19 Jun Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Camins 2 Dreams Yilá 2022 Red Blend, Santa Barbara County

Yilá translates to “All-Every” in the Chumash Language (Samala). And, the wine named Yilá from Camins 2 Dream is exactly that. It is a blend of ALL the grapes they work with each year and EVERY grape adds something to make the final blend. And it is this final blend, the Camins 2 Dreams Yilá 2022 Red Blend, Santa Barbara County, that is the Please The Palate wine of the week. 

About

Camins 2 Dream is a brand created out of love. It is a brand created by Tara Gomez and Mireia Taribo who met through wine and are following the path of their dreams together.

Tara Gomez, the first Native American female winemaker, has always loved science and knew making wine was something that interested her. She attended Fresno State and in 1998, was one of only two women who graduated with a degree in Enology. She worked for Fess Parker in Santa Ynez and J. Lohr in Paso Robles, where she also started her own label, Kalawashaq’ Wine Cellars (named for the village where her Chumash ancestors once lived). Tara worked two consecutive harvests at a winery in the Pyrenees in Spain and then became head winemaker at Kita Wines, which was owned by her Chumash tribe.

Mireia Taribo was born in the Catalonia region of Spain and studied Chemistry at the University of Barcelona before getting a Bachelor of Science degree in Enology. In the mid-2000s, Mireia came to California to work as a harvest intern and found a position at J. Lohr, where she met Tara. The two met and formed an immediate friendship that quickly blossomed into a romance. But Mireia returned to Spain where she was a winemaker in the Pyrenees (where Tara came an worked)

By 2014, Tara and Mireia did not want to be across the world from each other so Mireia applied for her fiancee’s visa. And, in 2017, the pair decided it was time to launch their own project. Rather than restarting Tara’s Kalawashaq’ brand, they created Camins 2 Dreams, which is a mix of Catalan and English that means “path to dreams”. Today, they craft small lots of wines primarily from the Sta. Rita Hills and focus on underrepresented varieties. They focus on the vineyard sites and produce wines that express terroir and their two flagship varieties are Gruner Veltliner and Syrah. They also work with Grenache, Carignan, Gamay, and Albarino.

Tasting Notes

The Yila’ Red Wine 2022 is a blend of all of the grapes they worked with that year which in 2022 were Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Gamay, Albarino, and Gruner Veltliner. As the fruit comes in during harvest, they take a little bit and put it aside in a cold room. As more grapes come in, they are added, creating layers and resulting in the longest skin-contact wine they make. They started making this blend because they found that they had extra fruit at the end of harvest so they decided to make a blend. But now it is made with intention and the 2022 is a blend of 25% Carignan, 25% Grenache, 21% Syrah, 10% Grüner Veltliner, 10% Albariño, and 9% Gamay. The grapes are not picked together but the red grapes are co-fermented and then Albarino and Gruner Veltliner are added at the end. The wine is made with minimal intervention and the result is a wine that screams FRESH!  

The 2022 Yilá is highly aromatic. It has bold fruit and floral aromas of strawberry, raspberry, violets, and orange blossom. On the palate, the wine is fresh and vibrant with a long finish. 

Food Pairing

The Yila’ Red Wine 2022 is an easy-going, drinkable wine that will pair with just about anything and everything, from salads to pasta to grilled meats and vegetables. This is the perfect wine for a summer barbecue!

Where To Purchase

The Camins 2 Dreams Yilá 2022 Red Blend, Santa Barbara County retails for $32 and is available directly from the Camins2Dreams website.