Like Mike Tyson, wine is usually robust, is often boxed, and should never influence tattooing decisions. Imbibe the spirit of a champion with today’s Groupon: for $22 you get a wine outing for two at Sort This Out Cellars in Solvang (up to a $45 value). The outing includes:
- A wine tasting for two with seven pours per person (a $10 value per person)
- One take-home bottle of wine (up to a $25 value)<p>
In Sort This Out Cellars’ Vegas-inspired tasting room, drinkers sip samples of boutique wines among red walls bedecked with vintage photos and pinup prints. Grapes harvested throughout the state of California blend into the winery’s slew of libations, fermented in small quantities so that every batch is as unique as a snowflake’s fingerprint. Tastings beckon pairs of patrons inside the red and black High Roller’s lounge to sniff and swirl seven samples of wine, such as the Viva Las Vegas merlot, the Rockabilly Red, and the Suited pinot grigio. Friday and Saturday evenings invite local rockabilly bands and DJs to serenade sippers, infusing tastings with more retro flair than a cocktail napkin inscribed with the milkman’s telegraph number.
Sort This Out Cellars
Sort This Out Cellars combines the wine selection of a boutique specialty store with the aesthetic of a Vegas diner in the 1950s. Chrome and red stools line up at the bar, and sleek vinyl loveseats are juxtaposed against wine barrels in the lounge. The winery’s aesthetic was inspired by a 1961 Rat Pack photo that recalled times of unapologetic fast living, glamour, and gambling. Because the founders wanted to avoid the sleepy, pastoral vibe of most wineries and all roadside hay-petting zoos, they embraced the rockabilly aesthetic to ensure that their digs were as exciting as their customers and wines.
Those small-batch wines are created from grapes purchased from Californian vineyards and crushed by Sort This Out’s proprietor. “This means,” a writer for Wine Country This Week noted, “he can search the state for the best grapes to crush, or in some cases the best juice from another winery to purchase, and then finish it into his own wine.” The aesthetics surrounding the wine are also important. Mid-century gentlemen’s playing cards inspired a line of bottles with pin-ups on the label matched to flavors within. Other elixirs borrow their names from poker and Vegas table games, hinting at inventive combinations of pinot grigio, viognier, and sauvignon blanc grapes. Some evenings, toasting glasses punctuate the sounds of live music. True to form, the guest bands play oldies and rockabilly tunes.