Flying Goat Cellars

Very good bubbly. Very good Pinot. I was able to arrange a private tasting. Totally worth it. Katrina was very knowledgeable and professional.

The atmosphere was very nice and the people were so friendly and helpful. They showed us on a map where each region was and more importantly the bubbly was on point! We had a lot of fun and thank you for the recommendations of other places to hit.

Ah, Lompoc! The town where I grew
seems really hard times have hit the City of Flowers (and murals) and she doesn’t look as good as she used to.
That said, the Lompoc wine warehouse is a groovy little joint featuring, among other things, Flying Goat Cellars.‘
Now, the Flying Goat has a number of very good wines… in particular the 2009 Pinot Noir. If your a Rhone varietal person, don’t let the spartan and utilitarian outside detract you from sipping these wines. Also, leave your Napa expectations at the door… this is a different part of the state with legitimate credentials. Think of it as traveling to another land or tasting one of the many faces of California. Once your prejudgments are set aside, be prepared to be enchanted.
The prices here are reasonable and had I more time I’d have tasted and perhaps purchased more. I imagine I’ll be back to do just that.

We came here due to multiple recommendations and glad we listened since we would not have chosen the place due to the name. We loved every Pinot tasting. It’s the only place that offers sparkling wines but we are not fans. Highly recommend coming here and tasting the Pinot Flight.

So this was our second tasting room and the wines were pretty good (they had a Pinot Noir that was really good) — But I’m giving them 5 stars because Chad our server was just a funny guy who made us laugh while enjoying good wine — (which is really the reason to go wine tasting!!! — have a good time!!) –we had a group of 6, plus there was already 6 people there and Chad was able to juggle serving all of us, and be entertaining at the same time! — Good times!

Honestly, although this was a very nice place to taste with a very nice person performing the tasting, I just couldn’t get into the wines here. The sparkling wines are neat because it’s one of the only places you can find sparkling in the wine ghetto, but I just didn’t find them that exciting. Also, in my opinion, the pinots are better (and at lower price points) at many of the other wineries in the ghetto.
I’d like to emphasize that my friends and I had a great time here with great service, but I don’t think I’d be back. It’s a curiosity for sure, but I just didn’t like the flavors. Again, subjective, but isn’t that what all reviews are anyway?

I love their Pinot Noir! They have wine from several different vineyards up and down the central coast and, they all have their own unique taste. Norm has his own signature way he makes his pinot noir that you can taste it in all his wines. You either love it or its not for you but, its worth stopping to find out.

Great wines. Loved them all. It got busy whole we were here but it was all about the wines. Plus dog friendly. So people brought in there dogs which will is nice. (even though we didn’t have dogs with us).

This was a really fun place to taste wine in the ghetto. There were a lot of friendly people inside tasting alongside us, and the woman pouring wine was also very nice. I was skeptical how good the wine would be with a label like «flying goat» but I really enjoyed most of their pinots. They were talking about how fun the wine pickup party had been the day before and I believe it! My bf picked up 4 bottles of pinot to take home and joined their «pinot only» wine club. I can’t wait for the shipments to start coming!

I’ve been a fan of Santa Barbara pinots for 20 years. Flying Goat has always been one of the better pinots out there. I met the owner Norm a few years back at the WOP and he seemed like a nice guy and is well connected in the central cal wine community. With that said, I find the attitude of a particular woman working at the Lompoc tasting room to be a poor representation of the winery. Based on previous Unilocal reviews here, perhaps it was Norm’s wife? I don’t know, but I was ready to buy a case of wine and the lady wanted to charge me for the $ 10 tasting. I guess what startled me even more was the snobbish attitude. Is this what things have come to in the market place? I get it that if the public will pay for tastings, why not charge them to help cover your costs. That’s been standard for quite a while now in all tasting rooms. But the whole idea behind a tasting is supposed to be to encourage people to buy your wine. These days, most places have a policy of a one or two bottle minimum, before the tasting is waived, but no comp at all? Wow! I tend to think this was just this particular lady’s own policy for the day based on her snobby attitude. Hard to imagine that Flying Goat would have a policy like that or leave the decision to comp tastings at the discretion of their employees. She looked at me with a «how dare I» face when I questioned why she would still charge me for the tasting after I wanted to buy wine. All I can say is that this attitude is bad for business since she just lost a sale from me.
I’m just rating the experience at the tasting room, not the wine. Flying Goat makes 3 and 4 star pinots in my opinion.

Sparkling wine in Santa Ynez Valley! We joined the club and are drinking the goat bubbles. Tasty bubbly!

Great wine… pinot’s are done in the old world style with elegance and grace. This would have been a 4.5 if the tasting were larger. Unfortunately there was not enough wine in the glass to adequately assess the wine. If the husband is pouring enjoy… great wine… pour more ;)

Good wines but not that special. My bf and I were stoked to try this place out, there are a ton of raving Unilocal reviews! We were the first ones here and maybe it was because the temperatures weren’t exactly right and stuff the wines weren’t that impressive.
They did have the only tasting of bubbly rose that we had on the entire trip so that is unique but that’s about it. Their tasting room is adorable with soil samples in bottles and maps everywhere but still eh.
Also, I thought their wines were quite a bit more expensive than other places, it was around $ 44 per bottle.

Damn good wines and friendly guy pouring ‘em. Definitely a fan of their Pinot.

I am shocked that this is not everyone’s favorite place in the wine ghetto. Seriously, people – shocked!
The pinot was so good I could not decide which one was the best. So I decided that this place is the best!
Bonus info:
–guy giving pours was gorgeous in a hipstery way (and I almost never say that)
–cool pictures of goats everywhere (who doesn’t love goats?!)
–None of these places offered free tastings with your purchase, so I did not see that as a downside, but more of a ghetto culture thing.

Great pinot but on this occasion I especially enjoyed their Goat Bubbles sparkling wine. I did think their prices were on the higher side and I was disappointed that they didn’t waive the tasting fee with all the wine we bought. This was the ONLY place on all of our stops that didn’t waive the fee with purchase. :(
I highly recommend people to get off the beaten track and try out some of the tasting rooms in the wine ghetto. The people are very friendly and we have made some great finds.

So I have to give it a 5 Star. If you are here to drink, for ambiance, or collecting wine glasses then take note this may be more of a 3 – 3.5. If you love Pinots and would like to chat with the wine maker, see the soils and learn about wine then yes, yes it is a 4 – 5 for sure.
I really appreciated my visit to this tasting room. Also, since they focus on Pinot Noir grapes, they have some fun bubbles that they call goat bubbles. If you get a chance to check out the wine ghetto you really should. I think the booming wine scene is about to do some good things for the town of Lompoc. Wine ghetto is like drinking a great wine out of a mason jar. There is not 8 or 10 tasting at most W.G. spots but it’s because you are tasting good wines from small wineries. Hey if you want a free glass go to Gallo or Temecula.

Great Pinot! (Again!)
This husband and wife team puts out some great fruit forward pinots. They’re very well rounded, gentle on the palette and everything you would want in a Pinot. I was a huge fan of the 2007 Clone 2A from the Rio Vista Vineyard and the 2008 from the Rancho Santo Rosa Vineyard. The staff offered great food pairing suggestions for each of the wines and were really helpful when it came to ordering additional bottles and having them shipped to my house.

This is one of favorite wines bar none. its simply wonderful, and believe it or not, one of the main reasons we came here is because of the champagne, and we aren’t even champagne drinkers.
The goat bubbles rose champagne is absolutely wonderful and worth the journey to get it.
The reds are also pretty spectacular and part of our regular wine cellar stocking.

Norm Yost is the Super Dave Osborne of Wine. He is a very down to earth individual who loves to make Pinot Noir and now «bubbles». The tasting room is only open by appointment, so if you plan to visit the wine ghetto in Lompoc call him and set up a tasting.
Over the last couple of years we have collected a few bottles starting from the 04 Santa Rita Hills (Clone 2A) Rio Vista to the 06 Santa Maria Dierberg Vineyard. We finally got a chance to visit his tasting room during the VDay weekend when he was open to the public. Norm was pouring 3 different varietals and his newest creation a sparkling wine made from Pinot Noir grapes. He also made the same sparkling wine for Clos Pepe.
I, personally love medium to full body wines with some kick & well structured. His wine show off characters of spice with lots of raspberry, cola, blueberry, and strawberry all mingling together in harmony. I know Norm keeps his tasting sessions low key and allows just a few people at a time. He turned away a limo driver when he walked in to see if his passengers could come in and taste (bonus points).
Norm, thank you for allowing us to come in and finally meet you in person and giving us a taste of your awesome wines.