A piece of Denmark in wine country

Solvang is unlike any other wine town in America. It was founded in 1911 by a group of Danish immigrants who came west to build a folk school and a colony, and they raised it in the image of home: half-timbered houses, copper-roofed windmills, and storks perched on the gables. More than a century later the Danish heart still beats. Old Mission Santa Ines, founded in 1804, sits at the edge of town, a reminder that vines have grown in this valley since the Spanish padres. Today Solvang’s walkable streets hide a couple dozen tasting rooms among the bakeries, an easy and charming base for the wider Santa Ynez Valley.

Aebleskiver, pastry, and the right pour

No town in California pairs wine with breakfast better. Solvang’s Danish bakeries, Olsen’s and Mortensen’s among them, turn out butter-rich pastries and aebleskiver, the round, golden pancake puffs dusted with sugar and served with raspberry jam. They are a small revelation next to a glass of off-dry Riesling or a brut sparkling wine, where a touch of sweetness and lively bubbles cut the butter and lift the fruit. At dinner, the valley’s heartier fare, Danish frikadeller or a roast pork, finds an easy partner in a fruit-forward local Pinot Noir or a cool-climate Syrah. Eat like a Dane, drink like a Californian, and the two get along beautifully.