I was all over the place this past weekend.

I drove east into the mountains to visit Lake Arrowhead on Saturday. Then I drove west towards the coast to see a few vineyards on Sunday. The great thing about living in Los Angeles is that you’re only an hour or so away from a number of wildly different nature experiences: beaches, rolling hills, extreme deserts, alpine lakes at 6,000 feet!

And wine country, of course.

Most people think of Napa when they imagine California wine country, but I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: the most exciting wines in CA right now are coming out of the Central Coast, particularly around Santa Barbara and the Santa Rita Hills AVA.

I drank a lot of wine over the weekend as well, and the one bottle that has me coming back time and time again is The Hilt Estate Chardonnay, a wine that marries fruit from multiple vineyards, but from one in particular called Radian that has really captured my imagination. This sea breeze-battered site produces fruit with electricity, and of a wild, unbridled character. The Pinot Noir is brambly and savage. The Chardonnay almost like vibrant Chablis.

Check out The Hilt website for fantastic videos like the one above that go deep into the soil and topography, giving you a better insight into why the wines are so fantastic. Personally, I’ll be doing a deeper dive this week into the Jonata wines as well, as I’m really catching the bug once again.

-David Driscoll