How Santa Ynez Valley Became California’s Most Interesting Wine Region

These days, the simplest way to taste the best wine being made in the Santa Ynez Valley is to visit the former Liquid Farm tasting room way out in Lompoc, one of the farthest reaches of Santa Barbara County. There, in a cluttered, out-of-use space attached to the production facility, winemaker James Sparks just might pour you some tastes of his own label, Kings Carey wines. Lesser wines would be diminished by the makeshift room; instead, the unstructured chaos works as a foil to the precision of his winemaking. 

“Jeff doesn’t mind if I use it,” Sparks tells Observer, sheepishly gesturing at the abandoned room, referencing Liquid Farm owner Jeff Nelson. As the winemaker for both brands, Sparks spends most of his time in Lompoc, carefully honing techniques for both labels. Takeout pizza and sandwiches from local Italian standout Stica round out our unorthodox tasting, complete with a map of the sprawling Santa Ynez Valley to trace where grapes for each vintage have been sourced.

The sudden boom in wine sales during the pandemic, then bust a few years later as Gen Z apparently turned up their nose at the whole industry, sent many small labels, like Kings Carey, reeling. Sparks was forced to shut down a former tasting space in Solvang, and is still paying off new equipment in installments, but his belief in Santa Ynez’s staying power never wavers. For his own label, Sparks sources single varietals from single vineyards, constructing wines that sing with a kind of jaw-dropping clarity. 

His wines are the reason people make the trek out to Lompoc for the occasional private visit, and don’t mind going without the trappings of a traditional tasting room. A stint on the wine list at Bell’s, the sole Michelin-starred restaurant in the area, recently guided a trove of new tasters to his unassuming digs, where three wines stand above the rest. A 2023 Perry Souix Vineyards Grenache, 2022 Sparkling Pinot Noir Rose Spear and 2022 Sémillon, all of which snap the depth of what the region could be into focus. Scrappy as the brand might be, Sparks is producing unexpectedly great wine in an area that stands to become the next big wine country destination in America. 

Of course, that isn’t surprising to anyone who’s been following Sparks’ work at Liquid Farm, a cult-y, sustainable label that’s a love letter to all things chardonnay, particularly those done in an old-world style. Their White Hill Chardonnay, an ode to Chablis, is a particular stunner. Cutting his teeth for a few years at Dragonette Cellars, Sparks took the reins at Liquid Farm in 2013, started Kings Carey a year after that, and has been steadily building both as stalwarts in the valley, known as SYV in local shorthand. 

Though Kings Carey wines are my personal favorite, Sparks is just one of many winemakers who have been plugging away in this slice of California, attempting to outgrow the moniker “Santa Barbara wine country” and become a singular wine destination in their own right. Luckily, it’s working.

“As far as I’m concerned, the Santa Ynez Valley—particularly if you include its sub-avas of Sta. Rita Hills, Ballard Canyon, Los Olivos District and Happy Canyon—is producing some of the best wines in America right now,” says Ray Isle, the executive wine editor of Food & Wine and author of The World in a Wineglass. “In addition to established names like Beckmen, Stolpman and, somewhat more recently, Jonata/The Hilt, a remarkable number of ambitious new producers have arrived on the scene: Kings Carey, Terre et Sang, Donnachadh, Story of Soil, Âmevive and many others. It’s an exciting time here.”

Just north of Santa Barbara, the wine region that spawned a thousand memes via the cult film Sideways has been quietly ripening on the vine. Though the movie spurred an initial burst of tourism, especially for Solvang and Buellton, it’s easy to miss the fascinating wine scene that’s emerging here if you don’t know where to look. Napa has its cabernet, and Oregon has its pinot, but in the Santa Ynez Valley, over 60 different varietals thrive across seven distinct AVAs spanning tens of thousands of acres. 

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Layers of fine dining restaurants like Bell’s, and high-quality casual spots like Stica, have helped build out the area’s hospitality scene; a host of hotels like Skyview Los Alamos and The Genevieve have contributed to an increase in tourism, too. But those trappings only follow because of the unrelenting quality of the wine.

“The key with the Santa Ynez Valley is that people here are making wines they love to drink, not what someone else told them to make,” Sparks says. “We focus on styles we really love, and that’s what creates this unique area.” At first, the lack of a flagship wine seems indicative of disorganization, but it’s just the opposite, really—the sheer variety, scope and tonality of wine produced is a boon for visitors. There’s quite literally something for everyone, along with an utter lack of pretension, reflected culturally in the people themselves and in the price points. 

The grape-growing diversity is only possible because of a rare geological feature that winemakers in the region tend to bring up within the first five minutes of a conversation—a transverse mountain range. “In this 30-mile radius, with the mountains running east and west, you get a funnel of cool air coming from the ocean,” Sparks explains. “It gives us warmth during the day and coolness during the night. Our acid is held better, and we can have big, bold wines or delicate, high-acid wines; it’s up to the winemaker. And on top of that, we’re not heavily bought out by big business like Napa is.”

From my perch on a stool in Karen Steinwachs’ kitchen in Los Olivos, big business is nowhere in sight. Instead, a neighboring herd of cows lollygagging their way down the muddy hillside above her tiny vineyard comes into view through a row of large picture windows. The contemporary kitchen is one of many updates to the original, historic 1908 house, which serves as both her home and occasional tasting room for her wine label, Seagrape. Over the weekend, a flash storm made it too muddy to hike out among the vines as planned, so we sip wine inside and gaze out at the small parcel.

The vineyard spans about an acre and is planted to six rows of sauvignon blanc and five of cabernet franc. It’s not massive, but it’s hers—and she has plans to plant the same mix in her front yard, too. Steinwachs started making wine in the valley back in 2001 after the tech company she worked for unexpectedly shut down. Sick of the grind, she decided to leave L.A., decamp up north, and has been making wine somewhere in SYV ever since. Working first as a harvest intern for “anyone would take her,” then, as the head winemaker for Buttonwood Farm & Vineyard, and finally, launching her own label, she’s settled into her role as a local veteran and a steward of the valley’s burgeoning potential. 

“The many microclimates mean we can grow all different kinds of things with excellence,” she says. “What I like is growing sauvignon blanc and cabernet franc in the Los Olivos District, and chardonnay, pinot gris and pinot noir out in the Sta. Rita Hills—and they’re only about 30 miles apart. That doesn’t happen anywhere else in the winemaking world. People ask, ‘What’s your principal varietal?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, all of them!’ Everything from albariño to zinfandel.” Her enthusiasm for making wines of all kinds translates into some real gems, like the standout 2025 La Presa Sauvignon Blanc and her 2023 Los Olivos District Cab Franc, both steals priced at $30 and $39, respectively.

Newcomers can take comfort—there is a formal wine tasting scene here, beyond the kitchens and storage rooms that aficionados are eager to seek out. Centered mostly on the main street of Los Olivos, over 30 tasting rooms line the walkable blocks of this charming village. Victorian-style architecture and country chic boutiques abound, and the sheer number of options gives visitors a lot to work with. A great starting point is to visit Liquid Farm’s sunny, plant-filled space here, or to look out for any wines made by Blair Fox, who has been the head winemaker for Fess Parker—one of the oldest producers in the region—since 2005, and also the driving force behind his own eponymous label, launched in 2001. 

Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Fox attended UC Davis, received degrees in both viticulture (grape-growing) and oenology (winemaking), and has been putting them to use for over 20 years. “The biggest part of it for me is the grape-growing side,” Fox says. “You just can’t make great wine unless you have great grapes. Our vineyard for Blair Fox here in Los Olivos is all organic and farmed entirely by hand, and syrah in the cool climate really thrives here. You can grow syrah anywhere, super cool or super warm, but it’ll make an entirely different tasting wine.” Fox has been known to make both, but favors cool-climate syrah, and even tends to go for stem inclusion, a winemaking method that brings in peppery, savory notes.

On his 20-acre site, only three of which are farmed, Fox grows superb organic fruit and transforms it into wines that have earned him a cult following. During our interview at his Los Olivos tasting room, a couple dropped by to pick up their shipment and patiently waited for a break in our conversation just for the chance to say hi to him—Fox graciously acquiesced. That kind of personal run-in with a well-known winemaker is another element that makes SYV a fantastic destination for wine lovers; there’s a layer of human touch that hasn’t been lost as of yet. Maybe it never will be.

To taste in a more bucolic setting, head out to Demetria Estate & Vineyards, about 20 minutes outside the bounds of the town square. You’ll pass Fess Parker’s tasting room on the way, another great option to stop in, but make sure to brave the winding gravel road all the way to the end in order to spend some time at Demetria. The views of rolling hills, vines and trees make it one of the most beautiful vantage points in the area. Guests are encouraged to bring their own food in, and the frequent addition of a live musician creates a playful, laid-back environment. It was completely packed on the Friday afternoon when I dropped by to chat with winemaker Ryan Roark.

Roark takes a holistic approach to farming the 45 acres of vines that are carved out of the 200-acre estate, leaving over 150 acres for extracurriculars, like a flock of sheep that has the run of the place. There’s also plenty of room for a horseback riding experience offered through a local partner that lets guests explore the land before they come back and taste wines made from grapes in the vineyards they just saw up close. Overall, he values the connection to the land, and is dedicated to a biodynamic approach, but also appreciates the lack of pretense that defines the region. 

“A lot of the places around here take pride that the wines are approachable, financially and culturally,” Roark says. “It’s not too snooty. If you come here tomorrow, the owner is going to be pouring wine. Like most places, we encourage reservations, but you can show up out here without one, sneak in through the gate, do a wine tasting and be welcome.” The ease of entry into the tasting experiences in the valley is endlessly appealing. Couple that with the sheer scale of disparate wines visitors can taste, and it’s a fascinating destination for all levels.

And it’s no longer surprising to see wines from this region pop up on wine lists in some of the best restaurants in California and beyond. “It’s a beautiful time, and it’s a golden era because we’re a young region,” says Matt Dees, soil scientist and longtime winemaker for The Hilt, a quickly-rising estate out in Lompoc where a Howard Backen-designed tasting room with interiors by Amber Lewis is an unmissable stop for any visitor. “The ultimate charm is in our diversity. It’s a wild mix of folks and a lot of very creative, adventurous winemakers who aren’t restrained by any rules or regulations. I consider it a success whenever I see Sta. Rita Hills Syrah on any wine list, whether it’s one of mine or not. That means the world is taking notice.”