Santa Barbara

Vine rows above oak-dotted hills and a red barn, Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara County, California.

In 1971 Richard Sanford and Michael Benedict planted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on their own roots, on a bare hillside west of Buellton that no one had farmed for wine. Fifty-three acres of those original vines still produce. Seven years earlier, growers put the first modern vineyards into the Santa Maria Valley, and in 1981 it became California’s second approved appellation. The mountains here run east to west, the reverse of the rest of the coast, so the valleys open straight to the Pacific. Fog and afternoon wind pour in from Lompoc, and the temperature climbs about a degree for every mile you drive inland. Sta. Rita Hills, at the cold western end, grows Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on marine shale, chert, and diatomaceous earth. Ballard Canyon, in the middle, is more than half Syrah. Happy Canyon, at the warm eastern edge, grows Cabernet Sauvignon on serpentine. Seven appellations sit inside an hour’s drive. In 1998 Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat came up to Windows on the World to train our staff and asked the newest person at the table what he thought of the wine. That was me. His Pinot Noir has been on every wine program I have run since.

CULINARY ARTS

Red sea urchin comes off the boats in Santa Barbara Harbor year-round, and the Saturday Fishermen’s Market sells it split open on the dock beside rock crab and, in season, spot prawns. Inland, the plate changes. Santa Maria barbecue goes back to the Californio ranchers who fed their vaqueros each spring over oak coals. Today it means tri-tip rubbed with salt, pepper, and garlic, cooked over red oak on a hand-cranked grate, served with pinquito beans native to the valley. The Hitching Post in Casmalia and the Far Western Tavern have cooked it since the 1950s. At Au Bon Climat on Bien Nacido, lunch is still served at the long table where Jim Clendenen fed Henri Jayer and Jancis Robinson. Back on the coast, Silvers Omakase in the Funk Zone and Caruso’s at Rosewood Miramar Beach hold Michelin stars.

CULTURE & LEISURE

The Santa Barbara County Courthouse opened in 1929. Climb the 85-foot El Mirador clock tower for the harbor, the red tile roofs, and the Santa Ynez Mountains in one turn. Then stand in the Mural Room, where Dan Groesbeck painted Cabrillo’s 1542 landing across the walls. Mission Santa Barbara has stood above the city since 1786. In Montecito, the opera singer Ganna Walska spent four decades building Lotusland, 37 acres and 23 gardens, open by reservation only from March to October. Over the pass, Solvang has kept its Danish roots since 1911, next to Mission Santa Inés, founded in 1804.

ARTISAN TRADITIONS

Walk own-rooted Pinot Noir planted in 1971 and see what fifty years does to a vine trunk. Taste from barrel at Au Bon Climat with the team that worked beside Jim Clendenen for thirty years, then in Lompoc, where small producers make wine in a warehouse district on the edge of town. During harvest, late August through October, stand on a crush pad as Pinot Noir comes in whole cluster and the winemaker decides, tank by tank, how much stem to keep. Then watch a pitmaster in Santa Maria build a red oak fire and crank the grate up and down by hand.

FROM THE PRODUCERS TABLE
The relationships behind the region. Each profile is a first hand-account from years of direct work with the family.

Au Bon Climat
Twenty-eight years with Au Bon Climat, since Jim Clendenen asked a new cellar master for his opinion