Belle Marie Winery

10/23 5:17pm

Nicole

When you're in town from San Francisco (and regularly cruise up to Napa or Sonoma for wine) you're not exactly EXPECTING to wine taste in North County. Yeah, not at all. But my in-laws have certainly experienced the best of Napa and Santa Barbara, so I trust them when they say they found something worth checking out.

In fact, of all the little wineries I found around the area, this was the only one they felt was noteworthy. Upon arriving we were greeted right away and found the staff to be quite friendly. The grounds are a bit on the cheesy side in comparison to the older more established vineyards (the castle reminds me more of a family fun center than a winery) but they make up for it in personality. Mr Dragoo (yes really) is quite entertaining and provided us with a special pre-release glass that was quite impressive. Too bad it's not for sale just yet...guess i'll have to go back.


I found the wine prices a bit high for what they were, but for a $5 tasting and free glass it's a great way to spend an afternoon.

Just beware that Mrs. Dragoo is an excellent salesperson. She talked us into buying a third bottle to waive the tasting fee (aka, I bought another $26 bottle to save $5...what a clever marketing genius!) ;)

Bonus: Dog-Friendly...Appeared to be dog friendly as there was a boxer in the tasting room.