Winery News

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.

“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…”

“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.”

Carr Winery has been tucked away in what looks to be just another steel Quonset hut on the outskirts of downtown Santa Barbara for just under ten years. However, once inside, it’s a completely different story. The walls of the structure curve up into forty foot ceilings and wrap around a sea of stacked wine barrels, oddly resembling the interior of a barrel itself. The wood paneled bar and large stainless steel equipment in the room emit an unforgettable ambiance that leads you into completely forgetting what the exterior of the building even looks like. Who would have ever thought that this all stemmed from 10 cases of wine made in a trash can?

If you have been to our Santa Barbara location recently, you may have noticed there are some exciting changes going on in the tasting room. Your eyes have not deceived you – we are expanding! The winery is getting a makeover, and the list of all the things you love about Carr is about to get a little longer.

“You can now catch live music every Friday evening at Carr Winery’s Warehouse tasting room in Santa Ynez. With a large lineup of both local and traveling musicians, winemaker Ryan Carr and his wife Jessica hope to draw members of the community in for some fun.”

“This Saturday, Carr Winery will come alive with the sizzling sight of wine bottles bent into entirely new and beautiful shapes when Santa Barbara glass artist Seth Brayer debutsPyroCycled, an exhibit of elegantly and intricately designed pieces and light fixtures that he’s formed from recycled wine bottles. The event runs 6-9 p.m., and at 7:30 p.m., Brayer will show how he distorts the bottles into one-of-a-kind, kelp-like coils and spindles during a live demo. Drawn to turning discarded objects into entirely new things, Brayer’s technique was inspired by Kitty City, the cat enclosure he built at his home out of recycled cardboard. “Through the power of the furnace and the heat of the fire, it gives me the opportunity to kind …

You’ve done Napa, Sonoma and Monterey, and visited their most important wineries. But there’s so much more to California wine, which you’ll explore on the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail. There are almost 30 wineries downtown, so you’ll want to do your homework before you set out. Most venues feature tasting rooms, but call first because some require appointments. Fees range from $5 to $15 per winery and include samples of five to eight wines. Most do not sell food, but weekends feature a number of food trucks along the route.

“Located in downtown Santa Barbara, Carr Vineyards is a quaint winery that produces its wine from locally sourced grapes from Santa Barbara County.”

As in May, when I focused an entire column on merlot, I’d like to spotlight another single grape varietal: Today, cabernet franc.

Cab franc is similar to merlot in that it’s also a Bordeaux varietal, and is not extensively planted in Santa Barbara County since it thrives with heat, and our region isn’t big on heat.

As a bonus, cab franc offers its fans a catchy moniker: “Franc-o-philes.” How can you go wrong?