The Brander Vineyard
While the rest of Santa Barbara chased Pinot Noir, Fred Brander bet everything on Sauvignon Blanc, and turned a pink chateau on Refugio Road into the grape’s California home.
There is a pink, chateau-style winery on Refugio Road in the Santa Ynez Valley that has done one thing better and longer than almost anyone in California: Sauvignon Blanc. For fifty years, The Brander Vineyard has made the case that this underrated grape can be world class.
The man who believed in Sauvignon Blanc
Fred Brander, of French and Argentine heritage, founded The Brander Vineyard in 1975, making it one of the pioneering estates of the Santa Ynez Valley. From the start he did the contrarian thing. While the region built its fame on Burgundian and, later, Rhone grapes, Brander planted his flag on Sauvignon Blanc and the Bordeaux varieties of his upbringing. Over five decades he became the definitive Sauvignon Blanc producer of Santa Barbara County, exploring the grape in every register, from bright and zesty stainless-steel bottlings to richer, barrel-aged styles modeled on white Bordeaux.
Anyone can follow the trend. Fred Brander built a fifty-year career betting against it.
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Sauvignon Blanc is the heart of the house, made in a spectrum of styles that show just how serious this grape can be, alongside Bordeaux reds and blends built on Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. Tasting through a Brander lineup is a short master class in a grape most wineries treat as an afterthought.
What to drink it with
Brander Sauvignon Blanc is one of the great food whites. Pour the crisp, herbal style with fresh goat cheese, where the wine and the cheese share the same green, grassy aromatic compounds and read as a single bright note, and it is just as good with oysters, ceviche, or a salad dressed in lemon. The richer, barrel-aged Sauvignon Blanc steps up to roast chicken or grilled halibut, and the Bordeaux reds want lamb or a peppercorn steak, their tannins softening against the fat.
Plan your visit
Brander pours at its distinctive winery on North Refugio Road, an easy drive from the village of Los Olivos, where a Museum of Folk Art now shares the grounds. Reservations are recommended on weekends.
Taste Sauvignon Blanc done right
Book a tasting at Brander and discover why fifty years of focus made this the county’s Sauvignon Blanc house.
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