Vega Vineyard & Farm sits on Rancho de Vega, one of the historic land-grant ranches of the Santa Ynez Valley, where grapes and crops have grown since the 1850s. Today it is a winery, a working farm, and a farm-to-table restaurant rolled into one sprawling property just outside Buellton, with award-winning wines from veteran winemaker Steve Clifton and a kitchen that cooks what the land produces. Bring the family. Stay all afternoon.

A ranch since 1853

The story starts with Dr. Roman de la Cuesta, born in Spain, who came to California in 1849 and married Micaela Cota of the neighboring Rancho Santa Rosa. Rancho de Vega, Spanish for the meadow, came to them as a dowry. They built a thirteen-room adobe on land so remote that the lumber had to be carried over Gaviota Pass on the heads of oxen, because not even oxen carts could get through. Their son Eduardo and his wife grew wine grapes here, and the original adobe still stands on the property today.

In 1976 Bill and Jeri Mosby bought 206 acres of the old ranch and planted eighteen acres of vines, and Vega Vineyards was born. By 1980 it had become Mosby Winery, a Santa Ynez Valley fixture for decades. The land has been farmed and shared with guests, in one form or another, for the better part of two centuries.

A farm you can taste

The current chapter belongs to Demetrios and Karen Loizides, drawn to this valley because it reminded Demetrios of his family grape-growing village of Kathikas in Cyprus and the wild country of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where he grew up. They bought the farm to share it, and that is exactly what Vega has become: a genuine farm-to-table operation where the restaurant cooks what the ranch and its neighbors grow.

This is a place built for a whole day. There are farm animals to meet, including a resident miniature Highland bull, tractor rides through the top vineyard, cabanas at the family-friendly Pop Place, and a wide-open property meant to be lingered in. It is wine country as it used to be, unhurried and rooted in the land.

The wines and the table

The wines at Vega are made by Steve Clifton, one of Santa Barbara County most decorated winemakers, and they anchor a menu built by Chef Rossi around the farm own produce. The signature Vega Experience pairs Chef Rossi best dishes with Clifton wines for a guided, sit-back-and-enjoy meal, while a family-style menu is made for larger groups gathered around one table.

It is the rare property where the glass, the plate, and the ground they both came from are all within a short walk of each other.

Eat the valley

The whole point of a farm-to-table table is that the pairings start in the dirt. What grows together goes together, and at Vega the wine and the food share the same Santa Ynez sun, so the matches tend to feel inevitable rather than engineered. Bright, high-acid whites and roses cut through richer farm dishes and reset the palate, while the reds, with their savory depth and gentle tannin, find easy company with grilled meats and anything off the fire.

The move here is simple: let the kitchen guide you, order the Vega Experience, and let Chef Rossi and Steve Clifton do the matching. A little salt on the plate will round the wine and lift its fruit, and the rest takes care of itself.

Vega Vineyard & Farm: common questions