
        Reply to this
        1. 5/4/2006 8:55 AM DA wrote:
          Sea Smoke has no tasting room. However, the only other winery permitted to make wine from their vineyard, Foxen Canyon, does. It's also an excellent wine.
          DA
          Reply to this
          1. 5/4/2006 3:07 PM VinoCritic wrote:
            DA;  I like the Foxen wines also.  Several people have commented to me that they did not find Sea Smoke very consumer friendly.  I have never had any personal experience with them, positive or negative.  Thanks for the Foxen tip.
            Reply to this
    • 5/15/2006 12:12 PM cd wrote:
      Hmmm... that's strange. I've had many dealings with the folks there and their customer service has been outstanding. What did you do, just show up at their door without an appointment? Perhaps they were bottling or shipping out orders. My understanding is that if your are a list member and you call them in advance AND they have the time, they will be happy to give you a tour and let you taste. They simply don't have the manpower though to take in every person off the street.
      Reply to this
      1. 5/15/2006 9:32 PM VinoCritic wrote:
        I think a lot of the central coast wineries are not amenable to daily tastings and tours for the reasons you mentioned.  They do not have the volume or financial resources to staff a full time tasting room.  As I have said, I never dealt with Sea Smoke personally, so I won't say much about their customer service, since it would be heresay.  I suspect that those who are disgruntled probably did show up Napa style expecting a tasting room, and perhaps mistook the lack of facilities for a lack of customer service.  In the interest of fairness, those who have had a negative experience should give the details of their encounter.  Was someone rude?  Did they fail to return calls, etc?

        Personally, I just received notice that my name has come up on the mailing list and I am now eligible for an allocation, and I purchased my entire allotment, which was not much since I am in the lowest category.  They offer to ship the wine to you whenever it is convenient for the customer, which is a new twist that I find very nice.  Most wineries want to unload the wine as soon as you buy it.  For those who might be out of town for a prolonged period, it's nice that you can have them hold your wine for you, if desired, for a few months.  That seems like good customer service to me................VC
        Reply to this
    • 6/21/2006 2:23 PM DA wrote:
      I didn't mean to imply that Sea Smoke is anything other than very courteous in their dealings. They're just not big on the "Napa style tasting room" stuff. Many of the best small, wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley don't spend a lot of time on the wine tourist trade. They're still generally friendly and eager to share how they do what they do with the public if you call ahead.
      Reply to this
      1. 6/22/2006 10:06 PM VinoCritic wrote:

        I think many people have had the same experience as you.  They expected a big tasting room and a walk up anytime and taste policy, only to find that many of the smaller Santa Barbara wineries are not equipped for such activities.  For whatever it's worth, many Italian, Spanish, and other "old-world" wineries are the same.  You need to contact them well in advance if you want a tour and a tasting.  For those who have gone to the trouble of doing so, I have heard many stories that the effort was well worth it.  I have had no personal experience with Sea Smoke other than having recently joined their mailing list and ordered wines from them.

         

        So who here has tried any of the 2004 Sea Smokes?  They were released several weeks ago!  I just got my allocation recently, and have not yet tried one.


        Reply to this
    Leave a comment

    Submitted comments are subject to moderation before being displayed.

     Name

     Email (will not be published)

     Website

    Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.



      
    Copyright 2005 http://BLOG.VINOCRITIC.COM. All rights reserved.