Sort this out Cellars: Vegas/Pinup Wine Bar in Solvang

While on our Solvang Wine Trip.....which was an absolute blast another fun place we stumbled across was Sort This Out Cellars.

Something you definitely wouldn't expect in old Solvang (the land of bakeries and wooden shoes).  Sort This Out Cellars is a fun little Pin-up themed...Wine Bar......The wine labels are fun and the wine was enjoyable as well.

We really liked this Cabernet that was a special label relating to the big Rockabilly weekend that happens in Vegas every year......

and we also liked the 

2009 Suited Chardonnay Gina Georgette

OM My Gosh Grenache!

They even had an Elvira themed wines

With the movie Swingers playing on the TV and a swanky back area hangout for their VIP's 

Pinup art covers the walls ....It had a really cool vibe.

 The day that we were there they ended up having a live musician on schedule to play later that evening so we headed back to hang out and enjoy the atmosphere some more. Unfortunately we don't have any pics of that but here is a link to their webpage....
Make sure to check it out the next time you are in Solvang.

http://www.sortthisoutcellars.com/

Our Facebook page is here https://www.facebook.com/2dollarwineconnoisseur

Ode to a Wine named Hanna....Our Favorite Wine of the moment.

My husband has a mistress........

Her name is Hanna.......

She comes from the Russian River Valley........

She is a blond with nice legs.......

and has quite a nose on her.......

We meet her in a little wine bar in Solvang......

And he has been madly in love with her every since.

But Seriously,  Our current favorite wine is definitely Hanna Chardonnay 

Here is their Website......We can't wait to visit this winery some day

http://www.hannawinery.com/

Not all Tiki's drink rum..... Kalyra Wines Santa Barbara Wine Tasting

When we found out that we were heading to Santa Barbara for the weekend...We rushed online to see what there was to do. One of the first things that caught our attention was something called the Urban Wine Trail  (which you can find at the link below.

http://www.urbanwinetrailsb.com/

Perfect!!!!  A walking trail in downtown Santa Barbara....where one can visit a bunch of different wine tasting places all within walking distance.  We checked out some of the Wine places online and immediately stumbled upon Kalyra Winery.  A Tiki/Australian themed wine place......Right up our alley since we are big fans of Tiki culture.  So this was where we would start our Santa Barbara wine adventure.

It was an inviting place for wine tasting.... Like an indoor Tiki Bar.... but instead of Rum drinks and Mai Tai's..... It was wine that quenched these tiki's thirsts.

With Classic Rock playing in the background we relaxed and settled in for a little Wine Tasting

As we worked our way through the wines, we really enjoyed the Pinot Blanco and Mc2 wines which were both light and refreshing blends 

 There were a couple of dessert wines on the tasting and neither of us are big fans of dessert wines....In fact we almost passed on the dessert wines altogether .....which would have been a big mistake. These 2 dessert wines were the hit of the tasting and made their way into our to go bag.

The first dessert wine.....with the fun and catchy name The Sticky Wicket. (which we are enjoying as we write this blog).

The other incredible dessert wine was the Rare Tawny......This is exactly what a dessert wine should be.  Until today all the dessert wines we had tasted before were to strong or too sugary sweet  (if that is possible for a dessert fan like us)....  The Kalyra dessert wines were just perfect....Totally complimentary with chocolate or fudge or even toffee (We are enjoying the Sticky Wicket now with Trader Joe's dark chocolate peanut butter cups, Yum!!!).

The cool tiki vibe and classic music and of course tasty wines (in their cool bottles) has definitely put Kalyra at the top of our list of favorite wines and tasting rooms!!!   

In short we loved this place and our overall experience gets two big thumbs up from these two wine connoisseur's !!!

Hang Loose and enjoy this wonderful wine tasting location.

Check out their Website below.......

http://www.kalyrawinery.com/

And last but not least here is a link to check out Blondepixals photo blog

 Photography by Kimberly Lynn

http://blondepixals.blogspot.com/2012/05/seal-beach-surfers.html

Our Facebook page is here https://www.facebook.com/2dollarwineconnoisseur

Taste of the Valley--Solvang Wine Bar

Solvang has sure changed over the years.  The Solvang that we remember from years ago was all windmills and bakeries and more bakeries and wooden shoes...... Now Solvang is bakeries and wine tasting and more wine tasting.  We planned on hitting many of the dozens of wine tasting locations, but after stumbling across the Tastes of the Valleys Wine Bar. We almost didn't leave.  Located downstairs from one of the main streets right near the Hans Christian Anderson Museum it was the perfect wine tasting experience.....

Like a hidden gem the Tastes of the Valleys called to us with its cool and inviting atmosphere. When we walked in to take a look around we were immediately greeted by Chris, his laid back style and choice of Classic rock music was just our style. 

We decided to stay for awhile and enjoy the tunes and of course chose a tasting of a group of White wines...

Hanna a Chardonnay from ( you guessed it) The Russian River Valley was the first up.With it's buttery texture and smooth finish it is no wonder it ended up being our favorite from this particular flight.

We discussed our love of the Russian River Valley Chardonnays with Chris and he clued us in to an event (Wine Barrel Tasting) which is on our wine bucket list now that takes place every year in the Russian River Valley during the first 2 weeks in March ......We have marked our calendar as a "Must" for next year.

 In general we are not big Rose wine tasters but these two were included in our flight so we gave them a try. They were both actually very pleasant but if I had to pick a favorite it would go to Margerum Rose. I actually had a second glass of this after the tasting which is rare for me. (Rare that I would choose a glass of Rose I mean) that is how much I enjoyed this particular wine. It was not too sweet and overall was just a very enjoyable wine.

 Wine, Cheese and my Camera does life get any better!!! 

 Here is a look at the Cellar type atmosphere of the Taste of the Valleys Wine Bar

This place was Great, we had a lot of fun listened to some great music has some great conversation and learned a little something new from our host Chris. It is safe to say we will definitely be returning here the next time we are up in the Santa Barbara/ Solvang area. A big two thumbs up from these 2 dollar wine connoisseur's!!! 

For more pics from our trip check out the best of pics from Santa Barbara at http://blondepixals.blogspot.com/2012/05/best-of-photos-from-santa-barbara-and.html

Our Facebook page is here https://www.facebook.com/2dollarwineconnoisseur

Wine Tasting in Carlsbad (Witch Creek Winery)

While on a recent trip to Carlsbad we ran across this tiny little tasting room called Witch Creek Winery.

Being the "wine connoisseurs" that we are we had to stop and check it out!! 

Upon entering the building we were not too impressed with the store / tasting room but thought what the heck for $5 bucks we would try the wine tasting featuring 6 wines. What a deal right! 

Can you say ...Reds ...Reds and more Reds.....It was like a Russian invasion there were so many red wines to taste.....And us being White wine lovers the only whites in sight were of the dessert variety.

The staff seemed busy so other than asking "What did you have last" and pointing to the list of what you were trying next there wasn't much explanation or conversation about the wines.

The Muscato was only one of two white wines that we were given the opportunity to try. We both found this wine to be a little too sweet for our taste but If you are a person who likes extra sweet wine than you would probably love this one! It would probably be good paired with a vanilla ice cream and fruit topping or even used as the base for a summer fruit Sangria. Not to mention is has a cute label!!

So all in all if you are a Red Wine lover than this might be a winery that you would like to check out.
As for us we did not find enough variety to peek our interest or keep us coming back for more ... 

Check back with us soon as we will give you some tips on hosting your very own backyard movie wine night!!  

Cheers~ Brad & Kim

for more pics from our trip Check out Kim's (Blonepixals) Photoblog at the link below

http://blondepixals.blogspot.com/2012/04/carlsbad-flower-fields.html

Our Facebook page is here https://www.facebook.com/2dollarwineconnoisseur