Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards

Santa Ynez Valley, California

By: Sarah O'Brien - Senior Editor - floatingcork.com

It wasn't the first time that I had to look up to see green, but it certainly felt like it. Each time I take a drive through the Santa Ynez Mountains I am enveloped and consumed by the giant rocks. On this particular mid-June trip to Southern California wine country the mountains were blanketed in velvety green, brought to us by a rain-soaked spring. The winding, carefree road leading the way to countless wineries was paved with vines. The sight oddly familiar to a native Minnesotan; rows of vines passed by at an accelerated pace look not so different from rows of corn. 

Jeff and I were with our friend Rob from Minneapolis and Zaca Mesa was the winery on the top of our list to visit. There are so many reasons as to why this is. The friendly pourers, the snappy wine, perhaps because the wines are born in a barn. Whatever the reasons we have another one to add to the list. Lucas, the pourer, remembered us from the last time we came. No, it wasn't just the previous week that we were there either. It had been just one month shy of a year since we visited ZM. It also crossed my mind that perhaps it was the last winery we hit of the day and that is why we were so memorable - but it was the first. Jeff suggested that we could be wearing the same shirts... a possibility but highly unlikely. No, the only situation that seems feasible is that our innate ability to drink wine (see the reviews below!) impressed Luke so much, perhaps as much as ZM's wines did us, that he embedded us into his memory, whatever the case, we will be back for more.