Today’s features: Visiting The Barn Redefined in Poway plus Barrel Tasting at Carruth Cellars in Solana Beach. **Update: The Barn Redefined has moved! New location: 13670 Danielson Street, Suite F, Poway CA
Hello and Happy Sunday! Hope you had a nice weekend! It was rainy in San Diego this weekend but that didn’t stop us from having a little fun!
The Barn Redefined
This past week I stumbled across an account on Instagram for a shop called The Barn Redefined @thebarnredefined showing all kinds of interesting rustic and vintage decor and furniture. I was intrigued so I decided to hop in the car and head inland to Poway to check it out. I was not disappointed!
The Barn Redefined is owned by a mother and daughter and most of the items are vintage or recycled which makes it a more sustainable option for home decor. I was told they’ve been in business for almost 15 years and were one of the few small businesses in their area to survive COVID. There were so many great finds and the staff was super helpful. I knew that I wanted to take one of their mounted stag horn ferns home and luckily there were still a few to choose from. I also found a great vintage plaid shirt that is incredibly soft to the touch. I love it and I know I will wear it a lot as a casual layer when it’s cool out. Apparently the shop owners source their shirts from a business in AZ that up cycles them. Such a great idea!
If you’re in the Poway area it’s worth a stop at this cute shop. The merchandise is constantly changing and they have so many unique items. I’m looking forward to going back. I’m loving my new stag horn fern!
Barrel Tasting at Carruth Cellars
When we first moved to the SD area we were surprised to learn that there wineries – not something normally associated with a place that’s more arid and desert-like than central or northern California. In fact, in San Diego County there is a cool urban winery called Carruth Cellars that has tasting room locations in Oceanside, Carlsbad, Solana Beach and Liberty Station (closest to downtown San Diego.) As the term urban winery would suggest, they source most of their grapes from other regions ranging from the Napa Valley and Sonoma to vineyards along the Central Coast and the Russian River area.
After tasting some of their wines were so impressed with the quality that we joined their wine club soon after moving here. Our membership gets us two glasses or flights of wine per week and one bottle of wine per month. One of our favorite things to do each week is to go hang out in our local tasting room with our glasses of wine and some charcuterie, often while listening to live music by area artists. It’s a great way to wind down at the end of the day.
We had the chance to go to a barrel tasting at Carruth this weekend and we really enjoyed it. We have been to many wineries in NorCal and have even been members at a few but have never had a chance to do a barrel tasting. There were 13 wines available to taste ranging from lighter reds to a port. Our tickets were good for all tastings, a souvenir glass, and a personal-sized pizza, which was much-needed to help absorb all of the wine!
Being able to taste the wines when they are young and still a little underdeveloped was super interesting. lt was also fun to meet the winemakers and learn about the different varietals and about the details of their wine-making process. We ended up ordering some bottles to pick up in September that will be ready to drink after March 2025.
That’s it for today but if you missed my last post Springtime Garden Tours you can find it here. I shared pictures of the tropical landscaping of our beach side complex plus a tour of the Del Mar Dog Beach Memorial Gardens.
Hope you have a great week!
