Thanksgiving: Wine tasting in Santa Barbara

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Thanksgiving, a time of year when family and friends gather round to spend time together and reflect on all they have to be grateful for, most of which being each other. In an attempt to not miss our families and friends on the East Coast too much over the holiday, Drew and I decided to take our family of two wine tasting in one of the most memorable places in California, Santa Barbara. With so many things to be grateful for, it wasn't hard finding something new to "Cheers" to.

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There are so many great things about wine tasting, including the fact that you can start drinking wine at 11am without worrying about anyone looking at you funny. With that being said, after breakfast we found ourselves headed inland towards Santa Ynez for our first stop at Carr Winery.

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We started with the whites, followed by the reds, ending with a heated game of shuffle board. Yep that's right, shuffle board. Not only does this winery have delicious Pinot's and Cab's, but they also have games, such as backgammon, chess and shuffle board, built in to their handmade wine barrel tables! And for a victory drink? Wine please.

We also fell in love with the David J Diamant art work on the walls:

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After a few more rounds of shuffle board and another taste of Carr's Pinot Noir, we decided it was best we head to our next destination while it was still an option. Luckily, all the wineries in SB are about a mile or less apart, so in less than 4 minutes we had arrived to what would be our home for the next few hours, Sunstone Winery.

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With its Tuscan style windows, old stone walls and soft candle lighting in the tasting rooms, we felt as if we had stepped right into the European countryside.

We thoroughly enjoyed the wine, especially their gold metal winning Viognier, and I am not a white wine person so that says A LOT, we tried their unique olive oil and balsamic dips, the chocolate balsamic was wild!, and had an incredible time exploring the nearby vineyards and fields.

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Below is an example of the Viognier at work:

Before heading home, we decided to stop for a bite in the quaint little Danish town of Solvang, made famous in the 2004 movie Sideways.

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Drew was like a kid in a candy store, literally. From barrels of wine to barrels of taffy.

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Aebleskivers, traditional Danish pancakes, cooked in a cast iron pan and served in the shape of a sphere. They're similar to doughnut holes, but sweeter and served hot with syrup or jam and powdered sugar. Drew was in pancake ball bliss.

After a weekend of giving thanks and enjoying each other's company, we left for home that evening feeling as if we had even more to be grateful for. Cheers to having glasses half full ;)