217G Stearns Wharf

This small tasting room is an excellent place to taste local and California wines.  The store is located near Moby Dicks, right on the wharf.  Their tasting room is up a flight of stairs and through a craft shop.  However, if you make the trek, you will find a charming tasting room reminiscent of an old-world pub.  Unlike some tasting rooms, Stearns Wharf allows you to choose from dozens of wines lined up along the bar.

It is here that I discovered the Chimere Pinot Noir and Mosby Pinot Grigio long before I made it to their tasting rooms.  Both wines were quite excellent and were among the early shapers of may "Santa Barbara wine respect."  (It's one thing to write a series of web pages on local wines and it's quite another to realize how truly excellent many of them are!)  The location of this tasting room is prime wharf territory and offers fabulous views of the city over the ocean inlet.

Directions:
Take the 101 to the heart of Santa Barbara.  Exit on Garden Street and turn towards the ocean.  Drive until you reach Cabrillo.  You can park along the street or drive out onto the Wharf.  (Remember to get your ticket validated if you do go out on the Wharf - parking costs are steeper there.)  Walk out onto the Wharf just past the Santa Barbara Ice Cream Shop.  The stairs to the tasting room are around the corner.  Go up the flight of stairs and through the gift shop.