This guide covers the Santa Ynez Valley, specifically Solvang and Los Olivos wineries, and one special detour to the Santa Maria Valley. The guide has my personal reviews of wine tasting experiences both in the tasting rooms located among the towns within the Santa Ynez Valley, as well as wineries and vineyard estates spread across the surrounding wine country.

Because you’ll definitely want to explore the region for at least two days, there are recommendations for where to eat, and what to do in addition to wine tasting, so you can plan your own perfect getaway as soon as this weekend.

And if you can’t quite squeeze a trip into your schedule in the immediate future, there are specific food and wine pairing recommendations at the end so you can experience the Santa Ynez Valley at home.

If you're just here for the wine, jump ahead to the Solvang and Los Olivos Wineries Guide below! Otherwise, keep reading...

Where and What Exactly is the Santa Ynez Valley?

Santa Ynez Valley is a wide valley that runs transverse west-east from the Pacific Ocean on the western edge to inland valleys in the east. It is located on the northern end of Santa Barbara County, about 120 miles north of Los Angeles, just over the mountains from the beaches of Santa Barbara.

The five major towns in the Santa Ynez Valley—and we're using the term "major" pretty loosely here—are Ballard, Buellton, Los Olivos, Solvang, and Santa Ynez, which is its own town, not to be confused with the surrounding Santa Ynez Valley.

What Wine Region is Santa Ynez Valley?

Santa Ynez Valley itself is one of seven American Viticultural Areas (AVA) within the larger Santa Barbara region, which in turn, is part of California's Central Coast AVA.

Santa Ynez Valley also surrounds smaller, more specific sub-AVAs from west to east: Sta. Rita Hills, Ballard Canyon, Los Olivos, and Happy Canyon.

So, there are officially five AVAs in the Santa Ynez Valley.

For context, these are all seven AVAs of Santa Barbara, generally in order of when they were established:

1. Santa Maria Valley AVA established in 1981, the oldest AVA in Santa Barbara, and second oldest by mere months in California, known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
2. Santa Ynez Valley AVA established in 1983, known primarily for Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, and Syrah
   1. Sta. Rita Hills AVA part of Santa Ynez Valley, established in 2001, furthest west and closest to the ocean, really put the entire region on wine critics' radar, known for critically acclaimed Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
   2. Ballard Canyon AVA established 2013 known for Rhone varietals like Syrah, Grenache, Sangiovese, Viognier and Roussanne
   3. Happy Canyon established 2009 furthest east/inland, known for warmer climate Bordeaux varietals like Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon
   4. Los Olivos District AVA established 2016, known for Bordeaux varietals Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Merlot
3. Alisos Canyon AVA, established August 2020 near Los Alamos, known for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Grenache Syrah blends

What Wines are Produced in Santa Ynez Valley?

The entire Santa Ynez Valley is known for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah, but the topography and climate vary so much that the region grows anywhere between 50 and 65 distinct varietals. The reality is, if you think of any wine, there is probably someone, somewhere in the Santa Ynez Valley at least experimenting with a few vines of it.

We already know why there is such a diversity of wines: the Valley's wide funnel shape and unique transverse orientation. Fog and cool winds off the Pacific Ocean pour into the wide end of Valley funnel, and flow east through the Valley. Because of this effect, the region is famously one of the coolest grape growing regions in California, even though it is on the southernmost end of the Central Coast. Average high temperatures peak around 80°F during the day and drop to around 50°F at night. These climate phenomena extend the growing season by as much as a month longer than other regions in California, with harvest going as late as October. The longer growing season means grapes can fully ripen on the vines without building up excessive sugar levels from heat.

Here are wines that are well known in specific AVAs:

1. Santa Maria Valley AVA very cool climate, known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
2. Santa Ynez Valley AVA Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Syrah
   1. Sta. Rita Hills AVA cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
   2. Ballard Canyon AVA warm climate grapes like Syrah, Grenache, Sangiovese, Viognier and Roussanne
   3. Happy Canyon warm Bordeaux-based grapes like Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon
   4. Los Olivos District AVA Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc
3. Alisos Canyon AVA Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Grenache Syrah blends

Chardonnay

The most widely planted grape in the Santa Ynez Valley is global favorite Chardonnay, a cool climate-loving white wine grape.

Pinot Noir

The most well-known and critically-acclaimed wine in the Santa Ynez Valley, like its parent region Santa Barbara overall, is Pinot Noir. These delicate, thin-skinned grapes grow well in the cool microclimates within the Valley that are naturally regulated by the breezes and fog off the Pacific Ocean. Diurnal temperature variation, the difference between the lowest temperature and highest temperature of the day, is wide in the Valley. The warmer daily temperatures and longer summers are when sugar and flavor develop in the grapes. But the cool temperatures and fog help Pinot Noir growers develop acid to keep the grapes balanced.

Pinot Noir is the primary red wine produced in sub-AVAs closest to the ocean and its cooling effects. The Pinot Noir from Sta. Rita Hills typically exhibit bright fresh cherry flavors with a high degree of minerality and acidity.

Syrah

Not nearly as widely planted as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Syrah is no less important in the Santa Ynez Valley. The red Rhône varietal thrives in the warmer sub-AVAs like Ballard Canyon, Happy Canyon, and Los Olivos.

How Many Wineries are in Santa Ynez Valley?

There are more than 275 wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley. It has the highest concentration of wineries in Santa Barbara.

This past year, Discover California Wines sent me all around the state of California to explore wine regions other than Napa and Sonoma. Paso Robles? A rustic gem. Monterey? Was beyond delighted to learn there's a lot more than just golf and the aquarium there. Anderson Valley? Still almost peacefully undiscovered. But perhaps my favorite, or at least the region I keep going back to, is Santa Barbara. More specifically, the vast wine country within Santa Barbara County, the Santa Ynez Valley.

How to Go Wine Tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley

There are two general types of tasting experiences in and around the Santa Ynez Valley: estate tastings and tasting rooms.

Estate Tastings

Larger, usually longer established wineries offer tastings at their vineyards/estates, which afford gorgeous settings with stunning views of hills covered with vineyards, tours of wine-making operations inside the facilities, and walks among the vines to get closeups of the grapes.

Tasting Rooms

Many smaller and/or newer wineries that don't have large estates or vineyards have tasting rooms. These tasting rooms are clustered around a few towns. These include Buellton, Solvang, and Los Olivos wineries

Recommended Tasting Schedule

My recommendation is to schedule a tasting at a vineyard or winery estate out in the countryside as your first appointment of the day, around late morning. After, grab lunch if you'd like, then come back to one of the towns and visit a few of the tasting rooms that are clustered together so you can walk. That way, you won't have to worry about driving after multiple tastings.

If you do it right, you can also make dinner reservations at a restaurant in the same area. Win win. Or is it win wine.

Where to Go Wine Tasting

Plan on visiting three wineries a day on this type of itinerary, four if you’re able to be militant about keeping to your schedule. There’s a lot of “open space” on the map between towns in the Santa Ynez Valley which makes it seem like there’s a lot of actual driving — but the distance between them is at most 5 to 7 miles. Some of the roads are two lanes through canyons so going can be careful.

Make absolutely sure you assign a designated driver or hire third-party transportation.

Best Santa Ynez Valley, Solvang, and Los Olivos Wineries Guide

This list of the Best Santa Ynez Valley, Solvang, and Los Olivos Wineries is culled from my most recent explorations with California Wines, previous personal visits to the region, and a few highly reliable recommendations from trusted friends and experts.

Click any link in the outline to jump ahead.

Los Olivos Wineries and Tasting Rooms

• Brewer-Clifton, Los Olivos Tasting Room
• Dragonette, Los Olivos
• Liquid Farm, Los Olivos
• Stolpman and Stolpman So Fresh, tasting room in Los Olivos

Solvang Wineries and Tasting Rooms

• Alma Rosa, Solvang
• Buttonwood Farm, tastings at the vineyard farm

Santa Ynez Valley Wineries and Beyond

• Cambria Wines, estate tasting in Santa Maria
• Casa Dumetz, Los Alamos
• Sanford Winery, estate tastings in Lompoc

Brewer-Clifton, Los Olivos Tasting Room

Brewer-Clifton is a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir specialist that reflects the unique geography, geology and climate of the Sta. Rita Hills vineyards where the grapes are grown. Founder Greg Brewer was named 2020 Winemaker of the Year. The wines are rich, complex and highly rated by critics.

Winery operations are in Lompoc just west of the Sta. Rita Hills in a somewhat industrial pocket that is home to a number of wineries. However, the Los Olivos tasting room is sleek and modern with a small garden area with shaded tables in the backyard.

Here's what we tasted:

• 2017 vs 2009 Brewer-Clifton 3D Chardonnay, which was a fun study in how aging affects Chardonnay
• 2020 Brewer-Clifton 3D Pinot Noir
• 2009 Brewer-Clifton Ampelos Pinot Noir
• 2017 Brewer-Clifton Machado Pinot Noir
• Diatom 2017 Machado Chardonnay
• bonus: Ex Post Facto 2020 Syrah

You can find higher production Brewer-Clifton wines with the 'Sta. Rita Hills' appellation online and in retail stores. Vineyard specific wines are available directly from Brewer-Clifton, and the most sought-after wines are available by allocation to members only.

• Address: 2367 Alamo Pintado Ave, Los Olivos, CA 93441
• Open for Tastings: Thursday through Monday, 10am – 4pm
• Reservations: required, book online

Dragonette Cellars, Los Olivos Tasting Room

Dragonette Cellars is a small-production, family-owned winery that makes Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, and Syrah "of interest and distinction" with a commitment to mindful farming of the land, fermentation with native yeasts, and minimal manipulation in the cellar. The red wines are bottled unrefined and unfiltered, which lets the wines truly reflect the the soil and climate of the region.

The Rosé was my first introduction to Dragonette waaay back at a restaurant in Costa Mesa. Rosé is never bad, and this one was so accurately paired with the food that I took note.

Dragonette Cellars offers "deep-dive" tastings at their winery operations in Buellton, about a 15-minute drive from Los Olivos, which I did last year and loved. I highly recommend! But if you want to taste on an itinerary with other Los Olivos wineries, you can visit Dragonette's satellite tasting room.

My tasting at Dragonette Cellars included:

• 2020 Dragonette Rosé, Santa Ynez Valley
• 2018 Sauvignon Blanc, Vogelzang Vineyard <-- we bought the most bottles of this
• Dragonette Chardonnay, Duvarita Vineyards
• Dragonette Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills
• 2018 Syrah, John Sebastiano Vineyard
• Dragonette 'MJM' Syrah blend

Some of Dragonette's higher production wines are available via online retailers. You can also get most current releases direct from the winery. Limited production wines are available to members only.

• Address: 2445 Alamo Pintado Ave, Los Olivos, CA 93441
• Open for Tastings: daily 11am -5 pm
• Reservations: recommended, book via tock
• www.dragonettecellars.com | @DragonetteWine

Liquid Farm, Los Olivos Tasting Room

Liquid Farm is a relatively new winery, founded in 2009. Production of their Chardonnay-focused operation is based in Lompoc. However, their charming tasting room/wine bar and lounge/boutique/board game living room is located amongst other Los Olivos wineries on the main drag. The winery name is a reflection of the founders' philosophy that wine is a product of farming. There is very little intervention in the winemaking process, minimal or no new oak, no additives, and no machine manipulation. The final product is a highly drinkable, lower alcohol, higher acidity wine.

My friend and I somehow ended up playing board games with a hilarious group of ladies on a girls' getaway weekend, made all the more entertaining after tasting through Liquid Farm's flight:

• 2021 Liquid Farm Rosé of Mourvédre
• 2021 Liquid Farm La Hermana Chardonnay
• 2020 Liquid Farm White Hill Chardonnay
• 2019 Liquid Farm Golden Slope Chardonnay
• 2020 Liquid Farm 'Four' Chardonnay
• 2021 Liquid Farm 'SBC' Pinot Noir

• Address: 2445 Alamo Pintado Ave Suite 101 Los Olivos CA 93441
• Open for Tastings: Sun-Thu-11am - 5pm, Fri-Sat 11am - 7pm
• Reservations: not required

Stolpman Vineyards and Stolpman So Fresh, Los Olivos Tasting Room

Stolpman Vineyards is a large-scale family operation based in Ballard Canyon. Vineyards are planted primarily with warm-climate Rhône varietals like Syrah and Rousanne, as well as Sangiovese. The satellite tasting room in Los Olivos has a patio for the classic Stolpman Vineyards wines, and a garden area dubbed the Garage for the 'So Fresh' lines.

We tasted through the So Fresh flight:

• 2021 'Uni' made with Roussanne, originally created for Uchi restaurant to pair with sushi.
• 2021 'Love You Bunches' Sangiovese, carbonic fermentation, a personal favorite
• Combe Trousseau
• So Fresh 'GDG' Gamay
• So Fresh 'Crunchy Roastie' Syrah blend

The fresh, highly drinkable 'Love You Bunches' carbonic sangiovese and rosé are "house wines" here.

• Address: 2434 Alamo Pintado Ave, Los Olivos CA 93441
• Open for Tastings: Los Olivos patio daily 11am-5pm, So Fresh "Garage" Fri-Tue 11am-5pm
• Reservations: required, book online

Once you've hit all the Los Olivos wineries, it's time to move on to Solvang wineries, tucked into the charming Danish-themed village with shops, Danish restaurants, and even a windmill!

Alma Rosa, Solvang Tasting Room

Alma Rosa is the second winery founded by legendary Richard Sanford, who planted the first Pinot Noir vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills in 1971, the now iconic Sanford & Benedict vineyard. From that vineyard sprung critically acclaimed Sanford Winery, also made famous by its cameo in the movie Sideways (for all you movie buffs out there).

After 25 years with his namesake winery, Richard moved on just a little further down the road to start Alma Rosa, with a commitment to organic farming and sustainable winemaking. Alma Rosa is a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir specialist with its own estate vineyards, most notably El Jabali, the first certified organic vineyard in Santa Barbara county.

Alma Rosa offers tasting both at their estate out in the Sta. Rita Hills, as well as in their Solvang tasting room and spacious courtyard patio. We tried:

• 2021 Grenache Rosé, Two Wolves Vineyard, fun fact about Two Wolves Wine and vineyard: it's owned by the musician Pink
• 2020 Pinot Gris, La Encantada Vineyard
• 2020 Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills
• Pinot Noir, Bentorck VIneyard
• 2019 Pinot Noir 'Barrel Select' from Bentorck, El Jabali, Radian, and Rancho La Vina vineyards

• Address: 1623 Mission Dr, Solvang, CA 93463
• Open for Tastings: Sunday to Wednesday 11am-6pm, Thursday to Saturday 11am-7:30pm
• Reservations: recommended, book online
• Insider Tip: Cailloux cheese shop in the same plaza as Alma Rosa provides little cheese plates for purchase to go with your tasting!

Buttonwood Farm and Winery, Estate Tasting

Though Buttonwood Winery's tastings are held at their idyllic Farm and Vineyards, and not in a satellite tasting room in Solvang, its address is technically Solvang so it's included here. I visited Buttonwood last fall, toured the vineyards, and tasted wines with the winemaker herself, Karen Steinwachs. Read the details and my review on the Santa Barbara Wineries Guide.

Cambria Wines, Santa Maria

Technically, Santa Maria Valley is a stand-alone AVA in Santa Barbara, near but separate from the AVAs of the Santa Ynez Valley. However, I couldn't post about the Santa Ynez Valley without visiting one of the first wineries in one of the first AVAs in all of California, Cambria Wines.

Proprietors and sisters Katherine and Julia Jackson and current winemaker Julia Russell are the woman-led team that made Cambria a SIP Certified and CCSW (Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing) accredited winery as of 2014. Lady-led team with respect to Mother Earth? Here for it.

When I visited Cambria, they were still putting the finishing touches on their complete remodel of the estate winery and tasting room. I got a sneak peek, and then got to go through a tasting while walking the vineyards, planted with some of the oldest commercial vines in the region.

As of publication of this article, the completely remodeled tasting room and winery at Cambria are fully open!

Cambria wines are fairly widely distributed making it easy to get acquainted with the Santa Maria Valley and its cool climate wines at home first.

• Address: 5475 Chardonnay Ln, Santa Maria, CA 93454
• Open for Tastings: Thursday - Monday 10am - 4pm
• Reservations: required. book online
• Fun Personal Fact: One of the first wines I ever posted back when I was a baby wine blogger was 2006 Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir, which was awarded first place on Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 Wines List that year!

Sanford Winery & Vineyards, Sta. Rita Hills

Sanford Winery might be the winery that really made wine critics sit up and pay attention to Santa Barbara. The first Pinot Noir vines in the region were planted in 1971 in what is the iconic Sanford & Benedict vineyard. From the vineyard sprouted Sanford Winery, known for pioneering and championing cool climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the Sta. Rita Hills. The wines taste true to the original founders' goal of producing refined Burgundian style wines that reflect their own California geography, soil, and climate.

Tastings take place at the Sanford estate in the Sta. Rita Hills, looking out over the sprawling La Rinconada Vineyard, planted adjacent to Sanford & Benedict a few years later. If history, farming, and making the connection between what we consume and the land is important to you, tour the legendary vineyards on an ATV like we did. Our tour guide Joann drove us through the vineyards, educating us on the history of the region, the vineyards and the winery while we sipped on tastes. Every so often we stopped to get a closer look at the grapes and taste wines right there among the vines from which they grew. Joann also showed us cool little things that you normally wouldn't think about as a casual wine consumer, like where water for the grapes comes from and how vineyard pests are controlled with hawks and owls.

• Address: 5010 Santa Rosa Rd, Lompoc, CA 93436
• Open for Tastings: daily 10am-5pm
• Reservations: required. book online
• Contact: (805) 735 5900 or info@sanfordwinery.com
• www.sanfordwinery.com
• Insider Tip: if she's available, do your tasting with Joann Saldana for a warm, extremely informative host!

Additional Recommended Wineries in Santa Ynez

Hitching Post Wines
at Hitching Post 2 Restaurant
420 East Highway 246, Buellton, CA 93427
(805) 688-0676
www.hpwines.com | @hitchingpost2

If you have strong opinions about any wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley or even the greater Santa Barbara County that are not mentioned here, please share them in the comments so I can add them to my future travel plans and to this Guide.

Restaurants in Solvang, Los Olivos, and Greater Santa Ynez Valley

After a day of tasting at Solvang and Los Olivos wineries, these are the best restaurants to come back to and have a wine-centric (or not!) meal, from Michelin-starred fine dining to Santa Maria BBQ and all the best in between.

Los Olivos Restaurants

Bar Le Cote is a new modern seafood focused bar and tavern. Definitely a must-try, if you can get a table. The vegetarian green "paella" was fun enough that it's on my list to re-create at home. I loved the branzino, but my favorite part was the boquerones with olives. I could have eaten plates of them all night with sparkling wine.

2375 Alamo Pintado Ave, Los Olivos, CA 93441
Open Wed-Sun 11am-3pm, 4pm-5:30pm, 4pm-8:30pm
Reservations: highly recommended
www.barlecote.com

Nella Kitchen and Bar is a new-ish coastal Italian restaurant from the same people who own S.Y. Kitchen in Santa Ynez and Toscana and Nerano in Los Angeles. It is located in the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn. We had a pleasant, salad and sparkling wine lunch on their patio.

2860 Grand Avenue Los Olivos, CA, 93441
Open: daily 11:30am - 10pm
Reservations: recommended
nellakitchen.com

Solvang Restaurants

Coast Range is a nouveau steakhouse from chef Lincoln Carson of Bon Temps in Los Angeles. It's dark and feels old school with leather booths. The usual steakhouse fare starting with caviar, oysters and chilled shellfish, Caesar salad, and "steakhouse sides" like creamed corn, baked potato, and French fries to go with grilled meat.

1635 Mission Dr., Solvang, CA 93463
Coast Range

More Santa Ynez Valley Restaurants

• Bell's, Los Alamos. One Michelin star restaurant from husband and wife team Greg and Daisy Ryan
• Bob's Well Bread, Ballard and Los Alamos. Artisan bread, pastries, and counter-service salads and sandwiches for lunch. A must-visit.
• Hitching Post II, Buellton. Made even more famous with its appearance in the movie Sideways. Santa Maria BBQ and good wine.
• Peasant's Feast, 487 Atterdag Road, Solvang, CA 93463
• S.Y. Kitchen, Santa Ynez. Fresh, easy California wine country cuisine.
• Lucky Hen Larder, Santa Ynez. Market and deli for cheese and charcuterie picnics to-go.

How to Get to the Santa Ynez Valley

You can get to Santa Ynez Valley by driving, taking the train, or flying.

Making a longer road trip along California's Central Coast, including Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo and Monterey, is highly recommended!

Driving

The towns of Solvang, Buellton, and Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley are a 2½-ish hour drive from most starting points in Los Angeles. If you time your departure right like I did very early Friday morning, you can get to Santa Ynez, the first town that's part of the Santa Ynez Valley loop, in about 2 hours.

From San Francisco: The fastest route from northern California is taking US-101 south, then CA-154 east to Los Olivos. The drive time is about 4½ hours. The 101 also gives you the option, if you have the time to take it, to veer slightly off course onto Highway 1, and take the scenic route along the Central Coast. The coastal route will tack on an additional hour-and-a-half of driving, if you’re not tempted to stop to take in views, photos, meditation, what have you.

From Los Angeles: Hop on US-101 North and cruise through Santa Barbara. From the city of Santa Barbara, take CA-154 for an easy 40-minute drive over the mountains (except for fog in the early morning). Depending on your final destination within the Santa Ynez Valley, you can turn west onto CA-246 to Solvang, or just go straight to Los Olivos on CA-154.

Taking the Train

Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner runs between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara in about two-and-a-half hours. From the Santa Barbara Station, you take Amtrak's Thruway Bus. The entire train trip door-to-door from Los Angeles can take up to 10 hours.

Train to Santa Ynez from San Francisco/Bay Area is not recommended unless you have a billion hours to kill.

Flying

Major commercial airlines fly into the city of Santa Barbara (SBA), making it virtually inexcusable not to visit. There are direct flights from as far away as Chicago on American Airlines and United Airlines. From Santa Barbara, rent a car and drive into the Valley.

Food and Santa Ynez Valley Wine Pairings

If you can’t wait to head out to Solvang, Los Olivos and the surrounding Santa Ynez Valley, grab a couple of wines and do your own wine tasting tour at home! A wine-friendly cheese and charcuterie board is always a great background for a wine tasting and one that features California cheeses, fruit, and nuts is a natural fit with California wines.

A full meal is an even better way to get a holistic feel for how a wine's vibe: how it tastes, smells, and pairs with a wide variety of food.

Here are some recipes and suggested pairings with wines from Solvang and Los Olivos wineries. It's not a coincidence that the recipes lean heavily toward fish and seafood. Santa Ynez Valley vineyards are influenced by the Pacific Ocean, both from above as fog and morning marine layers and from below in the diatomaceous soils. It's no wonder the wines are a natural match for Central Coast fish and seafood. Salmon, sablefish, albacore tuna, halibut, rockfish, crab, and oysters, and of course Santa Barbara uni (sea urchin) are just some of what's local to the area throughout the year.

• King Salmon ‘Californiçoise’ Salad with Liquid Farm 'White Hill' Chardonnay
• Classic Cioppino with Alma Rosa Pinot Noir
• Grilled Salmon with Cherry Salsa with Cambria Julia's Vineyard Pinot Noir
• Seared Salmon with Pomegranate Salsa with Brewer-Clifton Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir
• Salmon Piccata with Dragonette Sauvignon Blanc
• Salmon Puttanesca with Stolpman 'Love You Bunches' carbonic Sangiovese
• Marcella Hazan's Roast Chicken with Sanford Pinot Noir

Explore More California Wine Regions

Ready for more? Explore these California wine regions, from the furthest north to south:

• Anderson Valley, northern California, known for Pinot Noir, sparkling wine, and aromatic Alsatian varietals
• Monterey County, Central Coast of California
• Best Paso Robles Wineries, Central Coast of California
• Best Santa Barbara Wineries, Central Coast of California, named

Pro Tips and FAQs

Why Trust The Delicious Life?

Sarah is a professional recipe developer, writer, and digital content creator with almost 20 years of experience cooking and eating food specifically to pair with wines and vice versa, selecting wines to pair with food on the table. She has traveled to and tasted wine in Burgundy, France and throughout the many diverse wine regions of California.

_{This post was created in partnership with California Wines and California Grown to celebrate California Wine Month, which is every September. All opinions and recipe adaptations are my own. Your and our sponsors' support is what helps us live The Delicious Life so thank you!}

The post Best Santa Ynez Wineries, What You Must Taste and Drink appeared first on The Delicious Life.

After exploring the region this year and tasting through what it has to offer, I've put together this guide to the Anderson Valley, the best wineries, great food, and some fun little things to see and do. The guide has reviews of wine tasting experiences both in the tasting rooms located throughout the Valley, as well as wineries in other regions that produce wines using grapes grown in the Anderson Valley.

There are recommendations for where to stay, where to eat, and what to do in the Anderson Valley in addition to wine tasting, so you can plan your own perfect getaway as soon as this weekend.

And if you can’t quite squeeze a trip into your schedule in the immediate future, I’ve included some specific food and Anderson Valley wine pairing recommendations at the end so you can experience the Anderson Valley at home.

If you're just here for the wine, jump ahead to the Anderson Valley Wineries Guide below! Otherwise, keep reading...

Where is the Anderson Valley?

Anderson Valley, a narrow 15-mile long valley, is located about 100 miles north of San Francisco, or 2½ hours drive-time. See the pink shaded rectangle on the map above. The valley stretches diagonally southeast to the northwest along Highway 128 from just north of Sonoma toward the Pacific Ocean. However, the Anderson Valley is not part of Sonoma County. It can be confusing because the Alexander Valley is part of Sonoma. Anderson Valley is part of Mendocino County.

The three towns in Anderson Valley are Boonville on the eastern end, Philo in the middle, and Navarro on the western, or "Deep End," closest to the ocean.

What Wine Region is Anderson Valley?

Anderson Valley is its own American Viticultural Area (AVA) within the greater Mendocino County AVA. Vineyards and wineries have existed in the area for decades, with the earliest vines planted in the mid-1800s! But it wasn't until 1983 that "Anderson Valley" became recognized as an official AVA. Anderson Valley, along with its siblings like Mendocino Ridge and Yorkville Highlands, and well-known cousins Napa Valley and Sonoma are all part of the North Coast AVA of California.

The Anderson Valley AVA is one of the northernmost wine growing regions in California, which of course makes it one of the coolest. However the cool factor doesn't stop there. With its transverse orientation and deep, narrow shape accentuated by towering redwoods, the Anderson Valley acts as a natural funnel, pulling misty breezes and fog from the Pacific Ocean into the Valley.

Does that description sound vaguely familiar? It should. Four hundred miles to the south, the topography of the Santa Barbara wine region is shaped the same way! We'll see how this creates somewhat parallel wine production in terms of varietals in the two regions.

Rain is more plentiful in the Anderson Valley than other parts of California. In fact, the weather was perfectly sunny my entire time there, then dramatically changed to rain storms the day we left!

What Wines are in Anderson Valley?

The Anderson Valley is known for a few different types of wines—Pinot Noir, sparkling wine, and Alsatian varietals—all of which thrive in the characteristically cool, foggy climate of the region. Let's get into the big ones.

Anderson Valley Pinot Noir

The most well-known and critically-acclaimed wine from Anderson Valley is Pinot Noir. The Pinot Noirs from Anderson Valley typically taste like:

• bright red fruit flavors
• earthy, umami, mushrooms
• forest floor

These delicate, thin-skinned grapes grow well in the cool valley climate that is naturally regulated by the breezes and fog off the Pacific Ocean. Diurnal temperature variation, the difference between the lowest temperature and highest temperature of the day, is wide in the Valley, up to fifty degrees in variation. The warmer daily temperatures and longer summers are when sugar and flavor develop in the grapes. But the cool temperatures and fog help Pinot Noir growers develop acid to keep the grapes balanced.

California Sparkling Wines

Sparkling wines in the Anderson Valley are made from both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, several in méthode champenoise. The sparkling wines have a similar Champagne toastiness. Most recognizable is Roederer Estate, the California branch of French Champagne house Louis Roederer.

Anderson Valley Chardonnay

Around the world, Chardonnay often grows in the same regions as Pinot Noir, and it's definitely the case in the Anderson Valley, where Chardonnay can ripen in warmer microclimates inside the valley. Chardonnay is the second most abundant grape varietal grown in the Valley after Pinot Noir.

Alsatian

For the same reasons that Pinot Noir grows well in Anderson Valley, Alsatian varietals like Gewurztraminer and Riesling thrive, though the production volume is much smaller. Alsatian varieties are a mere 5% of total versus Pinot Noir which is almost 70%. (via)

How Many Wineries are in Anderson Valley?

There are 30 wineries in the Anderson Valley and 90 vineyards across 2,500 acres. That's a lot of numbers, but they're actually quite small. To get a sense of Anderson Valley's size, compare it to its well-known neighbor to the South, Sonoma, which has more than 500 wineries across 60,000 acres. Anderson Valley is truly something small and special.

Where to Go Wine Tasting in Anderson Valley

The region is small, but give yourself two full days to really dive into what Anderson Valley has to offer. As is my recommendation for wine tasting in any region, scheduling 2-3 wineries per day as a reliable itinerary. In the Anderson Valley, where the entire region is 15 miles along a single "highway" that is more of a cute little street in some places, this is totally doable.

Best Anderson Valley Wineries Guide

Goldeneye Winery

Did your mind immediately go to James Bond with the mention of Goldeneye? The association with 007 might be first for most people, but if you're a Pinot Noir enthusiast, Goldeneye offers one of the best representations of Pinot Noir from the Anderson Valley.

• 2021 Vin Gris of Pinot Noir, a very light rosé
• 2018 Sparkling Brut Rosé - white peach, nectarine, wild strawberry, key lime, brioche
• 2019 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir - cranberry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, dried herbs, pennyroyal
• 2019 Confluence Vineyard Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley - strawberry, plum, mint, wildflowers, black tea
• 2019 Gowan Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley - glacé cherry, blueberry pie, fresh rosemary
• 2018 Calera Mt. Harlan Pinot Noir, Ryan Vineyard - red cherry, dried herbs, fresh cracked black pepper

Inside Tip: Goldeneye's entry-level Pinot Noir is available at costco.

Goldeneye Winery
9200 Highway 128
Philo, CA 95466
www.goldeneyewinery.com/
wines: cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir

Drew Cellars, Tasting Room at The Madrones

• 2020 'Bahl Briney' Chardonnay, Anderson Valley
• 2019 Valenti Ranch Pinot Noir, Mendocino Ridge
• 2018 Morning Dew Ranch Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley
• 2019 Valenti Ranch Syrah, Mendocino Ridge

Drew Cellars
Tasting Room at The Madrones
9000 Highway 128, Philo, CA 95466
Winery at 31351 Greenwood Road, Elk, CA 95432
www.drewwines.com
wines: cool climate Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah

Longmeadow Ranch, Tasting Room at The Madrones

Longmeadow Ranch is a Napa-based winery with vineyard estates in a few different locations, including the Anderson Valley. The Anderson Valley vineyards produce grapes for their Anderson Valley AVA sparkling wine, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. Their satellite tasting room is located in The Madrones complex and hosts tastings indoors as well as outside at high tables. The tasting room also carries a selection of their Longmeadow Ranch Farmstead products like olive oils and vinegars. Tasting room manager Mark is awesome.

• 2017 Blanc de Noir Sparkling Wine, Anderson Valley
• 2018 Chardonnay, Anderson Valley
• 2021 Rosé of Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley
• 2018 Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley
• 2018 'Pinole" Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley

Longmeadow Ranch
Tasting Room at The Madrones
9000 Highway 128, Philo, CA 95466
www.longmeadowranch.com
wines: estate-grown Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir

Roederer Estate

• Brut Multi Vintage
• Brut Multi Vintage, magnum
• Brut Rosé Multi Vintage
• 2015 l'Ermitage
• Roederer Estate Extra Dry

Insider Tip: Roederer Estate Brut Multi Vintage is available in some grocery store wine sections!

Roederer Estate
4501 Highway 128
Philo, CA 95466
(707) 895-2288
www.roedererestate.com
wines: California sparkling wine

Husch Vineyards

Husch Vineyards is a family-owned winery originally founded by the Husch family and now owned and operated by the Oswald family. With its first crush in 1971, Husch is the first and oldest winery in the Anderson Valley.

The cottage at Philo Apple Farm where we stayed had a bottle of Husch Vineyards Chardonnay chilling for me when we got there. The Chardonnay was an easy sipper and tasted exactly like the vibe: sitting on the front porch of a farm cottage in the late afternoon surrounded by apple trees and speckled sunlight.

Husch Vineyards
4400 CA-128, Philo, CA 95466
www.huschvineyards.com
wines: cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Alsatian varietals

Handley Cellars

Handley Cellars
3151 CA-128, Philo, CA 95466
handleycellars.com
wines: organic estate-grown cool climate sparkling, red and white wines

Scharffenberger Cellars

Scharffenberger, yes that Scharffenberger that made chocolate, now makes sparkling wine in the Anderson Valley in the traditional méthode champenoise. Neighboring Roederer Estate bought the winery, and the two maintain their own identities. The tasting room is open, and requires a reservation via their website.

Scharffenberger Cellars
8501 CA-128, Philo, CA 95466
scharffenbergercellars.com
wines: California sparkling wine

Maggy Hawk

Maggy Hawk
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
9001 CA-128, Philo, CA 95466
www.maggyhawk.com

Minus Tide

Minus Tide
no official tasting room; stop into Disco Ranch (local wine store) and pick up a bottle or they may already have a bottle open to taste by the glass!
www.minutstidewines.com
wines: food-friendly Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Carignan, and Syrah

Read Holland

Read Holland Wines
www.readhollandwines.com
wines: boutique production Riesling

Visiting the Anderson Valley

Where to Eat in the Anderson Valley

After a day of tasting at Anderson Valley wineries, whether nearby along Highway 128 or a little farther out throughout Mendocino County, these are the best places to come back to and have a wine-centric (or not!) meal, from fine dining restaurants to a BYOB pizza pop-up and all the best in between.

Boonville Hotel

Boonville Hotel's restaurant serves a prix fixe dinners in the hotel courtyard in the summer and in the dining room or guest rooms during the cooler months. Chef Perry Hoffman's wine-friendly food reflects the hotel garden, local farms, and the seasons with dishes like roasted lamb shank, local salmon, and on some special summer Sundays, paella. You can make reservations online via tock. There were no reservations available when I planned the trip, but one popped up last-minute while I was there!

Boonville Hotel
14050 Highway 128 Boonville, CA 95415
(707) 895-2210
www.boonvillehotel.com

Lauren's Good Food

Lauren's Good Food at the Buckhorn is a casual restaurant. Think sandwiches, salads, and burgers. There's a dining room inside, along with a full bar inside that hosts a Trivia Night. There are a few tables on the front porch that's also open for dogs. If you bring your pupper, the kitchen can make a "puppy patty" that is just a plain hamburger patty with no seasonings on a plate. Bruno loved it.

Lauren's Good Food
14081 Hwy 128, Boonville, CA 95415
(707) 895-3869

Offspring Pizza

Offspring Pizza started as a pop-up in the Farrer building, across the street from the Boonville Hotel. It is currently in the process of getting a full set-up, and meanwhile turning out amazing pizza from its wood-fired oven. Order at the counter, take your number to a table out on the patio. When we went, there was no alcohol, not even BYO.
Offspring Pizza
14111 CA-128, Boonville, CA 95415
(707) 972-2655
www.offspringpizza.com

Roederer Estate offers a tightly curated menu of small bites like cheese and charcuterie, smoked salmon, duck rillettes, crostini, mimosa eggs, and caviar to accompany their tastings.

Additional Dining Recommendations from Locals

Bewildered Pig just north of Philo is good for for beautifully presented local, seasonal food.

Best Hotels and Lodging Options in the Anderson Valley

Part of the reason Anderson Valley remains under the radar is that it is not (yet?) set up for commercial tourism like its neighbors Napa and Sonoma. The valley itself has a few tiny hotels, each with just a few rooms that can be identified by name, e.g. "oh you're going to Anderson Valley, you should stay in the Tower room!"

The other option for lodging is to stay in a hotel or vacation rental homes in one of the many towns along the coast, including Mendocino. I've included recommendations for these places at the end of this section.

Philo Apple Farm's Private Cottages

Philo Apple Farm is a working organic apple orchard that grows apples, related tree fruits like pears and quince, and produces various apple-adjacent products like jams, cider and vinegars. The owner family lives on the property, and has three small cottages they rent out to guests in an original B & B format. Not like "airbnb," but an actual original Bed and Breakfast. You can book the cottages on their website.

We stayed in one of the cottages for a weekend. The cottage was cozy, the bed was comfortable, especially after long days of wine-tasting. Bruno appreciated the “pet-friendly” front door that he could just push open and go outside by himself.

Here’s why you want to stay at Philo Apple Farm:

• Self-service: Virtually everything about the property is self-service, from check-in to morning coffee and light breakfast, to check-out. As a germophobic introvert, I appreciate this immensely.
• Covid-19 precautions: in addition to everything being self-service so you don't really interact with anyone except your own party, there are unobtrusive signs reminding guests about masks and social distancing.
• Super quiet. Like literally, *crickets* quiet.
• All of the grounds including the actual production apple orchard are open for walking and exploring
• 100% pet-friendly, and so convenient that each cottage's front door literally opens up to the outside.

Philo Apple Farm
18501 Philo Greenwood Rd, Philo, CA 95466
(707) 621-0335
www.philoapplefarm.com

Boonville Hotel

The Boonville Hotel, along with the Madrones (below), is one of the better known hotels in the Anderson Valley. There are 17 rooms, a few that are pet-friendly. A reservation at the hotel includes a reservation for dinner in their restaurant.

Boonville Hotel
14050 Highway 128 Boonville, CA 95415
(707) 895-2210
www.boonvillehotel.com

The Madrones

The Madrones is a converted estate that has guest quarters, tasting rooms, a restaurant, and a green herb "apothecary." There are nine Estate rooms, and recent addition, two rooms set slightly apart from the main complex, called The Brambles.

The Madrone and The Brambles
9000 CA-128, Philo, CA 95466
(707) 895-2955
www.themadrones.com

Toward the Mendocino Coast

Locals and travel experts have recommended the following much larger hotels and resort style properties in and around Mendocino:

• Newport Ranch
• Stanford Inn
• Brewery Gulch
• Harbor House Inn in Elk has a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Other Anderson Valley Food Things

Philo Apple Farm, which has the cottages where we stayed, is an organic apple orchard that offers most of their fresh fruit along with associated food things like ciders, jams, and vinegars from their on-farm stand. Payment is via honor system. The Farm also hosts special cooking classes, dinners, and events throughout the year.

Anderson Valley Brewing
17700 Highway 253, Boonville, CA 95415
707-895-2337
www.avbc.com

Boonville Barn Collective is a small farm in the town of Boonville that specializes in, of all things, hot chili peppers. The farm started with a chili pepper variety that is known as Piment d'Espelette in France. Piment de'Espelette has an official AOC classification, so Boonville Barn names their peppers "Piment d'Ville" because it's grown outside of the Espelette region of France. The farm is not open to the public, but their dried chili powders are available in specialty food shops and of course, online. Peep this interview with the lady-founder/owner Krissy Sommegna that my friends at California Grown did!

How to Get to the Anderson Valley

You can get to the Anderson Valley by driving or flying. Making a longer road trip out of the Mendocino coast and through the north counties of California is highly recommended!

Driving to Anderson Valley

The Anderson Valley is a 2½-ish hour drive north from San Francisco. Though the actual mileage is about 120 miles, the last leg of the drive along Highway 128 is only two lanes that winds through gentle hills and redwood forests. You will occasionally see logging trucks hauling loads of redwoods.

From San Francisco: The fastest, most direct to Anderson Valley from San Francisco is taking US-101 north, passing through Marin, then through the familiar cities of Santa Rosa then Healdsburg. At the town of Cloverdale, take Highway 128 west toward Mendocino. From Cloverdale, you will get to the edge of Anderson Valley in about 45 minutes.

You can also take the scenic route that meanders along the coast from San Francisco to Mendocino, then cuts across inland on Highway 128. This route takes about 5 hours with no stops. Breaking this up into a multi-day road trip with overnight stops along the way is highly recommended.

From Los Angeles: The drive to the Anderson Valley from Los Angeles is just under 500 miles and averages about 8 hours, though you can breeze through in just under 7½ hours if you time it correctly to avoid LA and Bay area traffic (and get lucky!). The route is the usual I-5 north toward the Bay area, then along the East Bay. I have done this LA-Bay area drive countless times first as a college student at Cal, then as a Bay area food scenester.

Flying to Anderson Valley

If you're visiting Anderson Valley from anywhere that requires a flight first, you have two options, both of which still let you enjoy an hour of driving through valleys and redwood trees.

You can fly into Oakland (OAK) or San Francisco (SFO) on most commercial airlines, then drive the 2½ hours to the Anderson Valley. You can also fly into Santa Rosa (STS), a smaller airport that serves Sonoma County, rent a car, then drive the hour or so to Anderson Valley. American Airlines and Alaska Airlines have flights into Santa Rosa.

There is a tiny airstrip in Boonville into which you can fly with a lightweight plane. No commercial airlines fly directly into the Anderson Valley.

Food and Anderson Valley Wine Pairing Recommendations

If you can’t wait to head out to the Anderson Valley, grab a couple Anderson Valley AVA wines and do your own wine tasting tour at home! A wine-friendly cheese and charcuterie board is always a great background for a tasting, but a meal really lets you get the full feel of a wine.

Here are some recipes and suggested wine pairings from this guide. If the recipes feel heavily weighted toward fish and seafood, that's not a coincidence. The Anderson Valley is so close to the coast, and heavily influenced by the marine layer, it's no wonder the wines are a natural match for fish and seafood out of the Pacific Ocean. Salmon, sablefish, albacore tuna, halibut, rockfish, crab, and oysters are just some of what's local to the area throughout the year.

• Classic Smoked Salmon platter with Roederer Estate Brut sparkling wine (shipped or local delivery)
• Roederer Estate L'Ermitage (get it shipped, or local delivered) with Ultra-luxe Caviar Platter
• King Salmon ‘Californiçoise’ Salad with Roederer Estate Brut Rosé
• Miso-marinated Cod with Husch Vineyards Dry Gewurtztraminer
• Roasted Mushroom Salad with Golden Eye Pinot Noir (shipped or local delivery)
• Classic Roast Chicken with Drew Cellars Pinot Noir
• Korean Ginger Soy Braised Chicken with Longmeadow Ranch Pinot Noir
• Pear, Walnut and Brie Pizza (recipe below!) or Arugula Pear Salad inspired by that pizza with Read Holland Dry Riesling

Explore More California Wine Regions

• Monterey County, Central Coast
• Best Paso Robles Wineries, Central Coast
• Best Santa Barbara Wineries, Central Coast
• Santa Ynez, Solvang, and Los Olivos, Central Coast

List of Anderson Valley Wines

When you're ready to explore the Anderson Valley, either literally by going on a trip or figuratively by opening a few bottles at home, check out the following producers.

Wineries Located IN the Anderson Valley

The following wineries have tasting rooms in and around Anderson Valley that are open to the public, either walk-in or by appointment.

Drew Cellars *
Tasting Room at The Madrones
9000 Highway 128, Philo, CA 95466
Winery at 31351 Greenwood Road, Elk, CA 95432
www.drewwines.com
wines: cool climate Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah

Goldeneye Winery *
9200 Highway 128
Philo, CA 95466
www.goldeneyewinery.com/
wines: cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir

Handley Cellars
3151 CA-128, Philo, CA 95466
handleycellars.com
wines: organic estate-grown cool climate sparkling, red and white wines

Husch Vineyards
4400 CA-128, Philo, CA 95466
www.huschvineyards.com
tasting room is open, reservations not required
wines: cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Alsatian varietals

Longmeadow Ranch *
Tasting Room at The Madrones
9000 Highway 128, Philo, CA 95466
www.longmeadowranch.com
wines: estate-grown Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir

Roederer Estate *
4501 Highway 128
Philo, CA 95466
(707) 895-2288
www.roedererestate.com
wines: California sparkling wine

Scharffenberger Cellars
8501 CA-128, Philo, CA 95466
scharffenbergercellars.com
wines: California sparkling wine

Anderson Valley Winery Recommendations from Locals

Maggy Hawk
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
9001 CA-128, Philo, CA 95466
www.maggyhawk.com

Minus Tide
no official tasting room; stop into Disco Ranch (local wine store) and pick up a bottle or they may already have a bottle open to taste by the glass!
www.minutstidewines.com
wines: food-friendly Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Carignan, and Syrah

Read Holland Wines
www.readhollandwines.com
wines: boutique production Riesling and Pinot Noir

Waits-Mast
www.waitsmast.com

Disco Ranch
Disco Ranch is not a winery but a retail store and wine bar with small tapas-style bites. It deserves a shout because it essentially serves as satellite tasting room for smaller wineries that don't have their own tasting rooms. Wendy, the proprietor, is awesome.
14025 CA-128, Boonville, CA 95415
www.discoranch.com

Slightly Beyond the Anderson Valley

Pacific Star Winery
33000 North Highway 1
Fort Bragg, CA 95437
www.pacificstarwinery.com
wines: unique reds and whites, with some obscure grapes, winery is situated on cliffs over the Pacific Ocean and has stunning views

Print

Pear, Walnut, and Blue Cheese Pizza Recipe

inspired by the seasonal offering at Offspring Pizza in Boonville, Anderson Valley, CA. Pair with an interesting dry white wine like Gewurztraminer or Riesling, or if you're inclined toward red, you can never go wrong with a Pinot Noir, especially one grown in the valley.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword pears, pizza, travel, walnuts

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 1 12-inch pizza

Ingredients

• 1 prepped pizza or flatbread dough
• 6 ounces brie-style cheese like Marin French Cheese Co. Traditional Brie cut into ¼-inch wide slices
• ½ Bartlett pear, thinly sliced lengthwise
• ¼ cup walnuts
• ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese like Point Reyes Bay Blue
• 1 tablespoon balsamic reduction
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives, parsley, and tarragon

Instructions

• Heat oven to 450°F.
• Prepare pizza dough and stretch into a 12-inch round on a baking sheet. Top with Brie cheese slices, then sliced pears, walnuts, and blue cheese.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes until pizza dough is golden and puffed and cheese is melted and bubbling.
• Remove pizza from oven, drizzle with balsamic reduction and top with chopped herbs.

Why Trust The Delicious Life?

Sarah is a professional recipe developer, writer, and digital content creator with almost 20 years of experience cooking food specifically to pair with wines and vice versa, selecting wines to pair with food on the table. She has traveled to and tasted wine in Burgundy, France and throughout the many diverse wine regions of California.

_{This post was created in partnership with California Wines and California Grown to celebrate California Wine Month, which is every September. All opinions and recipe adaptations are my own. Your and our sponsors' support is what helps us live The Delicious Life so thank you!}

The post Anderson Valley Wineries, a Hidden Gem in Northern California appeared first on The Delicious Life.

After visiting the region more than a few times, I've put together this guide to Santa Barbara Wineries. The guide has my personal reviews of wine tasting experiences both in the tasting rooms located throughout the city, as well as the wineries, vineyard estates, and tasting rooms spread across the surrounding wine country. Because you’ll definitely want to explore the region for at least two days, there are recommendations for where to stay, where to eat, and what to do in Santa Barbara in addition to wine tasting, so you can plan your own perfect getaway as soon as this weekend.

And if you can’t quite squeeze a trip into your schedule in the immediate future, I’ve included some specific food and Santa Barbara wine pairing recommendations at the end so you can experience Santa Barbara at home.

Table of Contents (links to jump ahead):

What/What is Santa Barbara | Where to Go Wine Tasting in Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara Wineries Guide | Urban Wine Trail | Wine Country | Santa Barbara Restaurants | Where to Eat in Wine Country | Things to Do | How to Get to Santa Barbara | Hotels and Where to Stay | Santa Barbara Food & Wine Pairing Suggestions

Where and What Exactly is Santa Barbara?

If you're just here for the (food and) wine, jump ahead to the Santa Barbara Wineries Guide below! Otherwise, keep reading...

Santa Barbara County is a Wine Region

When wine enthusiasts refer to “Santa Barbara,” they are talking about the 17,000 acres of vineyards and 200+ wineries spread across seven AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) nestled in and among the hills and valleys that lie just over the mountains and east of the Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara is the southernmost wine region within the greater Central Coast wine region that includes Paso Robles, which I covered a couple of weeks ago, northward to Monterey. Santa Barbara is known for chardonnay, pinot noir and syrah, but the topography and climate vary so much that it grows over 80 different grape varieties.

Santa Barbara is a Coastal City

Santa Barbara, the coastal city, is aptly nicknamed the American Riviera for its enviable location on the stunning cool blue Pacific coastline, the warm California weather, and its low-key-surfer-meets-luxe-Mediterranean vibe. The local neighborhoods are home to famous people you might know like Oprah and ex-British royalty Megan Markle and Harry. And if you haven’t heard of those celebrities, then maybe you’ve heard of the world famous seafood like Santa Barbara spot prawns and uni (sea urchin).

There are award-winning restaurants, a growing local craft brew scene, and of course, the dozens of tasting rooms from some of the best wineries in Santa Barbara county. Together, these tasting rooms, which are concentrated in some of the city’s coolest neighborhoods, make up the Urban Wine Trail.

All of the previous, coupled with its location right on the US-101 on the way to the vineyard and estates in wine country, make Santa Barbara the city literally the perfect “gateway” to, well, Santa Barbara the wine region, and it’s where I started my most recent exploration of some of the best tasting experiences and wineries in the area.

Where to Go Wine Tasting in Santa Barbara

There are two major areas for wine tasting in Santa Barbara: the Urban Wine Trail and wine country.

The Urban Wine Trail lies within the city of Santa Barbara and is one of the best ways to get to know the wines of Santa Barbara. Most of the 20+ tasting rooms are walkable to and from one another within the downtown neighborhoods. They are even generally walkable from one neighborhood to the next. You could make an entire Santa Barbara wine tasting trip out of the Urban Wine Trail alone, and never actually leave the city of Santa Barbara!

However, you really should carve out at least one day to drive 40 minutes over the mountains to wine country, if not to taste at a few of the 200+ estates and wineries, at the very least to see and experience the landscape. If you’re on a greater Central Coast road trip, more than likely you’ll be driving through this particular piece of wine country anyway. Because wine country is spread out across a pretty sizeable area, planning for wine country requires just a little more consideration.

Best Santa Barbara Wineries Guide

This list of the Best Wineries in Santa Barbara is culled from my most recent exploration with California Wines, previous personal visits to Santa Barbara, and a few highly reliable recommendations from trusted friends and experts.

Click any link in the outline to jump ahead.

1. Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail, Santa Barbara, CA
   1. The Funk Zone neighborhood
      1. Kunin Wines and The Valley Project
      2. Margerum Wine Company and Barden Wines
      3. also try: Melville Winery (vineyards and winery in Sta. Rita Hills)
   2. In The Presidio neighborhood
      1. Grassini Family Vineyards Santa Barbara Tasting Room
      2. also try: Au Bon Climat (winery located in Santa Maria)
2. Santa Barbara Wine Country
   1. Grassini Family Vineyards in Happy Canyon
   2. Stolpman Vineyards and Stolpman So Fresh, Ballard Canyon and Los Olivos Tasting Room
   3. Buttonwood Farm and Winery in Los Olivos District
   4. Zaca Mesa Winery
   5. Dragonette Cellars, Los Olivos tasting room and Buellton winery
   6. Hitching Post Wines in Buellton

Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail

The Funk Zone

Some of Santa Barbara's best wineries are clustered in a 13-block mixed-use neighborhood known as the Funk Zone. Old warehouses and factories from its heyday as an industrial manufacturing hub in the 19th century have been transformed into spaces for artists and artisans alike. There are artists' studios, galleries, wine tasting rooms, craft breweries' tap rooms, boutiques and restaurants. The Funk Zone is right near Santa Barbara’s waterfront, east of State Street and is easy to identify with its colorful wall murals.

Kunin Wines and The Valley Project

Magan Kunin leads the charge at Kunin Wines, founded in 1998 by her late husband Seth Kunin. The wines are primarily Rhône varieties -- syrah, zinfandel and viognier. They gradually added grenache, mourvèdre, rousanne, sauvignon blanc and chenin blanc over the years as the winery grew. Magan sources grapes from premier vineyards around Santa Barbara, and produces 5,000 cases a year of critically-acclaimed wine out of a winery just north of Santa Barbara.

Kunin Wines shares its Funk Zone tasting room with The Valley Project, the second wine label that Seth and Magan started in order to experiment with different, lesser-known and lesser-grown grapes. The Valley Project Wines are a sort of education into the wide variety of micro-climates as well as the different soil compositions that make up the terroir of the Santa Maria and Santa Ynez Valleys. You can actually see and touch the soil types from a display on tasting room wall!

Magan was gracious enough to spend a large part of her afternoon with me using the wall mural in the tasting room, visual soil samples, and of course the wines to give me a really good sense of Santa Barbara. Before she had to run out to pick up her kid from school -- you know I love a badass working wine-making mom! -- we tried:

• Kunin 2020 ‘Phoebe 2.0’ Rosé, grenache-based, named for Magan and Seth’s daughter Phoebe
• Kunin 2019 Sauvignon Blanc McGinley Vineyard, tasted like “passionfruit, lemongrass, dandelion, and tropical fruit”
• Kunin 2016 ‘Pape Star Blonde,’ alluding to France’s Chateauneuf-de-Pape, blend of primarily grenache blanc with roussanne and marsanne
• Kunin 2016 Pape Star Rouge Rhône-style Santa Ynez Valley red blend
• Kunin 2018 Syrah Alisos Vineyard

A really cool thing Magan let me do is taste three different bottlings of her chenin blanc side-by-side-by-side so I could really get a feel for how the same grape can be interpreted in different ways. She jokingly referred to the tasting as a “deep-dive” as if it might be a little wine-nerdy, but personally I love tasting wine this way. One of the best ways to understand all the nuances of a wine is to taste it against itself, the way science experiments are set up with subtle differences in a single variable.

The chenin blanc grapes come from the famous Jurassic Park vineyard, no relation to the movie, but 100% relation to the pre-historic soil. The chenin blanc wines we tasted:

• Kunin 2019 Natural Chenin Blanc Jurassic Park, rated 92 points by Robert Parker, rated 174 points by TheDelicious
• Kunin ‘Zero’ Sparkling Chenin Blanc Jurassic Park, made in the traditional style of Champagne with zero dosage, which means zero sugar added to the wine. rated 93 points by Antonio Galloni
• Kunin 2018 Chenin Blanc Jurassic Park, a classic expression of chenin blanc

I walked out of Kunin Wines with all three chenin blancs, the Pape Star Rouge, and bottle of The Valley Project rosé because it has the drawing of Santa Barbara printed directly on it. Keep an eye out for a “deep-dive” post on the chenins.

If you’re new to Santa Barbara wineries, Kunin Wines and The Valley Project tasting room is one of the best places to start. Tastings are outside in the courtyard, and the winery is dog-friendly.

Kunin Wines and The Valley Project
Tasting Room in the Funk Zone
28 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara
(805) 963-9633
www.kuninwines.com | @KuninWinery

Margerum Wine Company and Barden Wines

We walked through the Funk Zone toward the ocean from Kunin, hopped over some railroad tracks, and stepped onto the patio of the Margerum Wine Company tasting room, which is located within the Hotel Californian.

Doug Margerum handcrafts primarily Rhône and Burgundian style wines for his first label Margerum Wine Company, as well as his second label, Barden Wines ("Barden" is Doug’s middle name).

Tastings are on the patio, and spill out onto tables and chairs along the sidewalk. There is an indoor space with a bar that makes Margerum feel like an actual wine bar. Availability inside depends on current local covid restrictions. The Margerum tasting room is one of a few tasting rooms on the Urban Wine Trail that offers its own full food menu.

Hot tip from a local: if the duck toast is on the menu, absolutely get it.

We tasted:

• Margerum Riviera Rosé
• Margerum Sybarite Sauvignon Blanc
• Margerum M5 White
• Margerum Cinsault
• Barden Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir

Margerum Wines and Barden Wines
Tasting Room in the Funk Zone
19 E. Mason Street, Santa Barbara
(805) 845-8435
www.margerumwines.com | margerumwine

The Presidio

From SantaBarbaraCA.com: “A vibrant few blocks in the heart of Santa Barbara, centered around the historical site of one of the last Spanish fortresses (or ‘presidios’) to be built in California, the Presidio is now home to intriguing, locally owned shops, wine-tasting rooms and restaurants. Walking the neighborhood rewards the visitor with discoveries of hidden walkways, courtyards and fanciful architectural details, such as the ‘Street in Spain,’ with its many colored flags, located in El Paseo, California’s first shopping center.”

Grassini Family Vineyards, Tasting Room in The Presidio, Santa Barbara

Grassini Family Vineyards is an estate winery, which means it produces wines made exclusively from grapes grown on their own estate. Their vineyards are located in Happy Canyon, one of the sevens AVAs in Santa Barbara. Grassini focuses on Bordeaux varietals cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc.

What we tasted at Grassini Family Vineyards Santa Barbara Tasting Room

• Grassini Family Vineyards Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc (pictured above)
• Grassini Family Vineyards 2018 ‘Articondo’ Proprietary Red Blend
• Grassini Family Vineyards 2018 ‘Equipo’ Red Blend
• Grassini Family Vineyards 2017 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

The tastings are at tables and chairs that are very safely spread out around an outdoor courtyard. Grassini is walking distance to other Presidio tasting rooms as well as some acclaimed restaurants like Bibi Ji and less than two blocks from our hotel, the Canary. The courtyard is dog-friendly.

Grassini Family Vineyards
Tasting Room in the Presidio
24 El Paseo, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(805) 897-3366
www.grassinifamilyvineyards.com

Additional Winery Recommendations in The Presidio

Au Bon Climat
813 Anacapa Street, 5B, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(805) 963-7999
www.aubonclimat.com

How to Make a Day Trip to Wineries in Santa Barbara Wine Country

From the city of Santa Barbara, wine country is an easy 40-minute drive over the mountains (except for fog in the early morning) and definitely worth it. Tasting rooms and winery experiences are generally clustered around a few towns: Buellton, Solvang, and Los Olivos. Some wineries hold tastings at their vineyard estates, which can offer gorgeous settings for tasting with stunning views of hills covered with vineyards, tours of wine-making operations inside the facilities, and walks among the vines to get closeups of the grapes.

Plan on visiting three wineries a day on this type of itinerary. Maaybe four if you’re able to be militant about keeping to your schedule. There’s a lot of “open space” on the map between towns which makes it seem like there’s a lot of actual driving — but the distance between them is at most 6 or 7 miles. Some of the roads are two lanes through canyons so going can be careful.

Make absolutely sure you assign a designated driver or hire third party transportation.

Buttonwood Winery & Vineyard

If you’re down for a short hike up a gentle hillside, you can do a walk through the vineyards of Buttonwood Winery and Vineyards. From the top of the highest hill on the Buttonwood property, we had a full 360-degree view of the valley from Lompoc in the west, around to the San Rafael mountains. Karen Steinwachs, Buttonwood’s winemaker (hell yeah for another lady winemaker!) and a couple of four-legged vineyard friends walked and talked me through syrah, grenache, cabernet franc, and merlot vines. I tasted berries (what the pros call individual grapes) straight off the vine and learned why smaller grapes with less juice and thicker skins are better for wine because flavors are concentrated, as opposed to table grapes, which we like huge, juicy, with thin crisp skins. I am a winemaker now.

Karen had been in a successful career in technology in Los Angeles, but burned out. As so many of us dream of doing but never do, she actually escaped to wine country. She worked one harvest at Foley Estates, and basically never looked back. Karen is now the head winemaker at Buttonwood, crafting their Bordeaux and Rhône style wines with a real feel for the earth and environment.

Tastings at Buttonwood Winery and Vineyards take place in the garden surrounding the small house at the entrance to the property.

We tasted through:

• Buttonwood Sauvignon Blanc
• Buttonwood Syrah Rosé
• Buttonwood Classic Cuvée red blend, a table wine that I identified as a “Tuesday night wine” when Karen described it to me and she immediately responded that she refers to it as a “Wednesday Night Wine,” which I like better for the alliteration
• Buttonwood Cabernet Franc
• Buttonwood ‘Hop On’ white wine barrel-fermented with hops grown on the property, super unexpected and interesting!

In addition to growing wine grapes, Buttonwood is a working farm and grows almonds, peaches, pomegranates, and a bounty of other produce. In the summer, Buttonwood sells the produce from a farmstand across the street. It felt almost too cute to be real.

Buttonwood Winery & Vineyard
1500 Alamo Pintado Road, Solvang 93463
(805) 688-3032
www.buttonwoodwinery.com | @ButtonwoodWinery

Stolpman Vineyards and Stolpman So Fresh

Though the official Stolpman Vineyards tasting room is in Los Olivos, I had the rare privilege of heading out to the Stolpman estate in Ballard Canyon to peep the vineyards and chat with second generation Stolpman, Mr. Peter Stolpman. The vineyard is technically not open open to the public, i.e. you can’t just drive up to the estate, but it is “open” to Club members who have access to events on the property. You can arrange for a private tour of the vineyard and winery depending on covid protocols for Santa Barbara county when you visit.

The majority of the vineyards at Stolpman, like others in the Ballard Canyon AVA, are planted with syrah. However, Stolpman also grows 14 other varieties, like the sangiovese and roussanne I saw on the vine. Wines vary in style, from the original Stolpman Vineyards label’s classic expressions of syrah to the SO FRESH brand’s exploration of light, youthful, creative re-interpretations of traditional techniques that are “new again” like non-extractive carbonic fermentation.

At Stolpman Vineyards, we tasted through:

• Stolpman Vineyards ‘Uni’ unfiltered roussanne and chardonnay that I immediately located at a couple of local wine shops upon my return home from Santa Barbara. In Los Angeles, I found Stolpman Uni at: Fancy Free Liquor in Burbank, K&L Wines in Hollywood, Stanley’s in Culver City and Ester’s Wine Shop in Santa Monica. I also noticed the wine on the menu at some restaurants including Ester’s and The Rose in Venice.
• Stolpman So Fresh ‘Love You Bunches‘ carbonic sangiovese, light, fresh, highly drinkable and now a personal “house red,” especially because it’s meant to be served chilled
• Stolpman ‘La Cuadrilla’ 2019 red blend, profits from bottle sales are shared with the full-time vineyard crew
• Stolpman Vineyards Estate Syrah

Stolpman Vineyards has a very hands-on approach to farming, and in order to do that, they employ a full-time vineyard crew of 30 people, who also share in the profits from the sale of the ‘La Cuadrilla’ bottling. I haven’t done a lot of research into the operations of vineyards in general, but it seems really cool to take care of your team like that!

Stolpman Vineyards
Tasting Room in Los Olivos
2434 Alamo Pintado Ave, Los Olivos CA 93441

Vineyard (open for vineyard hike!)
2001 Ballard Canyon Rd, Solvang, CA 93463
805-688-0400
www.stolpmanvineyards.com | @StolpmanVineyards

Pro-tip: Internet was spotty for me in the canyon around Buttonwood and Stolpman (I have Verizon). Take a screenshot of googlemaps of the area before you go in. I LITERALLY had to zoom in on the photo I took of the chalk wall mural of Santa Barbara from the Kunin tasting room to figure out how to get out of there.

Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards

Zaca Mesa Winery is located a little further out in Santa Barbara wine country along the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail against the backdrop of the San Rafael Mountain range. The single-vineyard Rhône-style wines are made with grenache, mourvèdre, syrah, and viognier grapes grown on the estate since 1973. OG!

For our tasting, we sat on the fairly new terrace that overlooks grenache vineyards with a view of a sunflower field. The entire Zaca Mesa property is so picturesque, you just know it’s booked every covid-safe weekend for events like weddings and parties. There is no food menu for the wine tastings, but you can order cheese and charcuterie, curated by local cheese shops. The cheese board was perfect, especially the little olives that really helped drive home the olive notes in one of the wines.

Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards
6905 Foxen Canyon Rd, Los Olivos, CA 93441
(805) 688 – 9339
www.zacamesa.com | @ZacaMesaWinery

Additional Recommended Santa Barbara Wineries in Wine Country:

These are a few Santa Barbara wineries I visited and are highly recommended!

Dragonette Cellars
Tasting Room in Los Olivos
2445 Alamo Pintado Ave, Los Olivos, CA 93441
805.693.0077
www.dragonettecellars.com | @DragonetteWine

Hitching Post Wines
at Hitching Post 2 Restaurant
420 East Highway 246, Buellton, CA 93427
(805) 688-0676
www.hpwines.com | @hitchingpost2

If you have strong opinions about any wineries in Santa Barbara that are not mentioned here, please share them in the comments so I can add them to my future travel plans and to this Guide.

Where to Eat in Santa Barbara

After a day of tasting at Santa Barbara wineries, whether nearby on the Urban Wine Trail or cruising the vineyard estates in wine country, these are the best restaurants to come back to and have a wine-centric (or not!) meal, from fine dining restaurants to standing-room only taquerias and all the best in between.

Finch & Fork

You can’t stay at the Canary Hotel and not have at least one meal at Finch & Fork! And in fact, you could have a meal at Finch & Fork, and get a pretty good feel for Santa Barbara wineries just by exploring their wine list. Almost every winery I visited was represented on their list.

Finch & Fork’s food is simple California cuisine that showcases the bounty of Santa Barbara. Produce comes from local farms, and the fish and seafood, which has a solid presence on the menu, is wild-caught right out of the ocean a few blocks away! 

At Finch & Fork, we had:

• Sea Bass (Local-caught!) with Cranberry Beans, Haricot Verts, and Salsa Verde
• Halibut (Local Catch of the Day!) with Polenta, Squash, and Meyer Lemon Beurre Blanc
• Buffalo Cauliflower with Point Reyes Blue Cheese Mousse - you know how much I love my California-made cheese!
• Deviled Eggs with Caviar - let's just call this a luxury dose of omega-3s
• Fig, Melon, Pancetta, and Goat Cheese with Vincotto

Finch & Fork at the Canary Hotel
31 W. Carrillo Street, Santa Barbara
(805) 879-9100
finchandforkrestaurant.com | @finchandfork

Boathouse at Hendry’s Beach

One of the most stunning views of the Pacific Ocean from a restaurant table in Santa Barbara is at the Boathouse at Hendry’s Beach, which is an all-American, California-ish seafood restaurant. It’s a five to 10-minute drive from “downtown” Santa Barbara and is located literally on the sand of what is officially named Arroyo Burro Beach. Every table has a view of the water.

The Boathouse doesn’t take reservations, and because the restaurant is, for obvious reasons, so popular, the wait time for a table at prime dinner time during high season can be upwards of two hours. Here's a tip from a local: go earlier in the evening -- before 6 -- put your name down on the list to grab a pager, and then stroll the beach.

This stretch of beach in front of the Boathouse is dog-friendly, so if you’re traveling with your pup, you can bring him/her to the beach. Dogs are not allowed inside the restaurant or on the restaurant’s covered patios where people are eating. You can have dogs with you at the outside (no coverage) sidewalk seating, but the tables are limited, so be prepared to wait for one of those. My pom Bruno sat at one of these tables.

Pro-tip: Dress very warmly. Even in the summer. You think you’re good? No. Whatever you’re wearing, you need one more layer, trust me.

Boathouse at Hendry’s Beach
2981 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara
(805) 898-2628
Boathousesb.com | sb_boathouse

La Paloma Café

One of the vibiest patios in Santa Barbara, perfect for sipping on a pitcher of margaritas before dinner of a uniquely Santa Barbara cuisine that combines California and Mexico over a wood fire.

These are the dishes we ordered, tried, and liked (if it's not listed here, either we didn't order it, or I don't think it was that remarkable):

• Santa Maria Style BBQ Snake River Farm Wagyu Tri-Tip with Pinquito Beans
• extra side of Pinquito Beans because I loved them
• Pork Shoulder Carnitas with Black Beans and Cotija Cheese, served with tortillas
• Crispy Cauliflower and Potato "Chorizo" Tacos
• Esquite Style Shishito Peppers with Garlic Aioli
• La Paloma Salad

702 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara, California 93101
805.966.7029
lapalomasb.com | @lapalomasb

Lucky Penny

Lucky Penny is a wood-fired pizzeria in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone, making it a great place to stop for a food break between wine-tasting stops on this section of the Urban Wine Trail, which includes Kunin Wines, The Valley Project, and Margerum Wines. Order at the register inside, grab a number, and sit down at any of the number of tables in the cute outdoor courtyard set-up in what was once the parking lot shared with Lucky Penny’s sister restaurants.

Shockingly, I ordered neither the Italian Chopped Salad nor the Little Gems Caesar from Lucky Penny's menu, my "Always Orders." HWHAT. I know. Instead I went with the seasonal salad that had strawberries, pistachios and fennel. My farmers’ market pizza was one of the most vibrant I’ve ever seen with Tutti Frutti heirloom tomatoes, Calabrian chili, and both green and purple basil.

Lucky Penny’s courtyard is dog-friendly. Six-pound Bruno even met a new 60-pound Golden Retriever ladyfriend.

Fun fact: The outside of Lucky Penny’s building is overed with 164,456 real copper pennies; now you know where to go if we really do have a post-pandemic coin shortage!

Lucky Penny
127 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara
(805) 284-0358
luckypennysb.com | @luckypennysb

La Super-Rica Taqueria

Everyone who goes to Santa Barbara has to go to La Super-Rica Taqueria at least once in their lives because they just do. Because it’s La Super-Rica Taqueria.

I knew La Super-Rica was one of Julia Child’s favorite restaurants but beyond that, I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t want any third party expectations-setting, so I did almost no research in advance other than looking up the address and hours. They are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so I planned my very limited itinerary around that, leaving for Santa Barbara two hours earlier than scheduled so I could squeeze in my La Super-Rica “pre-lunch” before my actual lunch lunch somewhere else.

I’m from Los Angeles so “tacos” could mean a $200 dinner with skinny margaritas in a restaurant, or it could mean eating off a paper plate standing in an empty parking lot next to a gas station. La Super-Rica is something in-between: you wait in line that spills out the front door onto and at some times, down the sidewalk, when you get inside the neon turquoise trimmed building you order through a window, you walk out the other side to the back covered patio and wait with your number, you pick up your tray when your number is called, then either stand at a bar around the perimeter of the inside patio, or small tables outside.

The person at the register recommended a couple of popular dishes. It may sound like my order of “only” three tacos was small, but this was a huge amount of food (for me), mostly because the tacos are blanketed with melted cheese. The Super-Rica Especial is almost an entire plate, three tortillas with roasted pasilla chiles, grilled pork, and melted cheese. Taco de Adobada is grilled marinated pork and Taco de Rajas is the chiles. So basically I had the exact same things — tortillas, pork, roasted pasillas, and cheese–three different ways, and I wasn’t mad about it. When you go, get the Super-Rica Especial for sure.

La Super-Rica Taqueria
622 N Milpas St, Santa Barbara, CA
(805) 963-4940
street parking

Trusted Santa Barbara Restaurant Recommendations:

• Bettina Pizzeria 1014 Coast Village Rd., Santa Barbara, 93108 www.bettinapizzeria.com
• Bibi Ji  734 State St., Santa Barbara, 93101 805-560-6845 www.bibijiSB.com
• Loquita  202 State St., Santa Barbara, 93101 www.loquitaSB.com
• Los Agaves  600 N. Milpas St., Santa Barbara, 93101  www.los-agaves.com
• Oliver’s 1198 Coast Village Road Santa Barbara (805) 969-0834 www.oliversofmontecito.com
• Sama Sama Kitchen 1208 State St., Santa Barbara, 93101 805-965-4566 samasamakitchen.com

Places to Eat Out and Around Santa Barbara Wine Country

S.Y. Kitchen, Santa Ynez

If I were a restaurant, I’d be S.Y. Kitchen. Lunch from S.Y. Kitchen could not have been more on-brand for me than if I had cooked it myself. We had a bright, sunshiny shaved yellow beet salad with goat cheese and hazelnuts (ok, so maybe not the hazelnuts since I’m allergic), Prosciutto di Parma with melon, and of course one of my all-time favorites, Tuna Niçoise.

I swear I did not actually look at the menu until writing this story and S.Y. Kitchen has Salmon Puttanesca!!! I can’t believe this place isn’t called S.J.G. Kitchen.

Every dish paired perfectly with Stolpman Vineyards ‘Uni’ (roussanne) and Stolpman So Fresh ‘Love You Bunches.” But you knew they would.

Fun fact: S.Y. Kitchen’s big sister restaurants are Toscana/Bar Toscana and Nerano/BG back at home in Los Angeles!

S.Y. Kitchen
1110 Faraday St, Santa Ynez CA 93460
805.691.9794
www.sykitchen.com/ | @SYKitchen

Hitching Post II, Buellton

You can’t visit Santa Barbara without trying a quintessential Santa Barbara food, Santa Maria BBQ. This is a style of barbecue that originated in California’s Santa Maria Valley, just north of the city of Santa Barbara. And if you’re going to try Santa Maria BBQ, why not try it at Hitching Post II, an OG restaurant mainstay in Solvang, made famous by the movie Sideways.

Hitching Post II
420 East Highway 246, Buellton, CA 93427
(805) 688-0676
www.hpwines.com | @hitchingpost2

Bob’s Well Bread Cafe and Bakery

If you’re going to drink fermented grape juice, might as well go all in and eat fermented, too. Bob’s Well Bread has carts full of sourdough bread in their adorable Ballard Bakery and Cafe, which is basically “on the way” to or from or between any winery in the Santa Ynez Valley.

For lunch, I couldn’t not order the Avocado Toast with pepitas, pickled shallots, and Aleppo pepper. We also tried the Molinari & Sons salami, provolone, and basil-walnut pesto on ficelle bread, and a kouign-amann. All of it was perfect sitting under a striped umbrella out on the front patio. We took a huge box of pastries to go, which barely made it home uneaten. Bob’s Well Bread is obviously known for, well, its bread, but damn, the caneles deserve some love.

Pro-tip: Take a loaf of the olive bread home, freeze one half, and use the other half for incredible avocado toast for the next few mornings. Some day down the line, your future-self will remember you have that half loaf of olive bread in the freezer and will thank you.

Fun fact: Bob has his own line of wines, a grenache rose and a sauvignon blanc, made by Doug Margerum of Margerum Wine Co. (mentioned above). The Well Bread wines are available at the bakeries.

Bob’s Well Bread in Ballard
2449 Baseline Avenue, Ballard CA 93463
(805) 691-9549

Bob’s Well Bread in Los Alamos
550 Bell Street, Los Alamos CA 93463
(805) 344-3000
www.bobswellbread.com | @bobswellbread

Other Food Things in Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara Farmers’ Markets

State Street Farmers Market: Tuesday 3 pm – 7 pm
Santa Barbara and Cota Street Market: Saturday 8 am – 1 pm

Santa Barbara Saturday Fish Market

Local fishermen bring in wild-caught sea bass, black cod, ling cod, yellowtail, rockfish, halibut, swordfish, tuna, king salmon, crab, shrimp, lobster, and world famous Santa Barbara spot prawns and Santa Barbara uni (sea urchin, pictured above) on Saturday mornings to the Santa Barbara Harbor. If I were heading home right after this, I definitely would have picked up sea bass or black cod to make a Miso-Marinated Sea Bass, salmon for Roast Salmon with Green Olive Salsa, and all the shellfish for a killer Classic Cioppino!

Check the Fish Market's website for what’s currently in season/available.

Taste of Santa Barbara Event

Santa Barbara Culinary Experience in partnership with local food, wine, and culinary education groups put on Taste of Santa Barbara, a multi-day event in the spring. The event highlights the best of the best of Santa Barbara with special restaurant menus, farm and garden tours, farmers' market tours, film screenings, panel discussions, wine tastings, and more!

How to Get Santa Barbara

You can get to Santa Barbara by driving, taking the train, or flying.

Making a longer road trip out of the Central Coast, including Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo and Monterey, is highly recommended!

Driving to Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara is a two-ish hour drive from most starting points in Los Angeles. If you time your departure right like I did on a Monday morning, you can get to Santa Barbara in 90 minutes, which is shorter than some commutes I’ve done to Orange County.

From San Francisco: the fastest route from northern California is taking US-101 south, which is a direct line and will get you to Santa Barbara in five hours on a good day. The 101 also gives you the option, if you have the time to take it, to veer slightly off course onto Highway 1, and take the scenic route along the Central Coast. The coastal route will tack on an additional hour-and-a-half of driving, if you’re not tempted to stop to take in views, photos, meditation, what have you.

From Los Angeles: Hop on US-101 North. Boom, you’re there.

Taking the Train to Santa Barbara

Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner runs between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara in about two-and-a-half hours. If you’re comfortable with walking, cycling (many hotels have a fleet of beach cruisers and bikes for their guests to borrow!), and otherwise taking public transportation once in Santa Barbara, a train is a generally no-hassle, affordable way to get to Santa Barbara. If you plan on venturing out to wine country or anywhere beyond the city of Santa Barbara, drive your own car. Parking is easy and if not free, pretty inexpensive in Santa Barbara.

Train to Santa Barbara from San Francisco/Bay Area is not recommended unless you have a billion hours to kill.

Flying to Santa Barbara

Major commercial airlines fly into Santa Barbara (SBA), making it virtually inexcusable not to visit. There are direct flights from as far away as Chicago on American Airlines and United Airlines.

Best Hotels and Lodging Options in Santa Barbara

Kimpton Canary Hotel

The Kimpton Canary Hotel is a boutique luxury hotel very conveniently located in the heart Santa Barbara, literally just steps from the action of State Street, which has recently converted into a pedestrian promenade with shopping, outdoor dining, and nightlife. I’ve now stayed at the Canary on multiple visits.

From the valets who handled the car to the front desk associates who checked us in, the service was helpful without being intrusive, high-class without being pretentious. The room was comfortable, the bed even more so, especially after long days of walking around town and wine-tasting. Bruno appreciated that as a “pet-friendly” hotel, the Kimpton Canary doesn’t just tolerate dogs, but they really do love them there. It must be a job requirement?

Here’s why you want to stay at the Kimpton Canary:

• Covid-19 precautions, including reminder signs to all guests about masks, social distancing, one party in elevator at a time, etc so you’re not in the awkward position of having to ask strangers. As a passive-aggressive germophobic introvert, I appreciate this immensely.
• 100% pet-friendly, one of the most pet-loving hotels we’ve stayed in.
• Finch & Fork, the on-site restaurant, serves breakfast and dinner (see above!)
• Roof-top pool. I had a tight itinerary so I didn’t get to take advantage of the rooftop pool, but I will next time!
• Gold’s Gym next door to work out
• complimentary bikes to get around town

Kimpton Canary Hotel
31 W. Carrillo St, Santa Barbara
(805) 884-0300
CanarySantaBarbara.com | @canaryhotel

Santa Barbara Food and Wine Pairings

If you can’t wait to head out to Santa Barbara, pick up a couple Santa Barbara wines from your local wine store or order directly from the wineries, and do your own “Santa Barbara Tour” at home, paired with these recipes:

1. Best Wine and Cheese Pairings with California Central Coast cheeses, plus a few additional California-based cheeses, for a Wine-Tasting Party, pair with literally any Santa Barbara sparkling, rose, or white wine.
2. Classic Salade Niçoise, Julia Child's recipe, paired with Foxen Rosé of Pinot Noir
3. Roasted Salmon ‘Californiçoise’ Salad paired with Margerum Riviera Rosé
4. Miso-marinated Seabass or Cod paired with Stolpman Vineyards ‘Uni’ white blend
5. Epic French Bread Pizza paired with Buttonwood Winery Classic Cuvee Red Blend for a cozy Wednesday night in
6. Korean Ginger Soy Braised Chicken paired with Kunin ‘Pape Star Rouge’ Rhône-style red blend
7. Salmon Puttanesca paired with Stolpman So Fresh Love You Bunches, carbonic fermented sangiovese
8. Blow-torched Prime Rib paired with Grassini Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon

Explore More California Wine Regions

• Anderson Valley, northern California, known for Pinot Noir, sparkling wine, and aromatic Alsatian varietals
• Monterey County, Central Coast of California
• Best Paso Robles Wineries, Central Coast of California
• Best Santa Barbara Wineries, Central Coast of California
• Santa Ynez, Solvang, and Los Olivos, Santa Barbara wine country, Central Coast

Buttonwood Farm and Winery, Grassini Family Vineyards, Kunin Wines, Margerum Wines, Stolpman Vineyards, Zaca Mesa, Lucky Penny, and the Canary Hotel were part of a tour coordinated and hosted by California Grown and California Wines. All opinions are our own. Thank you for supporting our partners who keep The Delicious Life well fed!

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