In Santa Barbara wine country‘s premier tasting town, Los Olivos, you’re in for a treat this year. Especially if you’re a red gal or guy.

If you are, I’m assuming you rang in the new year donning red underwear for luck (if you know your Spanish traditions). Now that’s done, your new-found good luck can bring you to Andrew Murray Vineyard‘s Los Olivos location, where you can relax on the new tasting room couch in red style. All while sipping his new red wine releases.

When I was there, that meant 2008 Thompson Vineyard Syrah and 2008 Terra Bella Vineyard Grenache, both of which are drinking well in these early days. These wines will clearly improve over time, as they are just out of 22 months in barrel. Keeping them in bottle for a year or more would give them the same time in barrel & bottle requirements as a Spanish Rioja Reserva. This region in Spain (as with many other regions in Europe) has strict laws about how much time wine must spend in barrel and bottle to be labeled and released under its appelation. This helps guarantee the quality for the drinker, and helps make more elegant wine – wine worth waiting for – not something you can always find in California.

Andrew Murray is one California winemaker who shows restraint in releasing wines, and I love that about him. Most wines on his current tasting list are from the 2007 vintage, so you can rest assured about time in barrel and know it will improve with time in bottle.

In the meantime, he brings you the newly designed tasting room where you can preview these wines you’ll be drinking in a year or so. And in this case, you really won’t mind being in the red. And white.

There is also white wine on the tasting list, as well as white touches (sultry leather couch, white bar stools) in the tasting room. The white plus metal and mirrors make the whole thing a little Palm-Beach-meets-wine-country, which quite frankly the area might have needed. And with this many wines on the daily tasting list, it is some new year good luck indeed.

One of the best things about Harvest time in Santa Ynez valley and Santa Barbara wine country is the annual Celebration of Harvest event. The other is stomping grapes.

Several wineries in the area have grape stomping parties, some of which you can race through the vineyard, wear a toga, or reserve some of your own wine that you stomped (along with the other stompers). Read below to find out where…

Kalyra Winery: the Great Grape Stomp

This is one of the oldest grape stomp parties in Santa Ynez valley, and I do mean a party. You can show up in anything from a Lucy Grape Stomp outfit to a toga. Any grape-related costume is encouraged, as well as drinking as much wine as possible, then jumping on a drunken tractor winery tour, plus eating and dancing to live music on the front porch. Get a first-hand account and find details here.

Sunstone Winery: Harvest Stomp Party

This yearly event over two weekends in September is a favorite grape stomp event in the area. It’s an all-day affair in the gorgeous Provençal-style vineyard and winery. It begins with a special bubbly cocktail made just for the event, then picking grapes in the vineyard. After being educated by the winemaker and Rice family on winemaking, you’ll climb into the grape vats and stomp to your heart’s content. A gourmet picnic lunch is also included, as well as the family’s line of wines, including some from the underground, dusty library. Get details here.

Andrew Murray Vineyards: Harvest Open House

When Andrew Murray opens his winery to the public, you want to go. The food is really good, the Syrah is plentiful, and the music and ambiance makes for a lovely fall afternoon in the vineyards. A bonus: this year you get to stomp grapes as well. You’ll also see some of the best Weekend Wine Specials of the whole year. It’s a good time to stock up, eat your fill and stomp down. Held at the winery on Foxen Canyon Road, call for directions.

Tres Hermanas Winery: Your Own Custom Crush

Each fall at this event in Santa Maria Valley, you can pick, crush and stomp your own grapes, and make your own wine. Winemaker Luke Lindquist will guide you through the process, then give you some of his wines’ barrel select tastings and feed you lunch. After your wine is bottled (roughly 15 months), you’ll get your own case of wine that you helped make! And you’ll get much more information and instruction than you bargained for with Luke’s vast expertise. It might just end up being the best wine you’ll ever make. Will be held at the winery on Foxen Canyon Road, contact the winery here.

Gainey Winery: Grape Stomp & Crush Party

Enjoy a full day of activities like grape-picking, special barrel samples, aroma demonstrations and the ever-popular barefoot grape stomp. Held each September, read more here.

But the sign says Firestone Vineyards, I thought, turning into the Santa Ynez valley winery on Foxen Canyon road. The map I printed says to turn here to get to the winery of Andrew Murray Vineyards, where I was headed for a Fall celebration of the winemaker, his syrah and its pork pairing on the cover of Food+Wine magazine.

I did a u-turn and drove the length of the road, then drove back still looking, stopping in front of Firestone again. I called Andrew Murray’s tasting room in Los Olivos, where the young woman laughed and said this always happens. I was to pretend I was going to Firestone, drive through the property, then turn back in the hills away from the main road. When I saw the Area 51 sign pointing up over the next golden hill, I knew I was in the right place.

The small silver warehouse was organized for an elegant gathering; a table of food in the main entrance and wine on barrels in the cellar room. Everywhere we saw huge photos of Andrew Murray, his vineyards, and the 2005 Côte-Rôtie (“roasted slope”) paired with pork and tomatillo stew on the magazine cover. A single guitarist was quietly playing in the corner.

The smell of spicy pork and Hispanic spices tickled our noses. We checked the wine room and realized we would taste about twelve wines, including seven different syrahs. We decided we should taste each syrah with the stew, to determine the best pairing ourselves.

Seventeen tastes of wine later (we had to re-taste a few, just to be sure), having emptied the pot of stew to the discontent of the kitchen staff, we definitely determined that Andrew’s syrah went perfectly with pork stew. Pork and Syrah: yes. Which syrah would have to be left to the expert, as we emptied our glasses yet again (more Roasted Slope please), harassed the caterers for more stew and yelled to the guitarist to play some AC/DC.

I just hope he lets us come to the next party.