Craftsmanship in Rhone varietals bottled at Tercero Wines on our Santa Ynez Valley wine tasting!

Doing some Santa Barbara County wine tasting? Stroll a block off the main drag in Los Olivos and you’ll happen upon a Santa Ynez Valley wine tasting room worthy of your exploration. Eclectic defines Tercero Wines and its winemaker, Larry Schaffer. The wines are well-crafted formulations which bring out the character of the very eclectic Rhone varieties he chooses to showcase, including the Rhone varietals cinsault, grenache blanc (tres yummy!), rousanne, marsanne, counouise, carignan, mourvedre…and more!

Larry is the story, (and the most “eclectic” part of the operation), which he enjoys sharing with wine enthusiasts exploring Central Coast wine tasting rooms. Making a mid-life career change might seem risky for some, but our sense is Larry is one of those people whose curiosity becomes a passion, which becomes a driver propelling him to achieve the loftiest heights of his chosen pursuit, and then, from this pinnacle, wanderlust – his curious eye looks for the next seed of wonderment to cultivate and explore. 🙂

Seriously, this guy went from a hugely successful career in the publishing industry, and decided, hey wine is pretty cool too.  Not a hobbyist, he went back to school in a totally unrelated field to get his Oenology degree from the renowned UC Davis program and worked with Fess Parker Winery to earn his chops in the industry before heading out to captain his own ship as Tercero Wines. Gutsy! And, he’s a fabulous baker, too – if he’s there when you go in to taste (which he often is), you’ll likely be invited to sample his perfectly crafted (of course!) breads — the daily bread on our sampling day had a perfect crust and the slightest hint of blue cheese, a great complement to enhance some of the exotic notes in the varietals being poured that day.

With Priority Wine Pass, our central coast wine passport of choice, we enjoyed this free wine tasting in Los Olivos (complimentary as part of the pass, without the pass, tastings are $15 per person, wines are $30 for all whites, $40 for reds)