In 1978, Highway 246 west of Buellton was lima-bean country, not wine country. That year Mona and Walter Babcock, restaurateurs who ran the legendary Walt’s Wharf in Seal Beach, bought 110 acres of it on a hunch. They were among the very first to believe in this cold, windy ground.

A family that planted the frontier

Walter Babcock was a true Renaissance character, a restaurant owner who was also a dentist and a commercial fisherman, and when the family bought the ranch they planted a modest twenty acres of Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. No reds, not yet. Their son Bryan was two years into a graduate program in viticulture and enology at UC Davis when he came home to help with the first crush, started fermenting Gewurztraminer, and, in his own words, forgot about school altogether. The first commercial vintage came in 1984.

Bryan Babcock became one of the defining figures of Santa Barbara wine. In the early 2000s he led the team that mapped and proposed the boundaries of a new appellation, and in 2001 those lines were adopted as the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. Babcock was the first commercial winery and vineyard on the Highway 246 side of what is now one of California’s great Pinot Noir regions, surrounded today by dozens of vineyards that did not exist when the family arrived.

We had planted no Pinot Noir on day one. It was the instability of everything else that led us somewhere great.

Farming as art

The Babcock story has not been easy. Phylloxera devoured the original vines in the 1980s and 90s, and Pierce’s disease later forced Bryan to pull back to a single experimental acre. Rather than simply replant, he turned the moment into a laboratory, developing farming ideas he calls Integrated Nature and Agristhetics, treating the land as a work of art. Since 2013 he has planted close to a thousand oak trees, building butterfly habitats and dreaming of a day you can park in the shade of a mature oak. Meanwhile, his wife Lisa, a former fashion executive, transformed a barrel warehouse into a renowned 5,000-square-foot tasting lounge, a mid-century-modern and industrial-chic fusion of art, antiques, vinyl, and vintage style that is as much a draw as the wine.

What to drink it with

Babcock’s bright, savory Pinot Noir is built for grilled salmon, seared duck, or mushrooms, while the cool-climate Chardonnay loves Dungeness crab or a roast chicken. But do not miss the Sauvignon Blanc: zesty and herbal, it is a classic with fresh goat cheese, where the wine and the cheese share the same green, grassy aromatics and read as a single bright note, and just as good with oysters.

Plan your visit

Babcock pours on Highway 246 in the Sta. Rita Hills, in one of the most distinctive tasting spaces in the county. Come for the wine, stay for the room, which is unlike anything else in wine country. Reservations are a good idea on weekends.

Frequently asked questions