Samsara Wines

I don’t review a lot of wineries, but these guys have really bad form. They literally slammed the door (well, rolled down the garage door) in our face at 4:45 on a SATURDAY! We ended up walking across the way to Arcadian where we bought about $ 100 worth of wine and were out of there about 5:05. We’re not rich, but we do have a wine budget and we both also pour in tasting rooms. Although I know how it is to get a drunk taster who plops him/​herself down for an hour when you are trying to close, we are not those people. However, they do exist and on a Saturday afternoon you should be a little more flexible and welcome their sales. There will come a day that you can really use that $ 100 bucks.

If you like Pinot Noir this is the place for you. I liked all of the Pinot Noirs I tasted as well as the Grenache rose but what really stuck out to me was the Syrah. I do not usually gravitate towards Syrah’s but there was something about this one. Definitely worth a stop in if you are trying wines in the neighborhood.

Ridiculously good Pinots that shout complexity while retaining brightness and flavor. The nice thing is that all these elements blend together nicely. Even the peppery taste that comes from the stems blended well with the other elements.
The pourer was employee #2/​cellar partner. I love it when they pour wines, since they just share all they know, and they know LOTS. Always love to talk with someone who understands their wine and not just sells them.

The rebirth of Pinot Noir, perhaps? Nah, I wouldn’t call it the rebirth, reinvention or reinvigoration of neither Pinot Noir or Syrah. EXCEPTION: The 2010 Pinot Noir — Cargassachi Vineyard ($ 56 bottle) is a gold-​ribbon worthy beauty. About the place: The tasting room is no-​frills and the barrel warehouse is on the other side of the door. If the tasting room isn’t occupied by anyone else, perhaps the guy behind the counter will show you the stock room. #brainy

Another favorite wine maker in the Lompoc Wine Ghetto. The guy that is always there– I forget his name!– is soooo cool. He is super knowledgeable and always treats us so kindly. Super down to earth and world class wines. A must stop when in Lompoc.
* Ask to see the barrel room… they may just let you– so cool to see behind the scenes which is an advantage of this low key wine zone.

OK this was a cool little surprise. Another winery recommended that we try this place out. We walked in on a slow Saturday afternoon and shared the wine room with another couple. We tasted everything and really enjoyed them all. We were given a tour of the small back room that contained all the barrels of wine. We actually got to sample the wine straight from the barrel. I was very impressed with the wines and the service here. Seriously wine ghetto, you make our trips special every time!

Chad Melville is making some of the most dynamic and interesting Syrah, Pinot and Grenache around. His whole cluster fermentation imparts an earthiness and depth– a must try tasting room when you’re in Lompoc.

Just spent today at Samsara and Lee was our amazing host!
He educated us about the entire process and about the geography of the area. Can’t say enough thanks for your hospitality and fantastic wine tasting. Every wine on the tasting was awesome and could not say one was better than the other.
Thanks again and hope to see you soon!

Loved Samsara wine. The first time I tried this was at Gary Danko in SF. So we dedided to hunt for their tasting room in Lompoc. The girl that helped us, Jen, was completely adorable. We enjoyed our wine and was not surprised that the owner and wine maker was the son of Melville! We bought 2 bottles and probably would have bought more if we hadn’t bought a whole case of Melville 20 minutes earlier. Awesome wine!

Hubby was very, very excited about hitting Samsara after we bought some of their wine at a recent Charlie Palmer cellar sale. Little did we know that their «tasting room» would be in a place called the «Wine Ghetto» Yup, I said it, but this is actually what it’s called and I have the brochure to prove it.
I thought we were lost. My GPS thought so too. We ended up in a part of town so scary I wanted to put the roof up on my BMW stat. You see, that’s what living in Orange County will do to you after a while.
We eventually found Samsara. In a place I might have brought an old car to get fixed. But I digress… On to the wine. It was as good as I remembered it. The gentleman working there was very informative and we enjoyed the half hour we spent there talking to him. And of course, we didn’t end up walking out empty handed. I highly recommend the Syrah. The wines at Samsara aren’t cheap (by no means a weekly porch pounder) but well worth it, especially with a nice, well thought out dinner.

I purchased a bottle of their 2007 Las Hermanas pinot noir, and it was an excellent pinot noir. I think this is a good vineyard in the area – believe it was the old Fess Parker’s Ashley’s vineyard. This is a good buy. I purchased some Chardonnay back in the days when Fess Parker was producing from this vineyard, and it produces wonderful grapes.
Anyway, nothing else at the tasting really struck my fancy at all. Too bad this tasting room is in the Wine Ghetto in an industrial park in Lompoc. One of the reasons for my coming up and tasting in this area is to enjoy the pretty scenery, and this ain’t one of the places. But it’s worth a stop if you’re heading out to this area anyway.

5 Stars
Samsara was the biggest shock of the trip.
You expect to try good wine at a vineyard, you expect to try good wine at a well known tasting room, you expect to try good wines at a famous wine shop. What do you not expect???
Dundundum… Samsara… You walk into a tiny warehouse… pretty barren except for a small tasting counter in the back, a circular tank fermenting grapes on the right, and a few barrels aging wine on the left. But conundrums happen, and Holy Crap Chad Melville has schooled his dad in wine making in every possible way! Dear lord the wines coming out of this little garage are loaded with love, passion, and uniqueness. You can taste and smell the amount of creativity and perfection that went into each bottle.
DO NOT miss Samsara on your trip up north you’ll regret it!
Again I stupidly left my tasting sheet there. But so many were excellent and I bought a few bottles, so i’ll do my best to steer you in the right direction.
Grenache Rosé, 2008 (The nose on this Grenache puts Foley’s to shame. It’s loaded with strawberries, watermelon, spring air, and raspberries. But the taste was not as good as the aroma, although It was still a beautiful Rosé. I found Foley’s to be more to my liking, Samsara’s was a bit too mellow for me.)
~5.5 out of 7 Stars
Pinot Noir, Las Hermanas, 2007 (Bottle up a deep dark mossy forest, blend some black indian ink with Lapis Lazuli, add some purple iris’s, drop in some candied figs, plums, orange peel, and the essence of Ume, and Cedar; this absolutely stunning wine is what you would get. It’s intensity is like the first time you taste a fresh black truffle, or taste foie gras at Animal in LA, the smell of it made me high. It has an unbelievable bouquet and an equally mystical taste. Of course I bought a bottle.) Parker gave this a 91 and Chad’s Pinot Noir Melville 2006 a 94. I have to disagree as i’ve tasted both, I’d give this wine a 95 and the Melville a 92.
~6.8 out of 7 stars
Syrah, Melville, 2006 (Their description of this wine uses words like Black Olives, Bacon fat, Blackberries, earthiness, and charcoal. I agree with all these but I’d add that this wine is a very distinct pepper kick to it. In fact it’s the most separate identifiable pepper I’ve ever tasted in a wine.) Absolutely superb!!! Parker gave this one a 94 it turns out. Yes I bought a bottle…
~6.7 out of 7 stars
Pinot Noir, Melville 2007 (This wine has a beautiful dark blueberry and jammy aroma. It’s tannins are almost perfectly balanced. By the end of my trip i’d tasted the 2005 at another tasting room, and the 2007 at this one. They’re both unique, but I prefer the roundness of the 05; however I could see the 07 besting it in a few years. This wine didn’t blow me away like the Las Hermanas did, although if I hadn’t bought the Las Hermanas I would have instantly bought this.)
~6 out of 7 Stars
I also tasted another syrah there i’d rate a 5.5, and another pinot i’d rate about 6. Chad and his wife Mary have magic fingers. One can only hope that if they ever decided to go big time and expand the quality will not go down. Most of his wines are only about 100 – 200 cases, that’s only one two barrels of wine for those of you that don’t know!

Wine Trip Part 4
Our third stop thru the Ghetto was Samsara which is a new project by Chad Melville. The Samsara tasting room also just opened in the Ghetto a few months back. Chad’s father owns Melville Vineyards,
Melville Pinot Noir’s are some of the best in Central coast. Samsara shows a lot of potential as well. We tasted 3 Pinots, 2 sirahs and 1 rose. All the wines showed a lot of the same characteristics from Melville wines. My only complaint would have to be that pricing should be a bit lower for a new upstart project. I was very satisfied though with all of the wines.
Give them a try!
Cheers