Second Chance Wine Tasting Room

It’s straight up pricey surplus wine. and they detail it on their site. Think Charles Shaw with better connections and a hefty price tag.
Our taster was kinda buzzed, which I normally like but, she charged us for a $ 10 tasting even though we bought 2 bottles. Even a port which is kinda pricey, especially for this area (high overhead)
Their dessert syrah is amazing!
I wasn’t crazy about anything else but, my man liked the Riesling and we got that too and drank it on a Tuesday. It’s not a weekend wine. I mean, you can drink it any day really but, it’s not special occasion vino.
I’ve been to both Cottonwood tasting rooms and so far, Santa Maria was my fave. However, I’m a lil over the pickled pairings.
Listen, I hate pickled anything, stop trying to make pickled pairings happen ya’ll.

So amazing please stop by and say hi to Jane! She mad my family and I feel so comfortable!

4 stars for the service, food pairing, and quality wine.
I wish I could give –4 stars for the labels. They’re hideous. Ugly. Absolutely atrocious.
With that said, I hope you don’t judge a wine by its label! If you’re not a label buyer (people who look at a random bottle of wine and buy it because it looks pretty) then you should make a stop here.
There’s not too many wine stops in Avila Beach anyway, so you can knock them all out in one trip. At Second Chance, they do a wonderful food pairing (pickled veggies and stuff) to go with their wine. The guy who used to work here would do the most random pairings (potato chips) and they would actually work out. He knew his stuff and even gave me a copy of his food pairing/​cookbook. Last I heard, he’s operating out of their other tasting room now, but no worries… the lady here is just as knowledgeable and fun.
Second Chance is conveniently located by Peloton and other tasting rooms. Just be careful on the staircase going up… =]]
But back to label… I have no idea who designed their label… or why they look like props from a pirate film… but they’re soooo ugly. I know I know… the taste of the wine is what should be important… but we all know the label matters a tiny bit. Pleaseeeee change these labels… they need help!

Cute tasting room with friendly and knowledgeable staff.
Stopped in here to do some more wine tasting after lunch. The lady working that day was very friendly and I was most impressed with her knowledge of wines. She brought out cheeses, olives and other food items to pair with the wines we selected of the tasting menu, all the while explaining the different aromas and flavors unique to each wine.
$ 5 for 7 tastes, no free wine glass.

Tucked in a brick courtyard a block from the beach, you’ll find a cute wine tasting room called Second Chance. The wines are grown and harvested in Santa Maria at Cottonwood Canyon Vineyards, the owners of Second Chance. The tasting room with its memorable red wall, has a very cool little bar made from wine barrels and staves. The tasting fee is $ 5.00 to taste 7 really nice wines. The 2010 Riesling is very good as are the 2009 Pino Noir and Swiss Clone Pinot Noir. The Syrah won the Gold/​Best in Class awards from Sunset Magazine recently and is worthy of the awards. The 2009 Pino is my favorite followed by the delicious blackberryish Dessert Syrah. Yummy! The folks hosting the tasting room are always friendly and knowledgeable. Jane, Cyndee and Randy have always been perfect hosts in their tasting room. They know much about the local restaurants and things to do in the area. My husband and I like the fact we can take any of the wines to the local restaurants without a corkage fee. This whole wine tasting trail of 7 wineries in the beautiful area of Avila Beach is thie going thing. It’s great to stop in at a few tasting rooms, have lunch followed by a walk on the beach, and end the latet afternoon with a couple more tasting rooms before heading home or even better heading to the Sycamore Hot tubs. Perfect!