Santa Rita Hills, Buellton, California
By: Sarah O'Brien - Senior Editor - floatingcork.com
The outside of Sanford has an artsy quality to it – a bright red barn-type building with plants surrounding, as if each were placed in their spot by brilliant design. We visited the tasting room in Buellton - I hear they have locations in Lompoc as well. Although the establishment was quaint and intimate, we were at first taken aback a bit because the winery travel guide described the architecture as being “the largest handmade adobe structure since the missions were built” and all we saw was wood. Tricky Sanford – silly us, vineyard in Lompoc, tasting room nestled in the Santa Rita Hills. With a shrug of the shoulders, we entered.
The small room was bustling with visitors but the staff accommodated us quickly; $5 a tasting fully refunded with the purchase of a bottle. I love an incentive to buy wine. We were not welcome to keep the glass – which was fine by me as I end up breaking them in a breath anyway. Unfortunately for Sanford, this information was not pairing well with one of their guests. With a shout and a squeal of the tires to follow suit – a guest refused to believe that he could not keep the glass as a token of his special visit to Sanford…and stole it.
The event, which went completely unnoticed by me (I was filled in later – I was, at the time, very engrossed in the beautiful floral labels decorating the room), turned the mood sour. I all-of-a-sudden felt as though I was surrounded by teenagers – the staff got cliquey, defensive, called the cops on the guest and ignored the rest (that would be us). My friends and I quickly moved through the tasting, figured things out for ourselves, bought our discounted wine, and drove off (without squealing our tires).
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