The Central Coast of California is a gigantic area that spans from the northern part of L.A. to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay. I spent a week visiting this area. After lunch with a high school friend in Beverly Hills and a Cubs/Dodgers game, I found myself at the winery of Brian Loring, owner and wine maker for Loring Wine Company.  Winery is not the best word, actually. Warehouse is more fitting.  Brian sources his fruit, mainly Pinot Noir, from a handful of different vineyards from around Santa Barbera County all the way up to Sonoma. It’s easier for him to have a centralized location where he has a big space to comfortably work with all of the different vineyards he sources from.  

We tasted through a lot of barrels. His Chardonnay in French oak and American oak was cool to taste through. We tasted through his single vineyard Pinots as well. Different clones, different barrels and different lots, one could get bogged down, but it was fun to compare. Brian was a great host.  He’s hilarious, down to Earth and passionate about his wines.