Happy Pride! To help you celebrate LGBTQ Pride month, I’ve got a winery for you to visit if you find yourself in the Lompoc area of Santa Barbara, California. Whether you live north or south of Santa Barbara, the California coastal drive is a dream, and June is a great time to experience all that the coast (and wine country) has to offer, especially when it comes to wine tasting. Los Angeles, Santa Barbara & Sonoma are some of the premiere places to visit when looking for wine tasting; so without taking any longer let’s dive into the story of Camins 2 Dreams!
Wife duo Tara Gomez and Mireia Taribo run Camins 2 Dreams in Lompoc, Santa Barbara, which they started in 2017. Camins or “camino” means path in Spanish, and this is the path to their dreams. Their grapes are sourced exclusively from the Sta Rita Hills, a cooler-climate area in Santa Barbara that is known for concentrated wines from Pinot Noir, but their specialty is Syrah. With under 1,000 cases made a year, each bottle is quite special & easily accessible for things like wine tasting, Los Angeles is also relatively close to their location; which makes it an easily accessible drive to try out some of their exclusive wines!
Mireia hails from Catalunya, Spain where she studied Chemistry and Enology or winemaking. She came to the US as a harvest intern, which is where she met Tara. She went back to Spain, got her Master’s degree in winemaking. In 2014 she was back in the US and the rest, as they say, is history!
“In California, the wine industry is young and male dominated, but there is also a younger generation of women winemakers that are opening their path. Here, in Santa Barbara County, we have a great percentage of women winemakers compared to other regions. It feels really good to have a support group of other women in the industry to lift each other.” – Mireia Taribo
Tara, a member of the Chumash tribe, grew up on the Central Coast and enjoyed wine from a young age. She also holds a degree in Enology. Her tribe owned Kitá Wines, which has since closed, but was a small-premium winery in the Santa Ynez Valley where she was the winemaker. Kita was the first native grown, owned, and made wine in the United States.
“As an Indigenous woman, I feel I have a strong connection to the land. I love nature, and I connect to it. I let the vines speak to me as I continue to learn more about them. Along those same lines, I also feel balance is very important. In our culture, it’s about finding the balance between ourselves and our surroundings and living in harmony. In winemaking and grape growing, it’s the same concept I am trying to achieve.” – Tara Gomez
Camins 2 Dreams is your Pride winery to visit this month! They just opened a new tasting room in the Wine Ghetto of Lompoc. A tasting of 5 wines will run you $20, and that is waived with a 3-bottle purchase, also perfect for wine tasting. Los Angeles & California have plenty of unique wineries like Camins 2 Dreams to try out. Check them out on my other blogs!
If you are interested in booking a wine tasting hosted by me featuring the wines of Camins 2 Dreams, please reach out here. An in-person wine tasting, Los Angeles (and surrounding areas) is a great way & area to bring your friends, family, or corporate groups together, especially during LGBTQ Pride month! A virtual wine tasting hosted by me with Camins 2 Dreams wine is also an option, featuring their small-format tasting set of 5 wines shipped to each of your attendees.
Happy Pride!
