Zac Wasserman grew up surfing the Santa Barbara Channel and cycling Figueroa Mountain, and he will tell you the wine came out of all of it, the ocean, the sunshine, the Los Padres backcountry. He studied molecular biology at Berkeley, came home to the Santa Ynez Valley, and fell into wine almost by accident before deciding to devote his life to it. Frequency, the label he runs with his wife Nicole, has been family owned since 2010 and pours its small-lot wines on an easy patio in downtown Santa Barbara.

From Figueroa Mountain to the cellar

Born and raised in the Santa Ynez Valley, Zac Wasserman was shaped by the landscape before he ever thought about wine, hiking the Figueroa range, surfing the channel, soaking up the California sun. He left for Berkeley to study molecular biology, a discipline he later realized had quietly taught him the math, physics, chemistry, and biology that run underneath every wine.

Back home and weighing more school, he walked through a door into wine almost casually, at first just a way to pay off student loans, then a calling. He runs Frequency with his wife Nicole, with Jonathan alongside as assistant winemaker. Zac stays humble about the title, saying he respects the craft and history of wine so adamantly that he is reluctant to call himself a winemaker.

A downtown room, a terroir-first mind

Frequency is a downtown Santa Barbara label through and through, with a modern tasting room and a wide patio tucked into the historic Presidio neighborhood, a few blocks from the ocean and the Funk Zone. It is a place built to slow people down, locals and travelers alike, over a glass of Santa Barbara County terroir.

The winemaking philosophy is rooted in humility before the land. Zac believes the most powerful aspects of wine are the ones no one can control: the vintage, the exposure, the soil, the grade of the hillside. His job, as he sees it, is simply to deliver an honest expression of a grape grown at a specific site, since the origin of the fruit is the one thing that makes a wine truly its own.

The wines: small, focused, classic

Frequency keeps production small and focused, centered on three Santa Barbara County classics: Syrah, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay, with a Rose rounding out the warmer months. The Pinot Noir and Chardonnay show the cool-climate signature of the county western valleys, bright, detailed, and built on acidity. The Syrah leans savory and structured. Because the lots are small, the wines often sell to club members and tasting room guests before they ever reach a wider audience.

What to pour it with

Cool-climate Pinot Noir is one of the most versatile reds at any table, and the classic match is duck or salmon. Sear a duck breast with a cherry sauce and the bright acidity in the wine cuts the rich fat while its red fruit echoes the plate, a congruent match. Grilled salmon works the same way, with enough fat in the fish to stand up to the wine.

The Chardonnay wants richness: roast chicken, lobster, or scallops in butter, where the wine acidity slices the cream and keeps each bite fresh. For the Syrah, go savory and charred, grilled lamb or a peppered steak, since the tannins bind to the protein and fat and the pepper note in the wine plays off the crust. Skip pairing the delicate Pinot with a heavy, charred ribeye, the steak would flatten its finer fruit.

Frequency Wine Company: common questions