Longoria Wines Tasting Room

What is so cool about the wine ghetto is that it’s for serious drinkers of wine that are here to try new wines in the search of something special. It is wine tasting without pretension. Or so I thought.
The redheaded girl at Longoria redefined pretension. She said that she’s new so hopefully she is not representative of the other people that work here. We walked in upon the recommendation from the winemaker at Jalama Wines that we might find some nice Pinots at Longoria. We were ready to drop some serious coin on Pinot so when she said the tasting was $ 10 we said we would do 2 tastings and «see how it went», thinking we’d be spending some serious coin in there, and she said «we accept payment upfront and that’s not a joke». Woah. Okay. Like we are really going to stiff you on your $ 10 wine tasting fee, lady.
Things only got worse from there. When we described the type of Pinot that we’d had and loved and were looking for something similar to (it’s from Foxen and sold out), she basically insulted us and said that good Pinots shouldn’t taste like that and that we’re not going find anything like that anywhere in the ghetto. Okay. funny because we found a bunch at Flying Goat just down the way.
This was a very cold, unwelcoming experience all around. And the wines weren’t even that good. I did find a dessert Syrah that I liked and bought a bottle of, but not much else.
No thanks, Longoria.

I enjoy their wines, but I’m not sure if I’d go back to the tasting room. The experience was average. But, I do look forward to enjoying their wines with friends outside of the tasting room.

Great tasting at the wine Ghetto, Ricks wife poured our tasting and explain all about the wines. Rick came over for a bit to discuss his wines with us. He was very accommodating and spoke with us as long as we wanted. The wines were delicious and elegant. I really enjoy rick style of wine making. Over all a good experience.

Longoria was indeed a pleasant surprise with some fantastic Pinot Noirs sourced from the legendary Santa Rita Hills. The Lovely Rita was by far my favorite. Although we didn’t get a chance to actually meet Richard Longoria, his wife gave us the scoop behind their very small, but well-​executed operation.
Longoria offers up their wines in a very interesting tasting glass. You’ll be surprised how well this «tasting» glass works so to display the color and the nose to the sipper behind the glass. I’d recommend just popping in here to check that out. I’ll be searching out for these glasses to add to my collection just for reviewing wines.
As is most of the wineries in the ghetto — there’s lots of great people to meet behind the counters and some good stories shared while tasting some great wines. Many of the tasting rooms offer deals to Unilocal or _​_​_​_​square check-​ins, so make sure you check in BEFORE you start your tasting.
Note: Although these wines are quite good, I have a hard time giving nearly ANY wine or winery a 5-​star rating mainly because I’m a self-​admitted wine snob. Nothing against their wines or winery or staff at all, so don’t take my rating as a notch below par. Cheers!

The wine here was so good that I joined the wine club and bought half a case. Nuf said!

The wines are really superb. The tasting is done in a quaint and friendly establishment. The Pinot Noirs were quite excellent and tasting it outdoors in the courtyard was a fun setting. Really a great setting in Los Olivos and I highly recommend it!

«From the very beginning of my career I felt that the Santa Barbara wine region had the potential to produce world class wines and it’s been very gratifying to see that belief realized over the last 30 years I’ve been here. It’s also been very rewarding to have had the good fortune over the years to have some of my wines contribute to the acclaim of our wine region.» — Rick Longoria
This is my second time tasting wines at the Longoria facility at the Lompoc Wine Ghetto. The first was 8 years ago on another trip my friend Eric had organized on a non open to public day. We sat and tasted wine from bottles and barrels with owner/​winemaker Rick Longoria. Being one of the pioneers in this area he certainly had a sense of pride about his career and accomplishments.
8 years later a lot of Young Turks have stolen his thunder but Rick is still making very nice wines in a more classical style. This visit was on a Sunday with the masses but it was a cool event as they had their current Blues Cuvvee artist graffiting up a wine barrel outside. Plus the event was low-​key and the crowd enthusiastic. Rick and his wife were gracious hosts with a very nice spread of cheese and pork sliders available. Tasting fee was $ 10.00 and glass not included as tasting room staff corralled me as I was leaving to take the Longoria glass away from me :)
Wine was consistent with my favorites being a surprisingly delicious Tempranillo and the current release of the Blue Cuvee (a mutt wine created with a blend of five red grapes). Tasting staff was pleasant (except for taking my glass!) and we were able to meet Rick again. Not as long of a visit this time but he still looks the same whereas I look older :(I must have to drink more wine!