On Sun, 12 Jun 2011 22:55:59 +0000 (UTC), David Hatunen
wrote:

Many people consider the best California wines to come from Santa
Barbara,

How many people? Santa Barbara has some fine wines (I don't know about
the Simi Valley), but I suspect if you were to make the claim that the
*best* wines come from there, instead of the Alexander and Napa Valleys,
or Sonoma in front of the natives in those areas you'll have the natives
looking for some rope and a sturdy tree branch.

I'll take my chances with the lynch mobs -- I'd rather drink pinot noirs from
Brewer-Clifton and Melville than anything else I've tried from California
(except for zins like Turley and Ridge, which, of course, have no European
equivalents). But then I'm an ABCer, both red and white.

which is only ~60 miles nw of LA. And Simi Valley is known for
its wine.

But they're rarely called "wine country" by foreign tourists.

True, but this OP just might be one of those.

-- Larry