Drive the length of Santa Rosa Road, deep into the cold western end of the Santa Ynez Valley, and you arrive at the place where Santa Barbara wine was born. Before there was a Sta. Rita Hills, before the cult Pinots and the Sideways pilgrims, there was one vineyard on this ground and a hunch that turned out to be right.

The vineyard that started a region

In the late 1960s, the botanist Michael Benedict and his friend Richard Sanford set out to do something no one in Santa Barbara County had done: find a stretch of coast cold enough to ripen Pinot Noir slowly, the way Burgundy does, with just enough heat to finish but never to bake. Benedict combed the cool coastal valleys of California, gathering data on weather, fog, and soil, until the search led him to a remote fold of the Santa Ynez Valley. They planted the first vines of the Sanford and Benedict Vineyard in 1971.

The Pinot Noir that came off that vineyard created a sensation, and growers rushed in to capture the same magic. Many of the surrounding vineyards were planted from its cuttings, and the Sanford and Benedict Vineyard became the literal backbone of what is now the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. Benedict and Sanford parted ways after the 1980 vintage, but the winery carried the pioneering flame forward.

Great wines come from great vineyards, and in the Sta. Rita Hills the greatness started here.

In 1997 the La Rinconada Vineyard was planted next door, and it became home to the winery and tasting room. The modern chapter belongs to the Terlato family, luxury-wine veterans who became partners in 2002, majority owners by 2005, and then made the move that defined their vision: in 2007 they bought back the original Sanford and Benedict Vineyard, reuniting the estate to restore its grand cru character. Today winemaker Trey Fletcher, who spent eight years running winemaking at Santa Maria’s famed Bien Nacido Vineyard, farms with a light hand, letting this singular ground speak for itself.

Cool coast, marine soils, Burgundian wines

Everything Sanford makes is shaped by the Pacific. The Sta. Rita Hills sit at the cold mouth of the valley, where ocean fog and a relentless afternoon wind slow ripening to a crawl, holding the grapes’ acidity and perfume. The soils are ancient seabed, diatomaceous earth and sand that drain hard and keep the vines lean. The result is exactly what Benedict was chasing in 1971: Pinot Noir with tension and savor, and Chardonnay built on citrus and stone rather than tropical fruit. Sanford bottles these as single-vineyard wines from the Sanford and Benedict and La Rinconada sites, so you can taste two neighboring expressions of the same cold ground side by side.

What to drink it with

Sanford’s Pinot Noir is the textbook cool-climate style, bright and savory rather than jammy, which makes it one of the most food-friendly reds in California. Pour it with seared duck breast and cherries, where the wine’s acidity cuts the fat and its red fruit echoes the sauce, or with grilled salmon, the one fish whose richness stands up to a light red. Its earthy, mushroomy side makes a wild-mushroom risotto sing, the wine and the fungi meeting on the same savory note. The estate Chardonnay, taut and Burgundian, wants Dungeness crab with drawn butter or a simple roast chicken, where its acidity slices the richness clean.

The wines

Sanford makes Burgundian Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, almost all of it from two adjoining estate vineyards in the heart of the Sta. Rita Hills: the historic Sanford and Benedict Vineyard, planted in 1971, and the neighboring La Rinconada, planted in 1997. The range runs from estate blends down to single-vineyard and single-block bottlings, with small lots of sparkling wine and rose. Wine Spectator has called Sanford the Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir pioneer, and the wines still carry that cool, marine-driven signature: bright red fruit, savory depth, and a salty freshness that comes from fog-cooled vineyards. For the wider context, see our guides to California Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Tasting experiences

The estate tasting room on Santa Rosa Road is open daily from 10am to 4pm, by reservation, though walk-ins and dogs are welcome. The signature Estate Tasting pours six estate wines. For something deeper, the Parallel Vineyard Tasting sets three wines from Sanford and Benedict against three from La Rinconada to show how two neighboring sites diverge, and a Single Block Pinot Noir flight goes deeper still. The standout is the All-Terrain Vineyard experience, a guided Polaris ATV ride through the historic vineyard blocks with estate Pinot and Chardonnay poured among the very vines that grew them.

Plan your visit

Sanford pours at the estate on Santa Rosa Road, surrounded by the very vineyards that made it famous. Tastings are by appointment, daily, and the setting, vines running to the foot of the hills, is the whole point. Book ahead through the winery, and give yourself time for the slow drive out.

Frequently asked questions