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Visiting Santa Barbara’s Wine Country
Rate it! Votes (1) | Comments (0) By Cheri Sicard and Mitch Mandell Photos: Mitch Mandell Posted October 25th, 2008 FabulousFoods.com Recommends: Sideways (Widescreen Edition), by , (, 20th Century Fox)	Sideways (Widescreen Edition)

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, USA – Many people’s knowledge of the Santa Barbara Wine Country begins and ands with the film Sideways, starring Paul Giamatti and Virginia Madsen. If you’re planning a visit, we heartily recommend watching, or re-watching, the movie before visiting as it does provide a great overview of the area and some of the tourism possibilities. Should you want to recreate the character’s experiences, the Santa Barbara Vintner’s Association offers a free downloadable self-guided tour at their website to 18 of the film’s locations.

The movie’s characters packed a lot of activities and wine tasting into their trip, but there’s actually a whole lot more to see and do here that wasn’t shown. Home to more than 80 wineries and 24,000 acres of vines, the Santa Barbara Wine Country is the fastest-growing viticultural region in the United States, producing more than a million cases of wine a year.

Two rows of mountains – the Santa Ynez in the south and the San Rafaels in the north – that run east and west, not north and south as is commonly found in the Americas, funnel in fog and breezes from the Pacific, cooling the area and extending the grape growing season. Add well-drained soils, plentiful sunshine and a wide variety of microclimates, and you have that elusive perfect alignment of elements that defines a world-class grape-growing region.

Santa Barbara county boasts three American Viticultural Areas (AVAs). The largest is the Santa Ynez Valley AVA, which is home to more than 50 wineries and many grape growers. The valley has two parts, the warmer eastern part, which is farther from the ocean and receives less cooling ocean breeze and fog, and the area west of the Santa Rita Hills, which is closer to the ocean and much cooler. In fact, the two parts of the valley have climates so different from each other that the Santa Rita Hills, located mainly between Buellton and Lompoc, was recently designated its own AVA.

The third AVA, Santa Maria Valley, is bounded by the San Rafael Mountains (as they curve northward) to the east and the Solomon Hills and the city of Santa Maria to the west. Windy, cool and often foggy, this is another cool-climate growing area similar to Burgundy.

Santa Barbara County wine making has come a long way since the early 1970s when a mere 200 acres were planted with wine grapes by the pioneers of Firestone Vineyard, Rancho Sisquoc Winery, Sanford Winery, Santa Barbara and Lafond Wineries, and Zaca Mesa Winery. Most of the grapes from those early harvests – mainly cabernet sauvignon, chenin blanc, riesling and chardonnay – were sold to Napa and Sonoma to be used for blending. In the 1980s, such now-famous winemakers as Bruce Babcock, Foxen founders Bill Wathen and Dick Doré, Lane Tanner, Qupé’s Bob Lindquist, Chris Whitcraft and Sunstone’s Fred and Linda Rice moved in and started making wine reflecting the local terroir and put Santa Barbara on the wine world’s radar.

Sustainable, Organic and Biodynamic Wines

Innovation and expansion has continued, as more wineries join the ranks each year, many practicing cutting edge practices to perfect their craft. One trend that’s readily apparent is the number of Santa Barbara County wineries practicing organic, biodynamic, and sustainable agriculture practices.  When Au Bon Climat owner/winemaker Jim Clendenen planted his own “Le Bon Climat” vineyard in 1997, he had viticulturalist Jeff Frey create it as an organic enterprise, and it remains so today. Sunstone, too, uses organic methods to farm its entire 77-acre estate, and Sanford has three certified-organic vineyards.  In addition, many smaller boutique wineries are practicing sustainable, organic, and biodynamic farming.

A great way for eco-friendly tourists to get glimpse of the best of these is on a Sustainable Vine Tour. Bryan Hope, a former environmental engineer, started the company back in 2006, in order to showcase for tourists all the great work Santa Barbara wineries are doing in relation to environmental stewardship. It’s a good thing Hope is bringing attention to it, as many of the winemakers themselves don’t bother to hype it that much, preferring instead to be recognized for the quality of their wines and not the manner in which they were produced.

Nonetheless, Hope says that more and more wineries are realizing it just makes good practical sense to use the principles or organic farming and even biodynamics which takes organic a step further and works holistically in conjunction with the earth and a strong spiritual philosophy to produce sustainable crops.

On the Sustainable Vine tour you’ll visit some smaller wineries you might otherwise miss. Bryan always looks for wineries that not only practice sustainable agricultural, they also have to produce exceptional wines and have a friendly and accessible staff willing to interact with tourists, give tours, and answer questions.

We were wowed by the exceptional Santa Rita Hills Pinto Noir at Alma Rosa (movie fans will recognize tasting room manager Chris Burrows  -- pictured at the top of this page - from Sideways, where he poured Paul Giamatti’s character the first taste of the trip), Richard Sanford’s newest venture.

We also became big fans of Demetria’s Couvee Papou, a viognier/rousanne blend. This small biodynamic winery is set in one of Santa Barbara County’s most picturesque locales -- which is why Bryan often chooses it for a lunch stop on his tours. Man does not live by wine alone, so Bryan always packs a catered organic box lunch into the bio-diesel van that chauffeurs the wine loving tourists on his tours. Demetria’s shaded patio, surrounded by sweeping vistas of the surrounding rolling vineyards, provides a spectacular storybook setting from which to enjoy the perfect wine country luncheon.

The Sustainable Vine Tour was both fun and informative, offering an insider’s look at this important new trend in winemaking, while introducing participants to some exceptional boutique wineries and winemakers to watch. Plus it’s nice not to have to worry about driving while tasting wines.

To start your wine-tasting journey, visit the Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Association web site at sbcountywines.com. They offer huge amount of valuable information, included suggested driving tour loops of the wine country. These can save you lots of time and mileage, as there is so much territory to cover here.

Contact Sustainable Vine Tours by phone or their website to arrange a tour. They will be happy to pick you up and drop you off at your Santa Barbara area lodging. Click to www.sustainablevine.com or phone 805-698-3911.

For travel and accommodation information and to request a free copy of the official Santa Barbara County Visitors Guide, contact the Santa Barbara Conference & Visitors Bureau and Film Commission at 800-676-1266, 805-966-9222 or www.santabarbaraCA.com. If you’re already in town, visitor information is also available at the Visitor Information Center located at 1 Garden Street (at Cabrillo Boulevard) in Santa Barbara.

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