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“Light-ish garnet with crystal-clear edges and considerable sediment.. A beguiling blend of smoke, motor oil, dust and RIDICULOUS spicy sweet perfume explode out of the nose. Cassis and cold tea with milk. Almost-fat tincture of blueberry and pie-crust are buoyed along with an earthiness and briar I would come far short of calling ‘green’.”

Romance is at the heart of what makes Santa Barbara tick. Lovebirds have been flocking to The American Riviera® for engagements, elopements, weddings, honeymoons and romantic retreats for well over a century. With more than 200 wineries in Santa Barbara County, winery weddings are a particularly delicious option. If an urban winery is more your flavor, check out the barrel room in the Carr Winery tasting room in downtown Santa Barbara.

Medium bodied and garnet colored, this wine gave off different aromas as it breathed the warmth of our home. Vegetables and wet earth on opening, we later experienced dark chocolate and dark berries on the nose. The flavors were pungent spice, black pepper, and chocolate. All very enjoyable…

So you may be thinking, why should I plan my wedding at a Santa Barbara winery? Picture-perfect vineyards, romantic sunsets, spectacular scenery and some of the best wine in the world. Still need convincing? With more than 300 days of sunshine, you can also expect your weddings to be rain-free!

Now you need to narrow down your list of options. With over 100 wineries in Santa Barbara county, the choices are staggering. You can chose a picturesque country setting, a vibrant urban setting and just about everything in between. We wanted to make it a little easier for you. After much research, we narrowed our list down to the five best options.

From the outside, visitors might be hard-pressed to imagine some of Santa Barbara County’s best wines are kept in Carr Vineyards’ Santa Ynez tasting room for aging. Inside, it’s a different story. The tasting room and warehouse on Numancia Street is rustic and artsy — a place where wine is celebrated, rather than merely sampled.

It’s rare to see a quality Cabernet Franc, as they are usually blended with other Bordeaux wines. Ryan, however, has found a niche for growing and nurturing this grape so it can stand alone as its own varietal. And he’s been making it to high acclaim for over a dozen years.

Santa Barbara features hundreds of wedding locations – many historical, some modern; but few have the eclectic and funky, unique charm of the up and coming FunkZone. Featuring wineries, breweries, “it” restaurants, galleries and fun shops, this is an easy stroll over from lower State Street by the railway tracks. Tucked in the FunkZone is Carr Winery, one of our favorite FunkZone locations for private events.

“Work hard, play hard and source really good fruit… it all starts from the fruit!” – Jessica Carr

Since 1999, Owner/Winemaker/Sommelier Ryan Carr and wife Jessica Carr have been developing an impeccable assortment of Pinot wines – crisp, juicy and delicious. Established in downtown Santa Barbara, their main tasting room is inside of a quonset hut. If the corrugated structure doesn’t enthrall you to enter, Jessica’s warm smile and innate ability to promote her product will have you become a member of their 800+ wine club. The decor is modern yet industrial with a saloon-ish style bar with wine on tap. Adjacent is an outdoor comfy patio where you and a group of friends can soak up a session while basking in the sunshine. 

Fall is the perfect time to explore Santa Barbara’s Urban Wine Trail — an impressive collection of Santa Barbara County wineries and tasting rooms — whether you’re a first-time visitor or know its quirky path by heart.

If you’re one of the thousands who’ve descended on Santa Barbara for Fiesta this week, you probably already know – this is a wine lover’s haven. The wines coming out of here are some of the best in all of …

Greg Northcutt | Jul 26, 2017 Editor’s Note: The abbreviation, Sta., for Santa reflects industry use to differentiate the name of the appellation in the Santa Rita Hills area of Santa Barbara County from Vina Santa Rita, the older internationally trademarked name of …

Carr Winery is pleased to present the July featured artist, Jon Carr, for the Summer Art Series.

The Inn Crowd, hosted by producer Craig Case with Chef Michael Hutchings presents a day at the Carr Winery. Ryan and Jessica Carr graciously invited us into their winery to tape a delicious edition of The Inn Crowd. Ryan Carr is the owner, winemaker and grower for Carr Vineyards & Winery. Growing up in Southern California Ryan always had an interest in farming, but never expected he would end up in the wine industry. After graduating from the University of Arizona with an Art degree, Ryan moved to Santa Ynez Valley in California where he discovered the wine industry. With just a taste of some of the local wines he decided to pursue a career in viticulture. He began working in the fields pruning vines with one of the local vineyard management companies.

Father’s Day is just around the corner and buying Dad a gift can be hard. Let’s face it, Dad’s tired of getting tools and ties for Father’s Day. We all know what he really wants… wine! But what kind of wine? Well we’ve created a foolproof guide to pairing your dad with his perfect wine!

“Located in downtown Santa Barbara on the same strip as exciting restaurants, bars and shops, Carr Winery provides a warm and intriguing welcome with its rounded ceiling of dark wooden planks matching the barrels—both wooden and steel—that fill the room…”

Buying wine and drinking wine are the easiest components of experiencing wine, but what about the hard parts? What about proper aging, storage, decanting and serving? Understanding and practicing good wine keeping techniques can completely transform the way you enjoy fine wines and we’re here to help!

“Light ruby with barely-staining pink edges. Crisp bright celery and blanched peas create a voluptuous earth-bound beauty in an other-worldly conniption-fit of citrus minerality and metallica. Expressive poivre in fat rails on dirty album-covers translates to shards of vegetal and tannins seamlessly siamesed with acid and high-notes of mint and ester. No *donut-wine* here, this thing delivers A to Z but is NOT for the fat, ripe, jam & butter crowd. This is red wine for people who like real wine. A perfect coupling of *lean & mean* and California concentration.”

The first visible sign of life in the vine after winter dormancy is bud break. These tiny little fuzzy buds hold the future of the vine and the outcome of this next harvest within it’s tiny, beady cluster. Bud break within the vineyards is the second step towards Harvest 2017.

Ryan Carr of Carr Vineyard and Winery is indeed adventurous! His first job was making snowboards, then went to the University of Arizona for graphic design and worked for a landscape company. It was in college that he took a class on plant science, a seed was planted, and since 1999 he has been farming vineyards and making wine– what an adventure! When Ryan made his way to the Santa Ynez Valley he thought he would start a graphic design business. Little did he know he know the adventurous path that laid ahead…

While Harvest 2017 doesn’t officially start until the fall, the vines have already started preparing for the big day. Step one is Pruning, a process involving the trimming down of the old growth in preparation for new growth and fruit production.

“‘Twas the night before Christmas,
and all through the house,
Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul,
With a corn cob pipe and a button.. ”

Okay, well maybe that isn’t how it goes. But I guess that happens when you mix a little wine and old Christmas stories. You know what else happens when you mix wine and Christmas? The Twelve Wines of Carr Christmas, a collection of twelve wines and a snazzy twist on a true holiday Classic. Enjoy!