Wine on a Dime

There are exactly 923,458 wineries in Santa Barbara County, with some of the choicest located in and around the off-coastal town of Los Olivos. I used to live not terribly far from there, and every fall, some friends and I would pilgrimage up that way on a daylong tasting excursion. I never said anything about this, but I always used to dread the part that involved our stop at the Firestone Vineyard. The musty cellar looked and felt like the anteroom at any state hospital for the criminally insane-ominous shafts of light cut the ambient echoes exponentially while the casks hid the ax murderers from view.

Hard to believe such a sinister place produced a 2005 Central Coast Riesling Vineyard Select to die for. This thing has everything going for it that the Firestone basement didn't-it's airy and friendly and warm, spiced with mildly dry pinches of apricot and honeysuckle. Cut a wedge of lemon and break out the seafood or ham; momentarily, those nasties from the basement yield to visions of the breezy central coast and everything else that beautiful Santa Barbara County has to offer.

What's even cooler is that this item's available for a mere $8.99. That means you don't have to drive up north and spend time on the tour. You'll save on gas, and you won't have to worry about the bad guys in the cellar.

-Martin Jones Westlin