Riverbench Santa Barbara Tasting Room - Santa Barbara, California

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We tasted 5 still wines and 4 sparkling wines.
And a wonderful hostess let us taste an extra sparkling!
According to the hostess, this winery is very good at Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, and I feel so too.
I liked the Bedrock Chardonnay the most.

Michelle C.

We had two Chardonnay’s and loved the atmosphere and customer service. Great place for your first glass of the evening.

B P.

Thank you to Regan who gave us the best experience at Riverbench. Had some stunning sparkling which could rival champagne. Regan has great energy and is a natural host - thank you so much for making Santa Barbara memorable!

Valérie L.

Boutique winery. All the wines are from estate grown grapes, all SIP certified ( sustainable practices). We found both the Pinots and the chardonnays exceptional. They also make sparkling wines, which we did not taste. The tasting room in the funk zone of Santa Barbara had indoor and outdoor sitting.

Tammra S.

Friendly staff, cool atmosphere, love the glitter bottles, and the sparkling flight was delicious. Server was the sweetest even making local reccomendations.

K H.

Really enjoyed the wines & this experience!

They had three flight options - all Pinot, mixed Chardonnay & Pinot, and an all sparkling flight.

We shared the Pinot and mixed flights, but also tried three of the sparkling (the cuvée, Blanc de Blanca and Blanc de Noir), so got to try a bit of everything and have to say it was all excellent!

The sparklings were elegant and complex, and we found the Pinots to also be diverse and also very elegant, but with a lot of character.

The two chardonnays we had were great with one being oaked and one unoaked.

They also had a carbonic Pinot Meunier which was so fun and surprising.

All small production from their vineyards in the Santa Rita hills, and most of the wines we tried were 2017/2018 vintage and were tasting beautifully.

Brad was our host and was knowledgeable, friendly and patient with our group.

They have a relaxed tasting room and charming back patio area outside, next to restaurants and other tasting rooms. We were allowed to bring some outside food to enjoy out back, though I recommend eating before or after the tasting, since our food did interfere with some of the flavors in some cases.

They had a charcuterie tray available for purchase that looked really good as well.

I’m so happy we found this spot and hope to stop here again on a future visit

Heather P.

Amazing sparking. 2nd favorite winery in Santa Barbara. Blanc de noirs is our favorite—fruity, bright and acidic, with a nice balance of yeast. Heather is an OUTSTANDING and super fun wine educator—the best we experienced in Santa Barbara.

Quentin A.

In Santa Barbara for birthday weekend and went to Riverbench Tasting room in the Funk Zone. RB is small batch winery of Foxen Canyon Road fame. Had the pinot noir flight which was delicious. 2019 Palm, 2018 Mount Eden, 2018 Clone 115, 2017 Mesa and the 2013 Tributary. I'll have to go back and retaste these to tell you my favorite as they were all outstanding. The nose on all the pinots was quite distinct and perfumy. The best part of the whole deal was that I decided to join one of their wine clubs and learned that my tasting and my wife's was complimentary. So I had some great pinot, sort of for free (wine club cost was around $125 or so), and also get 9 bottles of their choice pinot per year. Brad our server was excellent and offered some excellent suggestions for thai asian food in the area.

Side note. A couple came in while we were tasting and Paul the husband was originally from Rockville Centre, NY where my old boss, Denis Dillon, former Nassau County DA lived and I grew up next door in Hempstead. We went down the rabbit hole of high schools, Southside basketball stars of the 70s, Chelsea, Arsenal, etc. football in the UK. Great afternoon. The best news is that as a club member I can go back for more complimentary tastings.