A good time to visit favorite Santa Barbara County tasting rooms and wineries, as well as try some new ones, will be the weekend of Friday through Sunday, Dec. 4, 5 and 6, when most will participate in “Holiday Weekend in Wine Country.”

The weekend will include special discounts on wines for holiday giving, tasting of rare and library wines, holiday parades, a Christmas tree lighting event and a “White Christmas” passport tasting event organized by Santa Maria Valley Wine Country.

Winery members of that organization, as well as the Santa Barbara County Vintners Association, the Santa Ynez Valley Wine Country Association and the Sta. Rita Hills Winegrowers Alliance, will participate in the event.

For a list of participating wineries and events, visit www.winecountryholiday .com.

The 10 Santa Maria Valley Wine Country wineries participating in the passport event are Addamo, Cambria, CORE, Costa de Oro, Cottonwood Canyon, Foxen, Kenneth Volk Vineyards, Rancho Sisquoc, Riverbench and Tres Hermanas. Tickets are $30 in advance and $20 for students. Each passport includes a program and a Riedel glass. For information and to purchase tickets, visit www.santamariavalleywinecountry.com.

For more information on specific wineries and tasting rooms participating in the Holiday Weekend in Wine Country, visit the various associations’ Web sites: www.santamariavalleywine country.com, www.sbcountywines .com, www.santaynezvalleywinecountry .com and www.staritahills.com.

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Congratulations to winemaker Joey Tensley of Tensley Wines for his inclusion in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2009.

Tensley’s 2007 Syrah from Colson Canyon in Santa Barbara County was rated 22 on the list, and garnered a point score of 94. The wine retails for $38, according to the magazine.

The magazine did not pick any other Santa Barbara County-based winemakers for its Top 100 list, though several from the San Luis Obispo/Paso Robles region were named, as well as wines from around the world.

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What kind of wine is the most consumed in the United States? According to the annual survey in Wine Business Monthly magazine, it’s chardonnay. Still. The white wine remains the top-seller by a wide margin; it rates a

23.1 percent market share in sales, and a 21.7 share in volume. The total in chardonnay sales for the year ending July 25, 2009, reached $1,819,337,873, according to the annual survey produced by the Nielsen Company.

Despite the fact that chardonnay is not my favorite white varietal, that has no bearing on what millions of other Americans think — and drink.

The top-selling red wine was cabernet sauvignon; again, no surprise, even to those of us frolicking in the land of pinot noir.

Cabernet sauvignon sales were 13.6 percent of all wine sales, and 11.1 percent in case volume. Total sales figure: $1,213,659,592, the magazine reported. For comparison, the dollar total for sales of pinot noir was $452,219,847.

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In my column of Nov. 14, I wrote about the successful Vino de Sueños (Wine of Dreams) event of Nov. 7, but press time arrived before I was able to secure the final tally of funds raised.

Dean Palius, executive director of the Solvang PHP Service Center, said the nonprofit netted $36,000 in ticket sales from the 300 people who attended

Nov. 7, and from the sale of cases of wine. 

“We expect to earn an additional $12,000 on our three wine dinners, which are at Aru (March 14), Full of Life Flatbread (March 28) and the Hitching Post, date to be determined, based on last year’s sold-out performance at Aru restaurant,” Palius said.

Laurie Jervis is a freelance editor, writer and vineyard manager, and can be reached at winecountrywriter@yahoo.com.