Edible Santa Barbara Spring 2013

edible

Santa Barbara

Celebrating the Local Food and Wine Culture of Santa Barbara County

WINE & BREAD ISSUE

For Love of Pinot The Art in Artisan Bread Zaca University

SATURDAYS

Downtown Santa Barbara

Corner of Santa Barbara & Cota Street

8:30am – 1:00pm

SUNDAYS

Camino Real Marketplace

In Goleta at Storke & Hollister

10:00am – 2:00pm

TUESDAYS

Old Town Santa Barbara

500 & 600 Blocks of State Street 4:00pm – 7:30pm

WEDNESDAYS

Solvang Village

Copenhagen Drive & 1st Street 2:30pm – 6:30pm

THURSDAYS

Camino Real Marketplace In Goleta at Storke & Hollister

3:00pm – 6:00pm

Carpinteria

800 Block of Linden Avenue 3:00pm – 6:30pm

FRIDAYS

Montecito

100 & 1200 Block of Coast Village Road 8:00am – 11:15am

facebook.com/SBFarmersMarket

SANTA BARBARA SPRING 2013

Recipes

This Issue

Spring Salad with Goat Cheese Crostini

68 Poached/Roasted White Fish with Meyer Lemons and White Wine

Poached Apricots in Late-Harvest Riesling

Strawberries in Pinot Noir

FOOD FOR THOUGHT D

Wine without food is like, well, food without wine. In other words, we couldn’t very well do an issue about wine without some food involved. And in this issue, we turned to bread. There are few things that are more entwined in our culture than these two products. And they are clearly linked. Chalk it up to yeast or terroir, it seems that winemakers are inspiring a new breed of artisan bread bakers. The more we looked, the more we found.

I think artisan bread bakers, like artisan winemakers, are tapping into our need to pair good food with good wine. I remember when Bouchon Santa Barbara first opened up and their tagline “Santa Barbara Wine Country Cuisine” was unusual, puzzling even. Wasn’t Napa the Wine Country? Does Santa Barbara even have its own cuisine? But they led the way and proved that we do have our own cuisine. The wines produced in Santa Barbara County have in many ways inspired this way of eating. Locally sourced ingredients are outstanding when paired with locally produced wine. And local wines cry out for fantastic local food. It’s a virtuous circle.

Like so many things, the more you learn about the subject, the more interesting it becomes. So, in this issue I’d like to invite you to learn more about the winemakers and the wines produced in our area. Our county is blessed with an incredible agricultural zone. Santa Barbara County now has well over a hundred wineries. And grapes were planted in the area as early as 1799. Of course it’s only a bit more recently that we have vineyard-dotted landscapes and tasting rooms sprinkled along the well-traveled highways. But let’s remember and treasure the fact that we have thriving agriculture in our county.

Let’s live alongside agriculture and our local wineries in harmony. I’d also like to see a better understanding that food should be consumed with wine. Excessive regulations around serving food at tasting rooms are not the solution. I appreciate the fact that tasting rooms give wineries a way to educate people about wine, and they encourage people to drink responsibly.

I’ll never forget the first time I went wine tasting in Santa Barbara County. We went to Zaca Mesa, tasted the wine and then had a picnic. It was one of those beautiful sunny days when you realize just why you chose to live here. These many years later, I find myself often visiting wineries, delivering magazines, stopping to have lunch and talking to people. I am still a novice when it comes to wine, but I have learned so much from the talented winemakers I have met. In this issue I raise a glass to all our Santa Barbara County winemakers and drink to your health… with some food, of course.

Krista Harris, Editor

Stay Connected

Read more and subscribe to our email newsletter at EdibleSantaBarbara.com We love to hear from our readers. Please email us at info@ediblesantabarbara.com

Follow us on Facebook and Pinterest at Edible Santa Barbara and Twitter at EdibleSB.

PUBLISHERS

Steven Brown & Krista Harris

EDITOR

Krista Harris

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Laura Sanchez

RECIPE EDITOR

Nancy Oster

COPY EDITOR

Doug Adrianson

DESIGNER

Steven Brown

PHOTO STYLIST

Cara Robbins

Contributors

Pascale Beale

Jeffrey Bloom

Joan S. Bolton

Erin Brooks

Fran Collin

Cynthia Daddona

Shannon Essa

Erin Feinblatt

Jennifer LeMay

Nancy Oster

Laura Sanchez

Marne Setton

Carole Topalian

Louis Villard Contact Us info@ediblesantabarbara.com

Advertising Inquiries ads@ediblesantabarbara.com

Edible Santa Barbara® is published quarterly and distributed throughout Santa Barbara County. Subscription rate is $28 annually. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without written permission from the publisher. Publisher expressly disclaims all liability for any occurrence which may arise as a consequence of the use of any information or recipes. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention please accept our sincere apologies and notify us. Thank you.

© 2013 edible Santa Barbara

DAVID FOLKS

Thekla Sanford, in 1981, taking a barrel sample of Chardonnay.

photo

Tom Allen

Notables edible

Santa Ynez

Last fall Amy Dixon opened just the sort of bakery and café that Santa Ynez was missing. The Baker’s Table is now the spot to stop in for breakfast, lunch or to pick up a delicious loaf of bread. Amy sources her produce from local farmers, shops at the farmers market and features organic, fair trade Green Star Coffee and Zhena’s Gypsy Tea. And her bread … is outstanding. Gorgeous “levain”-style loaves made with wild yeast and baked on a radiant stone hearth. She also makes brioche, croissants and a selection of pastries. Loaves are available fresh out of the oven Tuesday through Saturday after 9am.

The Baker’s Table is located at 3563 Numancia St., Suite 104, Santa Ynez and is open Tue–Sat 7:30am–2:30pm; 805 688-4856; TheBakers-Table.com

Pali Wine Co.

Tasting Room in the Funk Zone

Another great addition to the Funk Zone is Pali Wine Co.’s new tasting room. We were happily pleased to find out that they have joined the wine on tap movement with their choice of three to four wines available in refillable one-liter bottles. Do a tasting of all three for $5 and then take one home for $25 with the growler and $15 for refills. Every Thursday from 4–6pm they have a happy hour with wine on tap at $5 glass, and Fridays winemaker Aaron Walker is on hand for their “Meet the Winemaker” tastings.

The Pali Wine Co. tasting room is located at 116 E. Yanonali St., Santa Barbara, and they are open Monday and Tuesday 2–6pm, Wednesday and Thursday noon–6pm, Friday and Saturday 11am–7pm and Sunday 11am–6pm. You can also still visit their winery production facility in Lompoc. 805 560-7254; PaliWineCo.com

Alchemy Vinegar Works

Wine to Vinegar

Michael Brown’s ideas for creating artisanal vinegars were born during “long winter nights in Indiana.” Now a Santa Barbara County resident, he crafts small lots of remarkable vinegars made with quirky ingredients, interestingly combined. His vinegar “mother” came from Sicily to San Francisco with his great-grandmother, and Michael’s grandmother passed it on to him. His tomato vinegar is created from wine he makes himself from tomatoes, and his Lager Honey is made with a combination of his own home brew and Davy Brown Ale from Figueroa Mountain Brewery kissed with local honey. Other flavors include plum wine with bitter orange vinegar (our favorite) and rum and maple vinegar. Try them on salads, roasted meats and fish, and fruit. And they add a special zing to cocktails.

You can find Alchemy Vinegar at Bell Street Farms in Los Alamos, Buttonwood Winery in Solvang and Valley Brewers in downtown Solvang, or call 845 702-7787 to place an order; AlchemyVinegarWorks.com

The Baker’s Table

RUSS M C CONNELL STEVEN

Genuine Bread Co.

Santa Barbara

The owners and bakers of Genuine Bread Co.— Andrew Elia, Geoff Jensen and Jeff Appareti—have brought beautiful handcrafted “au levain”-style loaves to Santa Barbara. They use organic and traditionally stone-milled wheat, their own naturally cultivated yeast, along with mountain spring water and kosher sea salt. Very simple basic elements, but the results are an extraordinary loaf of bread. You can order the bread on their website or sign up for an ongoing subscription—a breadshare. Pickup locations are at C’est Cheese, both French Press locations, Lucky Llama and Goodland Kitchen. They also have a retail operation that takes place solely at the Cota/Anacapa French Press on Tuesdays and Saturdays—quantities are limited so the sooner one comes in to buy the better!

To place an order or to sign up for a bread subscription, visit GenuineBreadCo.com

Wine Bar and Retail Shop

A great addition to the downtown Santa Barbara scene is the new wine bar that Seagrass Restaurant has opened that is appropriately called Taste. Richard Perez and his fiancée Jennifer Schuett have created a stylish and comfortable place to sip and savor wines by the glass, bottle or a tasting flight. Richard has long wanted to open a wine bar and shop featuring an eclectic mix of wines, both local and from around the world.

Taste is located next to Seagrass Restaurant at 30 E. Ortega St., Santa Barbara. Open Tuesday through Sunday; 805 963-1012; SeagrassRestaurant.com

vertical TASTING

Zaca Mesa Syrah, Estate Grown Santa Ynez Valley

We often take liberties with the idea of a “Vertical Tasting” in this column, but in this issue we are doing a true vertical tasting—in which we’ve sampled different vintages of the same wine. We selected one from Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards, which just so happens to be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and which you’ll read more about in this issue. And since Zaca Mesa was the first to plant Syrah in Santa Barbara County, we rounded up four different years of their estate-grown Santa Ynez Valley Syrah.

2009

This is a classic Syrah—full-bodied and robust with flavors of blackberry and pepper. Zaca Mesa ages their Syrah for 16 months in French oak barrels. We found this to be a bright wine that is highly drinkable now despite being the youngest of the wines in this vertical tasting. It is the perfect wine to pair with barbecued tri-tip and grilled vegetables.

2008

Right away, this vintage struck us with a more intense aroma. On the palate it was smooth yet vibrant, rich yet approachable. The touch of tannins balanced it nicely. We picked up notes of cherry. And the intensity of the flavor reminded us of dark chocolate. As with all Syrahs, be sure to open the bottle 30 minutes ahead to give it time to breathe.

2006

We skipped back to 2006 and noticed what a difference a few years of aging can make. This wine has such a wide range of flavors and nuances, and it is exquisitely balanced. You might pick up notes of smoky bacon, berries, coffee, spice and even chocolate. Pair this wine with some delicious cheeses, such as Humboldt Fog or Midnight Moon.

2002

We delved deeper in the Zaca Mesa library and tasted this surprisingly youthful 2002, which has the vibrancy of a younger wine and still has many more years left in the bottle. Again the fruit flavors are balanced by the spicy and smoky flavors. You could pair this with all sorts of dishes—from grilled steaks to roasted lamb to seared ahi. The four wines that we sampled spanned not only quite a few years, but even different winemakers. Current winemaker Eric Mohseni started in 2001 as an enologist and worked as an assistant and associate winemaker before becoming winemaker in 2008. Clay Brock was the winemaker for the 2002 and 2006 wines we tasted. It is an interesting exercise to follow a vertical tasting and a great way to experience the winemakers’ stylistic differences in addition to tasting the climate/essence of each growing season. If you can get your hands on four different years of the same wine, we highly recommend trying it.

CARA ROBBINS

Season

Apricots

Artichokes

Arugula

Asparagus

Avocados

Basil

Bay

Beans

Beets

Blackberries

Blueberries

Bok

Broccoli

Brussels

Cabbage

Carrots

Cauliflower

Celery

Chard

Cherimoya

Cherries

Chives

Cilantro

Collards

Dandelion

Onions,

Peas, English

Radishes

Raspberries

Rosemary Sage

Snow peas

Spinach

Sprouts and legumes

Strawberries

Sugar snap peas

Tangerines/Mandarins

Thyme

Tomatoes

Turnips

Available Year-Round

Almonds (harvested Aug/Sept)

Dates (harvested Sept/Oct)

Garlic (harvested May/June)

Onions, bulb (harvested May/June)

Pistachios (harvested Sept/Oct)

Potatoes (harvested May/June)

Raisins (harvested Sept/Oct)

Walnuts (harvested Sept/Oct)

Fresh Flowers

Potted Plants/Herbs

Regional Dairy (raw milk, artisanal goat- and cow-milk cheeses, butters, curds, yogurts and spreads)

Local Honey

Locally Produced Breads, Pies and Preserves (bread produced from wheat grown locally; pies and preserves)

Local Meat (antibiotic-free chicken, rabbit, goat, grass-fed/hormone-free beef and pork)

Local Seafood

Many types of local seafood are available year-round, but here is a list of some that will be in season this spring: Black cod, Ridgeback shrimp, Rock crab, Rockfishes, Spot prawns, Squid and Urchin

Recipes seasonal

Strawberries in Pinot Noir

Early strawberries are improved by this method and in-season dead-ripe strawberries become ambrosial. You also get your dessert and after-dinner wine in one dish. Local Pinot Noir pairs very well with strawberries, but you can also successfully substitute other types of red wine. Choose a wine that you enjoy drinking. The wine is not cooked, so you are essentially drinking this wine. And it pairs well with more of the same. You can easily double this recipe, making it an excellent dinner party dish.

Makes 2–4 servings

1 pint strawberries

1 cup red wine (Pinot Noir or another red wine)

1 ⁄ 8 to 1 ⁄4 cup unbleached granulated sugar, depending on the sweetness of the berries

Freshly ground pepper, to taste (optional)

Trim and cut the berries in half, or in quarters if they are large. Combine them in a medium bowl with the sugar and then pour the wine over them and let macerate at room temperature for no more than 1 hour. Serve in a bowl or wine glass along with the wine and, if desired, a touch of freshly ground pepper. It is also excellent served with sorbet or as an accompaniment to the Wine Cake, recipe on page 18.

Recipes seasonal

Wine Cake

This is a moist, quick tea-bread style of cake that is lightly infused with the flavors of wine and olive oil, so you will naturally want to use good-quality, locally sourced wine and olive oil. The glaze gives it some pop, but it is essentially a simple cake that will shine when served with the Strawberries in Pinot Noir, on page 16.

Makes 1 loaf

11 ⁄ 2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 ⁄4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 cup unbleached organic cane sugar

1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ⁄ 2 cup olive oil

2 ⁄ 3 to 3 ⁄4 cup dessert wine (late harvest or Moscato wine), use up to 3 ⁄4 cup for a moister cake

FOR THE GLAZE

2–3 tablespoons dessert wine

1 ⁄ 2 cup organic powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350° and position the rack in the lower third of the oven. Lightly butter a 9- by 5-inch metal loaf pan. Line the bottom and the two longer sides with parchment paper.

Sift to combine the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and set aside.

Beat the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and then add the vanilla extract and the olive oil, continuing to beat for approximately 5 minutes. Add the mixture of dry ingredients alternating with the wine a little at a time while beating at low speed just mixing until everything is incorporated. Pour the batter into the loaf pan, and bake for 45–50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

While baking whisk 2–3 tablespoons of dessert wine into the powdered sugar until smooth and pour over the cake when it comes out of the oven. Cool the cake on a rack before taking it out of the pan. Slice and serve by itself or with the Strawberries in Pinot Noir. The cake is even better the next day.

Freshness, Flavor Excitement

MARCH

FOOD | WINE | FUN EVENT GUIDE

Chef Walk & Demos

Wednesday, March 13

2-6 pm Farmer’s Market

Chef David Cecchini, Cecco Ristorante

Master Chef Norbert Schulz, Mirabelle Restaurant

Chef Heather Rae Hovey, Hadsten House Restaurant RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

Full-day Luxury Tours of Santa Ynez Valley Vineyards

Wednesday, March 13 Friday, March 15

Full day includes picnic lunch, 4 wineries and souvenir wine glass- Special event pricing

Weekend Passport

Friday, March 15 Sunday, March 17

Dessert Reception, Walking Smorgaasbord & Wine Walk with souvenir tote bag, wine charm and wine glass

Weekend A la Carte

7-9 pm Friday, March 15

Dessert Reception & Contest Music, Wine & Sweets

11 am- 4 pm Saturday, March 16

Walking Smorgaasbord 40+ taste stops

Saturday, March 16 & Sunday, March 17

Wine Walk Savor wine & beer tasting. 2-day passport at 11+ tasting rooms with souvenir wine glass

RECIPE FROM THE VINE

Dolmades Stuffed Grape Leaves

by Cynthia Daddona

Good Things in Small, Tasty Packages

Dolmades are a great way to use grape leaves to create delicious bites of flavor. In Greece, they are part of a meze (little bites) menu that is often eaten before a meal while gathering with others. I like to make them as an appetizer, side dish or even sometimes as an entrée.

The leaves are best picked from the vine when they are young and tender or they can be found in a jar at gourmet or Mediterranean specialty markets. If you can’t obtain fresh grape leaves, you can find grape leaves packed in brine at Lazy Acres and at European Deli & Market. One can make a vegetarian version or add ground lamb or beef for a meat version.

Makes 8–10 servings (4–5 dolmades per serving)

50 fresh grape leaves or 1 (32-ounce) jar of grape leaves in brine

1 cup olive oil ( 1 ⁄ 2 cup to sauté filling, 1 ⁄ 2 cup to cook dolmades)

4 cups finely minced onions

11 ⁄ 2 cups of uncooked long-grain white basmati rice

5 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

1 ⁄ 3 cup fresh dill, chopped

11 ⁄ 2 teaspoons sea salt

5 tablespoons tomato paste

3 to 4 lemons (1 for garnish and 1 added to the cooking water if using brined grape leaves from a jar)

Water

Optional: For meat filling use 1 to 11 ⁄ 2 pounds ground lamb or beef, depending on your taste.

PREPARING THE GRAPE LEAVES

For fresh grape leaves: Look for tender, medium-size leaves on the vine. Make sure the leaves have not been sprayed with pesticides. Wash leaves. Cut off stems. Blanch the leaves in a pot by pouring boiling water on them and letting them sit for 2–5 minutes. The time may vary depending on thickness of leaves, but you want to still be able to roll them with the filling. Drain in colander and place in cold water to keep moist.

For grape leaves from a jar: Remove brine by rinsing leaves with cold water. Remove any damaged leaves—set those aside to use to line bottom of pot that you will cook dolmades in. Cut off any stems. Boil a pan of water and add the juice of 1 lemon. Add leaves and continue to boil to make leaves softer for 3–5 minutes, depending on thickness of leaves. This reduces the brine taste. Drain in colander and place in cold water to keep moist.

CREATING THE FILLING

Put 1 ⁄ 2 cup of olive oil in pan. Add the finely chopped onions. Sauté onions until clear. Add uncooked rice and continue to sauté. Remove from pan and place in large bowl. Then add mint, dill, salt, tomato paste and juice of 1 lemon juice. (If doing a meat version, add uncooked ground meat here.) Mix together thoroughly.

ROLLING THE GRAPE LEAVES

Place leaves on flat surface, shiny side down, vein side up. Depending on size of leaf, use 1 to 2 teaspoons of filling for smaller dolmades and up to a 1 tablespoon for larger-portioned dolmades. (Remember that rice will expand upon cooking, so allow a bit of space when rolling leaves.) Place filling at base of leaf, where stem begins. Roll leaf up from bottom 1 turn toward top. Then roll each side toward filling and then take base and roll toward top until done.

COOKING THE GRAPE LEAVES

Place rolled grape leaves in a big pot lined with several flat grape leaves. (This helps bottom layer of dolmades to cook better.) Place rolled dolmades in a circle in the pot, layering the rows as needed. Fewer layers are better, so choose a wide-based pot. Add 1 ⁄ 2 cup of olive oil. In a separate kettle or pan, boil enough water to cover dolmades completely. Pour boiled water over dolmades in pot. Add juice of 1 lemon. After final layer place a weight such as a pair of dinner plates on top to anchor dolmades in place while cooking. Bring the pot of dolmades to a boil, and then turn down and simmer for 45–60 minutes. Taste-test to see if rice (or meat for meat filling) is done; if not, cook for a few more minutes adding a little more water to pot if needed. When done remove gently. Dolmades may be served warm, room temperature or cold. Garnish on plate with lemon slices. Enjoy. Kali Orexi (that’s “good eating” in Greek).

Cynthia Daddona is passionate about healthy, delicious, positive, loveinfused times at the table. She is a lifestyle journalist, author, award-winning on-camera personality and host of RomancingTheTable.com celebrating life, love, Mediterranean food, travel and wisdom. She hosted the #1 NY Times About.com Culinary-Travel DVD and the upcoming “Under the Grecian Sun: A Romantic, Culinary-Travel Journey.”

PHOTOGRAPH: MATT DONNER

EDIBLE GARDEN Growing Grapes A Vine of Your Own

by Joan S. Bolton

Whether destined for wine or eaten straight off the vine, grapes are a natural for Santa Barbara County gardens. There’s plenty of precedent.

Both wine grapes and table grapes have been cultivated for thousands of years in other Mediterranean climates. In California, Franciscans planted grapes at the missions that Father Serra established in the late 1700s.

Today, you might be inspired by the orderly rows of wine grapes marching across local hillsides. You may crave crisp, sweet grapes, plucked fresh from your garden or from a shadeproviding arbor.

Whatever your desires, it’s important to match our climate with the dozens of grape varieties available.

Grape Basics

Simply put, grapes are berries produced on deciduous woody vines. The two species common for consumption are European grapes (Vitis vinifera) and American grapes (Vitis labrusca)

A third group, American hybrids, are crosses between the two.

European varieties are the most widespread wine, table and raisin grapes grown in California. But they require hot summer nights and a long growing season and are prone to powdery mildew, a fungal disease that can distort and damage the fruit. Afflicted vines can be dusted with sulfur every two weeks from spring until harvest.

American varieties are favored for table grapes, raisins, jelly and jam. They are better suited to our coastal climate as they bear well during shorter seasons and cooler temperatures, and they are not as susceptible to mildew.

It’s important to note that while daytime highs in our inland valleys and canyons may match temperatures in the San Joaquin Valley—where Thompson Seedless grapes reign supreme—our nights are considerably cooler. Those night-time temperatures are why cool-blooded American varieties are a good match.

American hybrids can be more easygoing than the Europeans, too. Some bear more disease-resistant wine grapes; others produce flavorful table grapes.

In addition, our native California wild grape (Vitis californica) bears tiny fruit that’s edible, but more ornamental and more likely to provide sustenance to birds than humans. Roger’s Red is an especially beautiful selection that creates summertime shade and reliably turns bright red in fall.

What to Grow

Wine grapes are generally small and bear seeds. Their thick skins contribute to the aroma, texture and color of wine. Table grapes are larger, often seedless and have thin skins.

Unless you’re determined to replicate a vineyard planting and willing to tackle the difficulties of cultivating wine grapes, table grapes are an easier bet.

American and American-European hybrids well-suited to the Central Coast include dark purple Blueberry, Concord and Mars; red Canadice, Catawba, Suffolk and Vanessa; green Himrod, Interlaken and Niagara; and yellow Golden Muscat.

You may find success with a few European table grapes that prefer cooler temperatures, such as Black Monukka, a seedless purplish-black; and two greens, Muscat of Alexandria and

Perlette. Avoid heat-loving Thompson Seedless unless you value its super-sized leaves, which are ideal for Middle Eastern dishes that require stuffing grape leaves.

Planting Time

All grapes need fast drainage and some summer heat. Choose a sunny spot with the most gritty, sandy, minerally soil possible. It doesn’t have to be particularly fertile; you can amend and mulch with compost to boost nutrients.

If yours is thick, adobe soil, plant your vines in a raised bed or on tall, broad mounds or a steep slope. Otherwise, your vines may thrive for the first few years and then slowly decline as the heavy soil inevitably swallows them up. Even in the best-draining soil, plant your vines a few inches high to allow for settling.

Also provide support. Space your vines at least eight feet apart. Train them on a few strands of galvanized wire strung between freestanding posts; on a broad, sturdy trellis; or up the posts of a pergola or arbor. Install the stakes at planting time. Although it will take several years for your vines to be completely up and growing, driving a stake into the ground later on could damage the roots.

Ongoing Care

It may take up to five years for your first harvest. During the first summer, water your vines every week and loosely tie up any branches that flop on the ground. Just before your vines break dormancy the following spring, start pruning to create the scaffolding branches that push out the smooth, year-old wood that bears clusters of fruit.

Correct pruning is key. In local vineyards, balancing foliage and fruit is an art, developed over years of practice by vintners to create world-class wines.

In the home garden, pruning presents a mind-blowing number of options. It’s a tedious, multi-year process and varies based on whether you’re using posts and wires, or covering a fence or arbor. Some vines require pruning canes; others require pruning spurs.

Detailing each specific technique would be mind-numbingly boring unless you’re out there wielding pruners at this particular moment. To find the best pruning technique for your vine, arm yourself with a good pruning book or directions from the internet. An excellent place to start is UC Cooperative Extension’s California Master Gardener Handbook or website, UCanr.org.

Harvest

Grapes turn color well before they’re ripe, and once picked, they don’t continue to ripen. So pick a few to check their flavor before harvesting full clusters. Also don’t worry if your grapes aren’t as plump as those at the supermarket. Many commercial growers spray growth hormones to expand the fruits’ cells. That changes the appearance, but not the sugars. Your grapes may be smaller, but they’ll be just as delectable—if not more so—because you’ll be able to harvest them at their absolute peak of freshness.

Joan S. Bolton is a freelance writer, garden coach and garden designer who confesses to a lifelong love affair with plants. She and her husband, Tom, maintain avocado, citrus and fruit trees and grow vegetables and herbs year-round. SantaBarbaraGardens.com.

S ustainable, P

, and with a L ong H eritage We are also open to the public 10am–4pm everyday. Come visit and meet us.

Eric Mohseni, Winemaker (left) and Ruben Camacho, Vineyard Foreman

An Interview with Alice Waters

by Krista Harris

PHOTOGRAPH BY PLATON

Alice Waters is the pioneer in California cuisine and for over 40 years has been one of the most influential figures in the food movement. She is the founder and owner of Chez Panisse, a restaurant located in Berkeley that is consistently ranked as one of the best restaurants in the world. From fresh, mixed salad greens to farmers market cuisine, her effect on restaurant menus everywhere has been without equal. Alice is also the author of numerous books on food and cooking, and she is the founder of Edible Schoolyard, a program whose influence has spread nationwide. Her activism in the area of food policy has focused on building a food economy that is “good, clean and fair.” She is vice president of Slow Food International and has received numerous honors including 1992 Best Chef in America from the James Beard Foundation, and she was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2008.

Q: Many of our readers are familiar with your restaurant, your books, your support for local agriculture and changing the way people think about food. I’d like to start by asking you what you feel is important right now about the food movement—where are you spending your energy?

Public education. It’s the priority of all my priorities. We started the Edible Schoolyard Project 17 years ago at a middle school in Berkeley. From the very beginning I never thought of it as a course in gardening or in cooking; I always thought of it as a way to bring children together, get them back to their senses and open their minds to the world around them. I believe in the transformative power of food.

Q: What led you to start Edible Schoolyard?

I was particularly inspired by what was happening at the San Francisco County Jail. Cathrine Sneed has had a program for more than 25 years now that teaches the inmates gardening. And they take the produce from the seven-acre plot and offer it to the homeless centers in San Francisco. I visited the halfway house garden that she started outside the jail, and I visited in the jail. I heard the testimonials from those she called her students, and that’s all it took for me. I said “Oh my god, if you can do this in the jail, you can do this in the schools.”

With that idea I got involved with the principal of the school located in between my home and the restaurant. He was initially very excited that I wanted to beautify the school. But I said I don’t want to just make a garden there. I really want to make the school lunch program something very important. I want to make it an academic subject. I want to have the kids participate in making their own lunches. And I want all the kids to eat for free. And I want them to eat together. I want it to be part of the curriculum. I can’t think of anything more important than to encourage people to experiment in this kind of way.

varietals. That biodiversity is what engages and stimulates people to think—and to taste and compare. This is essential to the food movement. We must taste and compare. We need to train our palates. I think it is the piece that is most lacking in terms of the big picture of change. We’re getting pretty good about bread, wine, salami, beer. But we really need to become fine cooks. I don’t mean fancy cooks. I mean discerning cooks. And in order to be able to do that we need to be tasting those ingredients and comparing them with other ingredients.

Q: So, you would do a food tasting with a specific ingredient like you would do a wine tasting from a specific winery?

“We really need to become fine cooks. I don’t mean fancy cooks. I mean discerning cooks.”

Q: One of the things that your restaurant is known for is your reliance on local food. How does Chez Panisse work with local farmers?

At the restaurant we’re always tasting and comparing. We have one farmer, Bob Cannard, who is just part of our family, and he provides maybe 75% of the fruits and vegetables we use on a daily basis. We’re very lucky. We treasure the farmer. We learn from the farmer. We send our interns out to Bob’s farm, and he is a born teacher.

As Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food, said, “The farmers are the intellectuals of the land.” They know a lot of nonverbal information that has to be passed on in very different ways than in a book. And I think cooking is the same way. There’s only so much you can learn from a cookbook. You really need to do it yourself. It’s one thing to cook a meal, it’s another thing to really have the experience of being on a farm. That’s not been accessible to children, and that’s why it’s so important to have it available from kindergarten on. Even if it’s not a plot at the school—it could be at a community garden or, in Santa Barbara, a place like Fairview Gardens.

Q: Do you think the growth of the local wine industry has had an effect on the local food?

There is a correlation. I think it’s a way to bring people into the idea of local. I remember when the State used to be just Chardonnay and Cabernet. Now the subtleties of the climate have encouraged people to grow all different sorts of grape

Yes. I would like to have chicory tasting right now because there are little microclimates that encourage sweetness and a color in the lettuce that is so beautiful that you can’t do without them for a couple months of the year. At the beginning of Chez Panisse I never knew what a bittersweet chicory was like. And now I know that is has to do with the right varietal being planted in the right place, and the farmer taking care of the land in the right way. Then it matters when he or she chooses to pick that fruit or vegetable and how quickly it can get to me. That’s about 90% of what the food is going to taste like in the end. That is a knowledge that all cooks need to understand. They have to have a partnership with the farmers. Cooks have to learn about and help to fine-tune that process with the farmers. Because the cooks are their partners, and we’re all cooks.

Q: Speaking of cooking, can you tell me about your new book that’s coming this fall?

It’s called The Art of Simple Food II, and it’s really from the garden to the table. We are talking about how we fell in love with gardening, or rather how I fell in love with my little backyard garden. And what it does for my cooking—how to use every part of the plant, what is most useful to plant if you don’t have much space and how you can utilize community gardens. And the priority of taking care of the land needs to be understood. It’s one thing to cook, but we won’t have anything to cook if we don’t take care of the land.

To find out more, visit ChezPanisse.com and EdibleSchoolyard.org

Krista Harris is the editor and co-publisher of Edible Santa Barbara.

Special Event

Alice Waters will be speaking in Santa Barbara on April 27 at UCSB’s Campbell Hall. For details and ticket information, visit ArtsAndLectures.sa.ucsb.edu

EDIBLE BOOKS

The Wine Library

Reviewed by Louis Villard

Although there is no substitute for drinking wine as a way of learning about it, a good book can help you further understand it. From the ultimate encyclopedia to a manga comic book, we selected four diverse wine books that would be quite at home in the oenophile’s library.

Wine Grapes

Ecco, $175

By Janis Robinson, MW; Julia Harding, MW; and José Vouillamoz

World-renowned wine critic Janis Robinson, a certified Master of Wine (MW), has teamed up with Julia Harding, another MW, and José Vouillamoz, an expert on grape DNA profiling, to compile an encyclopedia of wine grapes that lists 1,368 varieties. For the first time, there is a book that not only catalogues every wine grape in the world but explains the grape’s origin, genealogy, viticultural characteristics, where the grapes are grown and, most important, what they should taste like. The book includes illustrations from the early 20th century classic Ampelographie as well as gatefolds depicting each grape’s family tree. Wine Grapes is an excellent resource for those who yearn for that extra bit of vinous knowledge. No swirling or pontificating needed.

The Drops of God

Vertical Inc., $14.95

By Tadashi Agi and Shu Okimoto

The Drops of God is the fictional manga comic tale of Kanzaki Shizuku, whose father, the most famous wine critic in the land, has recently passed away and given his son a deathbed challenge. In order to receive his inheritance, a wine collection worth millions, Shizuku must properly identify 13 different wines within a year in a blind tasting format. Easy, you say? It would be but Shizuku has another hurdle: He has never tasted wine. On top of that he has a challenger! Before his death, Shizuku senior officially adopted a protégé. To get the estate Shizuku younger must beat his adopted brother in the tasting. All seven volumes of this manga comic have taken the wine world by storm. Surprisingly, they are some of the most educational wine books you’ll come across.

Authentic Wine

University of California Press, $29.99

By Jamie Goode and Sam Harrop, MW

Award-winning wine writer Jamie Goode and winemaker Sam Harrop, MW, embark on the difficult task of defining one of the more hotly debated topics in wine today: natural wine. Authentic Wine is put together like a science textbook with accompanying case studies and tables. In clear language, it explains challenging subjects such as vine grafting, sustainable viticulture and chemical intervention in winemaking. Authentic Wine offers an insightful window into both the technical aspects of natural wine production and the philosophy. No doubt it will be the official companion for all aspiring natural winemakers for years to come.

How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto

William Morrow, $24.99

By Eric Asimov

By questioning the world’s need for another wine book in his first sentence, Eric Asimov, chief wine critic of the New York Times, sets a light-hearted tone in How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto. He candidly delves into controversial subjects while drawing upon his own experiences for reference. In a chapter called “Wine Anxiety” he discusses the challenges of choosing a wine off the shelf, and in “Tasting by Numbers” he criticizes the 100-point wine rating scale. The book’s casual narrative avoids textbook definitions and offers contemporary views and opinions in a clear, easy-to-swallow format.

Louis Villard has spent the past 15 years working in wine, from making it in the south of France to serving it in London’s Michelin-starred restaurants. Now, he’s trekking his native California and reporting on what’s exciting and new. His blog is SpiltWine.com

A Walk in the Vineyard With Chris Hammell

Interviewed by Laura Sanchez

PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFFREY BLOOM

As general manager of Bien Nacido Vineyards, Chris Hammell farms over 900 acres in the Santa Maria Valley for the Miller family. Nearly 4,000 tons of grapes pass through his hands each vintage, the equivalent of over three million bottles of wine. Yet, as we walk through the vineyard rows, he repeatedly stops to pluck a renegade tendril, inspect a leaf or relate the story of an exceptional vine. He is on intimate terms with every vine. And it becomes clear that the vineyard, for him, is more than agriculture. It’s philosophy, physicality, science and poetry. In fact, he speaks as eloquently about soil as he does Rudolf Steiner’s writings, pruning and the sweeping views before us. When we stop for a moment in Q block, a legendary Pinot Noir planting, he notes the contrast of reddish leaves and emergent green grass… the silhouette of a cow visible on the skyline. And something Joseph Campbell

once wrote comes to mind: “When you are in accord with nature, nature will yield its bounty.” Amid the vines Chris radiates respect and tremendous love. And the vineyard responds. Chris says, “There’s something special about a clear day after a storm. It’s beautiful. And the sunshine makes the grass come up quickly. This cover crop is an organic erosion control mixture, mostly organic rye.”

Q: That’s interesting. Why rye?

We plant rye on the hillsides and recently developed areas because it comes up quickly and puts down roots right away. It’s perfect for erosion control.

These vines on the right will be going into their sixth year next year. It’s a new block that will be available for sale next year. Up through year five we bring fruit through our winery. When the vines reach maturity, in this case year six, they become available for purchase.

Above: Chris Hammell, general manager of Bien Nacido Vineyards.

Q: So what constitutes a block?

There’s really no specific designation. A production block can be 50 acres or ¼ of an acre. Some are farmed more economically. And others, like this one… well, there’s nothing economical about it. It’s just a really amazing hillside spot.

These blocks are all broken up by client. This one goes to Russell From at Herman Story winery. That one is for Jim Clendenen at Au Bon Climat. That Syrah block goes to Craig Jaffurs. This one-acre block goes to Adam Tolmach of Ojai Vineyard. We get to work with such great people. That’s a unique thing about Bien Nacido Vineyards.

Q: So you’re balancing two partnerships—one with nature and one with clients. Is that a challenge, to farm blocks for different winemakers?

We don’t think about it that much. We just do it. Some people are really involved with specifications and others just pick the grapes when they’re ready. We try to allow them to have as much input as they want. They get a say in leaf removal because some people like more exposure than others. We irrigate when we think it’s really necessary. When it comes to crop load, they make that decision. And, of course, they choose harvest date.

You can never please everyone all the time, but they know we try our best to do the right thing. I feel pretty fortunate to be able to work with people that I really like and admire.

Q: Everything looks so healthy. What’s your secret?

Well, our foundation is sustainable agriculture. We’ve obtained formal certification on 900 acres by SIP [Sustainability in Practice], the local certifying body, as well as the CSWA [California Sustainable Winegrowing Association], the State’s sustainability certification.

We also practice biodynamic farming. We do it formally on a portion of the vineyard but use many of the philosophies like diversification throughout the property.

We’re not a monoculture. We believe in integrated farming. And it’s not like we have just a few fruit trees planted. We’ve got 100 acres of avocados, blueberries, row crops, flowers and animals in the vineyards. We’ll see them when we go around the corner…

Q: Really? What kind of animals do you have?

Goats and sheep, donkeys, two cows. We run them in the vineyard during the winter time and are experimenting with them during the growing season. They’ve helped cut down on mowing.

Q: So you’ve really brought things full circle at Bien Nacido.

Yeah. Our goal is to make it an integrated whole. Diversification is in the Miller family’s blood. They were open to it and in many ways they encouraged it. They believe in it from a risk management standpoint. And I believe in it from a biodiversity perspective.

Some of my friends in Napa Valley have theorized that the reason they get certain pests and have to use so many pesticides for insects especially is because of the monoculture there. There’s no other type of agriculture. That’s not how we are at Bien Nacido. That’s what we want to prevent.

Not only that but it also helps us keep a steady supply of labor. We now have work year-round. We harvest blueberries in the spring, avocados in the summer, grapes in the fall, lemons… well, probably winter time.

In addition, we eat some of the animals. We use shale and stone from our quarry. Down at the adobe we have a shale parking lot and a flagstone patio that we built with stone from the quarry onsite. Pretty self-sustaining, huh?

Q: So no Home Depot runs for you?

Nope. We go out to block 11 and load the truck. Check it out! This is the shale I’m talking about. (He picks up a handful of stony soil and lets it fall between his fingers.) We have three main soil types here: shale, dolomitic lime and a small amount of volcanic soil from the outcroppings you see over there. In the river bottom (where the Cuyama River flows through to the Sisquoc River) there’s a little bit of coarse sand with cobblestones and some alluvial soils.

Q: It’s wintertime now and the vines are becoming dormant. When will you begin pruning?

We start pruning after the New Year. The first Tuesday after the holiday there will be 100 people out here. We’ll blast through it in two months and then … here comes the next growing season with budbreak in March. Pruning is by far the most fun vineyard activity. It’s really strategic and active. We work to the vine’s strength.

Q: Can you show me?

Sure! See this vine? It’s telling you how it grew. It’s giving you a snapshot of last year, telling you the story of its health, how many laterals we left, any mildew or frost scarring. You can see everything.

For basic spur pruning, to have a fruitful bud, you need 1-year-old wood coming out of 2-year-old wood. But it’s a delicate balance. With high-end Pinot Noir we don’t want clusters touching one another. We allow one shoot out of one bud. Pinot tends to throw doubles, so we knock those off. It’s meticulously trained so that every cluster has its own space.

Q: How did you learn how to prune?

I learned from one of my colleagues at Cambria when I worked there. He was a good pruner, and fast. You have to make big decisions and act quickly. It’s like playing sports. In fact, there are pruning contests that test your speed, decision making and cleanliness of cuts.

Q: Wow! Speaking of competition, I understand that you’re a world-champion martial artist. Yeah. Jiu jitsu is good balance for me. I’ve been competing for 10 years. Last year I took third at the Pan Am Games and this year I won the World Championship for my weight class and skill level. But I think I’ll retire sometime soon and drink and eat a lot… like it’s my job. (He laughs and pats his stomach.)

Laura Sanchez is a Santa Barbara–based wine writer whose work appears in an array of print and online publications. Laura@Nectar-Media.com.

For Love of Pinot

In the Sta. Rita Hills

by Erin Brooks

I’m in the rows at Clos Pepe Vineyards in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, volunteering for a night shift picking grapes during the harvest. It’s 9pm, the sun is long gone and the Pinot Noir grapes are a sheeny, luscious purple in the light of my headlamp. On my knees in the dirt, I get started snipping bunches of grapes and depositing them into tall orange buckets. A single tractor’s floodlight illuminates the swirling dust kicked up by the busy crew.

The experienced pickers fly past me—I can’t fill up a bucket before they’ve overtaken me, gracefully plucking bunches from the vines and removing grapes I can’t even find the stem to. It’s cold. My hands are numb and sticky. My back aches, my legs ache, my arms ache. By the end of the night my knees are bloody, and I’m covered from head to toe in a fine layer of grime.

Why put myself through all this, you ask?

A few years ago I fell in love with wine. Since then, I’ve spent every possible hour climbing up the sommelier ladder,

reading books and magazines, holding study groups and blind tasting sessions and taking wine exams. It was worth every achy muscle to experience firsthand the beauty and promise that this wine region has to offer. My exhausting but exhilarating harvest experience merely piqued my curiosity. So I decided to explore a little deeper and talk to a few winemakers about this unique area.

Back in 1970, most people thought Santa Barbara County was too far south—and too hot—for growing grapes. But winemaker Richard Sanford recognized the area’s potential. After studying a century’s worth of climate records from the cool region of Burgundy, Richard made an important find while driving around with a thermometer sticking out the window of his car: The temperatures in the Sta. Rita Hills are very cool, despite the latitude.

The unique transverse mountain ranges that run east to west (instead of north to south) funnel ocean breezes and fog inland, lowering temperatures and making it a perfect

La Encantada Vineyard, Sta. Rita Hills.

place to plant Pinot. Richard says, “We saw stunning quality in the first harvest, in 1976. It raised a lot of eyebrows as to the possibilities of this area. In Napa and Carneros they thought Santa Barbara was cool, but not quite cool enough.” Turns out, the 100-square-mile plot between Lompoc and Buellton was just right.

“Pinot Noir’s the most difficult grape to grow and to make wine from,” explains Ken Brown, another Pinot pioneer. Brown has spent the last 30 years producing great Pinot Noir in Santa Barbara County. His early days were spent at Zaca Mesa Winery. He went on to found Byron, where he stayed for 20 years until starting his own small, familyrun operation, Ken Brown Wines.

“Pinot’s a shy, thin-skinned grape. It’s hard to get good color, concentration and complexity. You have to have a low-vigor site so that you get small berries and a higher skin-to-juice ratio. Site selection is huge—it needs challenged, shallow soil and a cold growing region. It’s so delicate and there are so many ingredients that have to combine to make great Pinot.”

“It’s a singular expression of time and place if it’s made properly. I like to think it’s the voice of the vineyard itself.”—Wes Hagen

Although it was the middle of the harvest, a time when winemakers and grape growers lose a lot of sleep and endure enormous stress, Ken agreed to meet me for a tour of Terravant Wine Company, a custom winemaking facility in Buellton. Establishing a winery costs a pretty penny so having this custom winemaking facility within reach allows wineries and producers to take their grapes to Terravant for crushing, fermenting and even bottling. Small-case productions are affordable this way, without the massive investment required for building a brand from scratch.

Ken guided me through the massive warehouse facility as busy workers shuttled past us with hoses and carts of shiny stainless-steel sanitizing equipment. We cruised the catwalks past fermenting vats capable of holding hundreds of gallons of wine, where I saw one of my favorite Pinots fermenting—Fiddlehead’s Fiddlestix. Ken also showed me his own Pinot, fermenting in much smaller vats (he only produces about 2,000 cases a year). He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, plunging his arms into the mass of grapes to show me how the cap was forming, and spoke with me about what makes Sta. Rita Hills so special for Pinot, and why this grape is his passion.

Pinots from the Sta. Rita Hills tend to be more elegant and lively than those from other regions in California. Brown’s Pinots, like those of Richard Sanford’s Alma Rosa label and Clos Pepe, are more delicate and full of juicy acidity, while still rich

in raspberry and blackberry fruit. They’re also able to improve in the bottle over several years—if you’re willing to wait that long.

Brown has a saying that I believe answers the chicken-or-the-egg question on every wine lover and Pinotphile’s mind: Is it the vineyard or the winemaker? “100% of the potential quality of the wine comes from the vineyard until the moment you pick the grapes. Then 100% of the potential quality of the wine comes from the winery.”

Wes Hagen describes Pinot Noir as an artistic medium. “It’s like working with marble or acrylic: You can’t cover up your mistakes. Everything you do to it shows. It’s a singular expression of time and place if it’s made properly. I like to think it’s the voice of the vineyard itself.”

The Sta. Rita Hills American Viticultural Area (AVA) is still relatively new, having been officially designated in 2001. But now that the appellation’s vines are maturing, the wines are gaining more concentration and depth and Sta. Rita Hills is earning increasing recognition and critical acclaim. 2012 is widely to be considered a fantastic vintage. When I ask Wes what it means for the area to have appellation status, he explains that it’s up to the winemakers and growers to define its future. “Now we’ve told the world we exist, it’s up to us to make our AVA meaningful, to show typicity—what it is about our place that makes it so special. We are responsible for our own reputation by what we put in the bottle.”

Growing the best-quality grapes is crucial to that, as is maintaining a respectful relationship with the land. Richard Sanford’s wife, Thekla Sanford, has been in Sta. Rita Hills since her husband’s first vintage from the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard. She explains that great wine is all about balance.

“Wine has to have balance and the winemaker has to have balance, being conscious and aware of what you’re doing and how it’s all connected. In every step of the process, in every decision you make, you should be thinking about how to do it in a sustainable way. To me, that’s the future.”

She reminds me why this is such a fantastic place for winemaking: The quality of the wines is just as much about the dedication of the people responsible for them as it is about the unique qualities of where they’re grown.

Erin Brooks is a freelance food and wine writer in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is currently pursuing the Wine & Spirit Education Trust Advanced Award in Wine and Spirits.

Join the WELLNESS GROUP A Higher Standard of Care

•

•

• Medically Supervised Permanent Weight

• LONGER Appointments—The Attention You Deserve

• 20% to 80% Off Many In-Office Treatments

• INTEGRATION of Traditional & Conventional

• Focus on PREVENTING and REVERSING Dis-ease

• Free NEWSLETTER/Telephone Consults/and Much More

Dr. Scott Saunders and Dr. Jennifer Salcido and the friendly WELLNESS GROUP TEAM

Zaca University Winemakers Reminisce About Their Days at Zaca Mesa Winery

Interviewed by Shannon Essa

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN FEINBLATT

One of the early pioneers in the Santa Barbara County wine industry was Zaca Mesa Winery. In 1973 Marshall Ream planted a vineyard on a plateau near the headwaters of Zaca Creek. It wasn’t long before he recognized the value of making wine from their grape harvest, and he brought in a young recent enology school graduate named Ken Brown as the first winemaker. Over the course of 40 vintages, a slew of winemakers, assistant winemakers, enologists, lab techs, cellar rats,

vineyard managers and vineyard workers have made valuable contributions to Zaca Mesa. In turn, the winery has offered them a place to learn, innovate and hone their craft— becoming a launching pad for many illustrious winemaking careers.

We brought together many of the talented individuals that have been a part of what they fondly refer to as “Zaca U” for the opportunity to clink glasses and hear about the winery’s early days… in their own words.

Opposite: Zaca Mesa reunion hosted by Jim Clendenen and Bob Lindquist at Bien Nacido Vineyards. Above: vintage Zaca Mesa wines as early as 1977.

Ruben Camacho, 1977–present; and Ken Brown, 1977–1985.

“It took some courage to stake out an investment in the future of an almost unknown region at that time, but they did it and time has proven them to be prescient.” — Daniel Gehrs

Ken Brown (1977–1985, winemaker) : When I was at Fresno State as a graduate student I was co-director of the school winery, which meant that I also headed up all the research projects that Fresno State winery was pursuing. Historically, the first vineyard [planted in Santa Barbara County] was the Uriel Nielson vineyard, planted in 1964 in the Santa Maria Valley. The second generation of vineyards were planted by Firestone, a gentleman named Dean Brown and then Zaca Mesa—whose vineyards were planted in 1973. My research job for Fresno State was to work with the first crop of these new vineyards to see if there was commercial potential for Santa Barbara County wines. Marshall Ream, the owner of Zaca Mesa, was so impressed with those early

wines that he offered me the position to both design his winery and to be his winemaker.

Ruben Camacho (1977–present, vineyard worker, vineyard manager) : I came to Zaca Mesa looking for work in 1977 and they gave me a job driving a tractor. I didn’t know anything about grapes. Cayo Palomo was the vineyard manager and he taught me how to prune the vines, about all the diseases of the vines.

Daniel Gehrs (1993–1997, winemaker) : It took some courage to stake out an investment in the future of an almost unknown region at that time, but they did it and time has proven them to be prescient.

Ken Brown: We built the winery in 1978 and the first harvest of estate Zaca Mesa wines was 1978 at the new winery. We needed to hire a staff, so I asked Fred Brander, the winemaker at Santa Ynez Winery, if he knew anyone I could hire to help me with the bottling, and he told me to call Jim Clendenen. Jim was the first person I hired when we started making the wines at Zaca Mesa. He was my assistant winemaker.

Jim Clendenen (1978–1980, assistant winemaker) : It was my first winemaking job. I got called in with Ken and a couple of

Bob Lindquist, 1979–1983; Adam Tolmach, 1979–1980; Jim Clendenen, 1978–1980; and Jim Adelman, 1982.

other people in the company and they told me I was so good at what I did that even though I hadn’t done anything yet—I had just run the bottling line—they wanted to make me assistant winemaker. And they wanted to put me on salary. I had no idea what that meant. I was going to be working between 60 and 100 hours a week, making wine. But on salary, not hourly, I got a dollar an hour! When I used to make $3.75 an hour working on the bottling line. I was so passionate that I didn’t care. I really wanted to work, and I worked.

Adam Tolmach (1979–1980, lab tech and cellar worker) : I was hired in January of 1979 and left after the end of the harvest 1980. I was the third employee under Ken Brown, and I was hired as a winery worker and lab person. I did what I was told to do and tried to learn as much as possible. Ken was a patient and kind teacher.

Chuck Carlson (1981–1992, lab tech, winemaker) : Many of those who have passed through Zaca Mesa have gone on to be very progressive winemakers.

Ken Brown: When hiring people I didn’t really care about resumes. What I cared about was if they were totally excited about wine and about the possibility of being in the wine

business. We hired Bob Lindquist as soon as we started releasing wines. He managed the tastings in a makeshift tasting room in the barrel room and helped us in production when he wasn’t doing tastings.

Bob Lindquist (1979–1983, cellar worker, tasting room) : At the very beginning, there was no tasting room. There was a board on top of a couple of barrels down in the cellar, and you’d write out a handwritten invoice. I was doing a little bit of everything—cellar rat, tour guide, sales…

Adam Tolmach: We had many wine tasting parties that Jim and Bob organized—they were lots of fun, and educational.

Ken Brown: At that time you had a difficult time becoming established and being considered a successful brand if you could not make a good Cabernet Sauvignon in California. We worked and worked to try to figure out—from the grape-growing perspective to winemaking—how to make a better Cabernet. Quite honestly, we never achieved the goal but, fortunately for me, the Chardonnays and Pinots turned out to be magnificent and that is always what I was interested in.

(Continued on next page)

Jim Clendenen: We were really trying to make the best wines that you could make in California. Our interest was in pushing the limits of winemaking. Learning what to do, open-top fermenting… anything we read about, we were excited about. At Zaca Mesa in 1979 we all experimented with wine. Bob made a Cabernet, Adam made a Cabernet, I made a Pinot Noir, and those wines were… kind of remarkable wines. They were wines that were predating what California wines would become.

Ken Brown: Three out of four wines from our first release (the 1978 vintage) received awards—double gold, best of show, two golds and silver. For a brandnew winery that had never made wines before, we got a lot of instant notoriety.

Jim Clendenen: What we were most known for was Chardonnay. The 1978 Chardonnay won the top gold medal at the L.A. County Fair, and the top gold medal at the Orange County Fair. Turned out that wine had residual sugar, a lot of new oak, it was kind of a funny wine. But it launched Zaca Mesa.

Jim Clendenen: I gotta say that I couldn’t imagine a more fun place to be in 1978, I couldn’t imagine a more fulfilling place to be in 1979—showing how fast you can grow things. We made great wine and got nationally known for making great wine.

Jim Adelman: When I was 17 I worked for Bob Lindquist at a tasting room in Camarillo. That was my introduction to wine, then I kind of goofed around in a couple of wine stores, and I was at that point where I had to choose a college major, so I went to work at Zaca Mesa for a year to make sure that is what I wanted to do. And at that time I lived with Jim Clendenen so I also learned a lot about winemaking from Jim at home.

“I gotta say that I couldn’t imagine a more fun place to be in 1978, I couldn’t imagine a more fulfilling place to be in 1979—showing how fast you can grow things. We made great wine and got nationally known for making great wine.”

— Jim Clendenen

Jim Adelman (1982, cellar worker) : Then they made Zinfandel, which was really unusual.

Bob Lindquist: There were some really good Zinfandels.

Jim Clendenen: The 1978 was a rockin’ one. It was the single wine of the tasting experience when you came to taste at Bob’s table. French oak aged Zinfandel.

Bob Lindquist: We made a Sauvignon Blanc in ’79 that was as good as anybody’s in California.

Lane Tanner (1981–1983, enologist) : In 1980 I started working for Firestone. I then met Ken Brown—he was the winemaker at Zaca Mesa at that point—and he convinced me if I came to Zaca Mesa to be his enologist I would have a lot of fun. So I did.

Mike Brown (1982, cellar worker) : Zaca Mesa was the first big winery I worked at. I had worked at bigger wineries in Australia, but more of a singleposition type of thing. At Zaca Mesa you were there from start to finish, you were there at crushing, you were there in the barrel room, you were there on the bottling line. You pretty much got to do it all from the beginning of the process to the end.

Lane Tanner: At the time, it was just our life—we didn’t think of ourselves as pioneers.

Jim Adelman: I drove the forklift. I sulfured a lot of barrels with those sulfur wicks. I was a cellar guy.

Mike Brown, 1982

Chuck Carlson, 1981–1992

Gale Sysock, 1986–1992

Gale Sysock

talented and passionate winemakers with a pioneering spirit and a willingness to express themselves both in the wines and vocally.

Ken Brown: I planted the first Syrah in Santa Barbara County at Zaca Mesa. I brought the cuttings from Gary Eberle’s Estrella River vineyard in 1978 and made the first wine in 1983. The Syrah was very impressive from the first vintage and we knew we were on to something very good.

Chuck Carlson (1981–1992, associate winemaker) : In 1988 we made the decision to change towards a Rhône focus. We planted and grafted much of the vineyard to the mixture of Rhône varietals that they have now. We also kept Chardonnay in the vineyard as that was a variety that was still doing well in the marketplace. They had already had some Syrah planted and it proved to be a very good variety for the region. We took this a bit further and really expanded this—pioneering efforts.

Gale Sysock: I trimmed down the focus on wines to make varietals that worked well for the area and pushed to have our home vineyards develop more Rhône varieties. Then I passed the torch on to the next team to see it evolve further along.

Daniel Gehrs: When I got to Zaca Mesa the big varietal there was Chardonnay. While the Chardonnays I made for Zaca Mesa were commercially successful, where we really made our mark was Syrah, which was a big surprise.

Ruben Camacho: A long time ago we picked grapes by machine. Dan Gehrs decided he did not want to harvest with a machine. He said a machine picks up everything—all the green stuff, all the leaves, lizards, worms… When Dan came, Zaca Mesa sold the machine. Now it takes 35 people, every day, for the harvest.

Daniel Gehrs: During my first vintage the Mare Fire started not too far from the winery. It burned tens of thousands of acres in the fall of ’93. All the firefighting traffic made it difficult at

times to get our picking crews into the field to harvest the crop. One of the blocks of Syrah got over-ripe due to these delays. After blending it into our Zaca Vineyards Syrah the wine was just magic! I’ve always thought maybe the fire had something to do with the quality and success of that wine—the 1993 Zaca Vineyards Syrah was named Wine Spectator’s #6 wine of the year in 1995 and really stirred up a lot of interest and excitement in Santa Barbara County for this varietal.

Clay Brock (2001–2008, winemaker) : Dan’s Syrah coming in #6 in the Wine Spectator brought recognition to the entire Central Coast.

Daniel Gehrs: I urged management to reposition the brand away from Chardonnay, which made only a standard-quality wine at that location, and to concentrate more on Rhône varietals, Syrah especially.

Benjamin Silver (1994–2000, associate winemaker) : When I was at Zaca Mesa, Dan Gehrs taught me how to construct a wine from the palate. He was the person who taught me how to make wine.

Clay Brock: I wanted to get rid of Chardonnay and be solely Rhône-focused. And I learned a lot about the viticulture side of the business.

Eric Mohseni (2001–present, enologist, winemaker) : Instead of graduate school, I felt it was very important to get into the industry and start learning winemaking. Clay Brock called me and told me he’d started working as winemaker at Zaca Mesa and asked if I would come on board to revamp the lab. That was January 2001, and I have been at Zaca Mesa ever since.

Scott Osborn (1982–1983, cellar master) : I loved working at Zaca Mesa. It was one of the more peaceful places to work, and people like Lane and Chuck Carlson and Angel Vasquez and Ken Brown—they were all wonderful people to work with.

Agustin Robles Eric Mohseni Benjamin Silver Ruben Camacho Mike Brown

Ken Brown Bob Lindquist

Gale Sysock Jim Adelman Chuck Carlson Adam Tolmach Jim Clendenen Clay Brock Daniel Gehrs

Scott Osborn: Zaca Mesa taught me the fundamentals. It gave me the background, and the courage to go off and do what I did—making wine in the Finger Lakes.

Chuck Carlson: My years at Zaca Mesa gave me perspective on what grows well in this region. Since then, I have kept true to the Rhône varietals as my main interest.

Daniel Gehrs: Working at Zaca Mesa made me more confident in the range of my winemaking abilities and to be able to influence management in favor of new styles and new directions. When I left, the winery was riding high and there was a palpable sense of optimism going forward with new products and new, exciting styles. I think that spirit is still alive today.

Agustin Robles (1983–present, vineyard worker, cellar worker, cellarmaster) : We work like a family. I love the wine and I enjoy my job. I’ve learned a lot from all the winemakers. Each has made very different wines.

Lane Tanner: Being around Ken Brown really taught me how to trust my own instincts. He trusted my instincts on tasting, and that gave me more confidence. That would never have happened if I had not been at Zaca Mesa—it started me off to where I am today.

Ken Brown: Zaca Mesa, for me, was so important. It was where I became established. And to have worked with such a great crew of people—it was a very, very special time. We were all together in the same project, feeling we could do something very special and when it then turned out to be very special it was sort of like, “Wow! We did it!”

Eric Mohseni: It is nice to be a part of something that has roots and foundations. I have a lot of pride when I go to events when there is recognition of the people that came from here. Sometimes, during harvest, we are out early picking, so I go to one of the blocks I like and sit there and watch the sunrise. Sometimes you get a little desensitized, because you come here all the time, and at these moments you realize this is a pretty cool place, and it’s been here for a while and it will continue to be around.

Shannon Essa is a California native whose beverage of choice is Santa Barbara Pinot Noir. She is the author of restaurant guidebook Chow Venice! and splits her time between Santa Barbara and Europe, writing and leading wine-, beer- and food-based tours in Spain and Italy for Grapehops Tours.

Zaca Mesa Winery Celebrates their 40th Anniversary

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Enjoy the history of Zaca Mesa, wine education, barrel samples, new release wines, food, live music and winery tours. Held 11am–4pm at Zaca Mesa Winery located at 6905 Foxen Canyon Rd, Los Oilvos. 805 688-9339; ZacaMesa.com

Ken Brown

Owner and Winemaker, Ken Brown Wines

Ruben Camacho

Vineyard Manager, Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards

Jim Clendenen

Owner and Winemaker, Au Bon Climat

Bob Lindquist

Owner and Winemaker, Qupé Wines

Adam Tolmach

Owner and Winemaker, The Ojai Vineyard

Agustin Robles

Cellarmaster, Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards

Lane Tanner

Winemaker, Sierra Madre Vineyard

Chuck Carlson

Owner and Winemaker, Carlson Wines & Winemaker, Curtis Winery

Scott Osborn

Owner, Fox Run Vineyards

Jim Adelman

General Manager, Au Bon Climat & Qupé Wines

Mike Brown

Owner and Winemaker, Kalyra Wines

Gale Sysock

Vice President, Custom Resource Group, Delicato Family Vineyards

Daniel Gehrs

Owner and Winemaker, Daniel Gehrs Wines

Benjamin Silver

Owner and Winemaker, Silver Wines

Clay Brock

General Manager and Director of Winemaking, Wild Horse Winery & Vineyards

Eric Mohseni

Winemaker, Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards

The Art in Artisan Well Bread Rises on the Pedigree of Passion

by Nancy Oster

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFFREY BLOOM

Bread baker Bob Oswaks at work taking a batch of breads from the proofing baskets.

At 7:30 on a frosty winter morning I’m standing with Bob Oswaks of Well Bread in LA (Los Alamos) as he draws a freshly baked loaf of bread from the wood-burning oven at Full of Life Flatbread and measures the internal temperature of the loaf. The smell of baking bread fills the room and beams of morning sunlight stream through the cold windows onto the oven. I can feel the magic.

“Look at the color of this crust,” Bob says. It’s a deep reddish brown, lighter in the scored crevices that opened up during baking. This is the sign of good oven spring (a bursty rise just before the crust begins to set and harden). The edges of the score are sharp and crisply darkened. They will add a nice crunch to the slice. Our first six loaves go onto racks for cooling.

Perfectly baked bread sings as it cools. In the final shaping yesterday Bob rounded each loaf, pulling the outer layer taut. Tiny bubbles form and bake into the crust’s surface. As the crust cools, it contracts and crackles. These loaves are singing.

Bread Baking Choreography

Meanwhile he moves six more loaves from their proofing baskets into hot two-part cast-iron combo cookers, scores them and puts them onto the platforms in the oven to bake covered for 20 minutes.

That gives us time to go turn the 75 pounds of dough we mixed at 5am—bread that will be baked tomorrow. Turning means reaching into the bulk fermentation tubs to grab one end of the dough, stretch it upward and pull it forward then press it down. The levain (wild yeast starter) is working. Our dough is puffy, satiny smooth and cool to the touch. It feels alive. We give each tub a turn and repeat three more times (to stretch and fold each edge). Bob pats the dough approvingly

Crusty breads baking on the hearth with the cast-iron skillets in the foreground that cover each bread for part of the baking.

before closing the lids on the tubs. Tomorrow Bob will use this dough to bake 22 loaves of country sourdough and 11 loaves of olive bread.

The timer alerts us that it’s time to remove the cast-iron pans that cover each bread—the steaming phase has ended and the browning phase begins. For even browning, Bob must pay close attention now and rotate the loaves so the side closest to the fire doesn’t burn. Eight loaves will fit into the oven at a time but six are easier to manage during this phase.

“The breads and wine complement each other well and both the wine grapes and bread starter reflect the unique terroir of the Valley.”

At this point in the morning, the Full of Life workers begin to arrive to prepare ingredients for tonight’s restaurant meals and catering events scheduled for the weekend. They are rounding pizza dough for its final proofing as our last loaves come out of the oven so we grab a knife to cut and sample some cooled bread while they finish up at the table we will use to shape tomorrow’s loaves.

As Bob cuts through the crust, crispy shards fly into the air. Spectacular! Bob picks up the cut loaf, cups it in his hands and breathes in the aroma. The promise of sweet, complex flavor is revealed in the fragrance of the creamy white crumb inside.

Real bread doesn’t need butter. This is the kind of bread that makes you stop whatever you were doing or thinking to focus on its exquisite flavor and texture, chewing slowly to make it last. A nourishing flavor balance of salt and caramelized grains, and a moist creamy crumb with the crunchy contrast of the crust makes this bread feel like the perfect food.

Becoming a One-Man Boulangerie

For 30 years Bob has been a marketing executive in the entertainment industry, most recently as marketing president for Sony Pictures Television. He managed a 70-person worldwide team, marketing programs like “Seinfeld,” the “Dr. Oz Show,” “Breaking Bad,” “Drop Dead Diva,” “Justified,” “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy,” “Days of Our Lives,” “The Young and Restless” and “The Nate Berkus Show.” His previous experience includes work for Norman Lear, Paramount Pictures and Orion Pictures.

While Bob and his wife, Jane, were living in Los Angeles, Bob had a woodburning oven built in their backyard as an anniversary gift. Discovering that it took about eight hours to heat the oven to cook a pizza in 90 seconds, he began to branch out, cooking other things with the residual heat. He also tried some bread. His first results were not real successful, but he kept working on it.

Above: Bob portions and forms breads that will baked the next day. After the dough is portioned by weight he shapes the loaves, and they are allowed to rest on floured boards.

After the breads are baked in the hearth, they cool on wire racks. Bob points out the crisp, richly colored crust and the open crumb.

Bob left Sony during the recession. “My initial reaction was to look for a job doing exactly what I’d done for the past 30 years,” he says, “because marketing was what I knew.” But after a while he thought, “I’ve got to do something between sending out resumes and waiting for a call.”

Bob and Jane had a weekend home in Los Alamos. On one visit to Los Alamos he told Flatbread owner Clark Staub about his bread-making experiences. Clark gave Bob a copy of Chad Robertson’s book Tartine Bread and some sourdough starter. Bob says, “My bread came out amazing.” Even his brother said, “This is the best bread I’ve ever eaten.” That was the turning point.

He began experiments on how often to feed the starter and carefully observed differences when he made it in Los Angeles versus Los Alamos, in hot weather versus cold, on humid days versus dry. He developed his own techniques and began taking bread orders from friends.

When Prince William and Kate came to a charity event in Santa Barbara, Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis asked Bob to bake the bread for the event. He rented commercial kitchen space in Pasadena and with his brother’s help made and delivered 100 loaves of bread to the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club.

Bob started thinking maybe he should try using his marketing skills in this new venture, so he hired a consultant friend to help him put together a business plan. When Clark offered to let him bake at Full of Life Flatbread in exchange making breads for the restaurant, Bob began his current schedule of baking three days

a week. He also bakes for special events and has other regular customers such as Bell Street Farm, Café Quackenbush, Succulent Café and Trading Company and Trattoria Grappola.

On his map for the future is finding a location in Los Alamos to open his own bricks and mortar bakery to keep pace with demand. He also gets orders from tasting rooms in the area such as Casa Dumetz, Zaca Mesa, Palmina, Brander, Koehler and Curtis. He says, “This speaks to the authenticity of the Valley and the relationship between the bread and wine.” The breads and wine complement each other well and both the wine grapes and bread starter reflect the unique terroir of the Valley.

Becoming a bread baker isn’t what he had planned, but he says, “I enjoy the process, touching the dough and taking in its aroma, molding it into loaves and baking it. It’s magical when you make something with your own hands.”

Bob and Jane sold their house in Los Angeles and now live in Orcutt. Instead of fighting early morning Los Angeles traffic, he stokes the fire at Flatbread, makes himself a coffee and puts on a little jazz to prepare for a morning of making bread—tapping into the ancient art of mixing together flour, water and salt then baking it over fire.

A bread baker herself, Nancy Oster evaluates the quality of a restaurant by the bread they bring to the table. If asked the meaning of life, she would be likely to respond “bread… really good bread.”

WellBreadinLA.com 310 200-9194

Bob Oswaks in the Full of Life Flatbread kitchen.

Finding Harmony in the Natural Notes

How Winemakers Amplify the Vineyards’ Tune

by Laura Sanchez

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFFREY BLOOM

Winemaker Deborah Hall and I sat in her cellar last fall. With our ears pressed against the barrel heads we listened to the hive-like hum of fermenting grape juice. These sounds, we realized, represented more than the microbial magic of yeast converting sugars to alcohol. Each barrel had its own its own distinct resonance. And every snap, gurgle and fizz seemed to intone a primitive earthly melody.

This cellar chorus was once recorded by Austrian winemaker Willi Opitz, who produced a CD of his wines undergoing fermentation. The haunting compilation, a symphony of pings and blubs called “The Sound of Wine,” was inspired by Opitz’s grandfather who insisted that “Fermenting wine speaks to you of everything it has experienced during its year in the vineyard.”

Indeed, each year nature produces a different combination of acids, sugars, tannins and phenolics in grapes. This ratio is unique to every vineyard site, a product of the geology and climate. When these components are crushed and combined at harvest, it results in juice with inimitable characteristics specific to that year and place—a growth-cycle time capsule of sorts. These are the nuances inspired by the earth. These are the natural notes.

The terroir-driven wines produced in Santa Barbara County celebrate these natural notes. They echo the trills and bass notes of the vineyards they sprang from in a luscious mosaic of flavors and aromas.

Every wine that reaches your glass has been, to some degree, blended. It represents a confluence of juices—from one vineyard source or several, one grape variety or many—that have been fermented separately and comingled to create the sublime. The winemaker’s job, then, is to recognize these attributes and thoughtfully combine them to create a wine representative of vineyard and vintage, guiding the wine to play the natural notes in a way that is both harmonious and memorable.

But how they approach this task varies greatly, depending upon winemaking philosophy. Those who set out to reveal a sense of place tenderly balance authentic expression and stylistic expression, their goal being to let the purity of the notes resonate. And as a result, their wines often lead us back to the spot they were born, allowing us to savor the subtle influences of soil and sunshine with every sip. The following is a glimpse inside the blending processes of six Santa Barbara County winemakers who thoughtfully and successfully reflect the essence of the land in liquid form.

“We try to touch the wine as little as possible,” explains Trey Fletcher of Bien Nacido Vineyards of his quest for transparency. As a Pinot Noir producer, Fletcher’s approach eschews mixing and meddling in an effort to reveal the truest expression of the site. Instead, he elicits complexity through viticultural diversity. “The exciting thing for us is that we have these different soil

Trey Fletcher of Bien Nacido Vineyards.

types to work with and different clones. So we’re making terroir choices. We have some blocks that are higher in limestone. Others have a lot of shale or are a combination of the two. I have one block that has eight different clones in it,” Fletcher says. Rather than harvest separately and blend, he combines them early and lets the nuances marry to create an accurate expression of the vineyard.

Matt Dees of Jonata Winery shares this minimalintervention approach. “My role is to understand the property and find out how to best express it—to unlock and amplify what the vineyard needs to say,” he explains, adding that he sometimes envisions the fruit as the note, the vines as musicians and nature as the composer. “As winemakers, we’re probably more like the conductors in that we guide rather than control.”

In contrast to Fletcher’s single variety, Dees works with 13 different grape varieties grown in varying soil types on Jonata’s estate vineyards. He ferments them in different lots—sometimes more than 160—which he combines to produce wines that are texturally intriguing and deeply complex. “The important thing to recognize is that these wines aren’t an expression of what I think the vineyard should be. They are an expression of the vineyard. These are the notes that we’re given—the notes that speak of that place.”

The intricacy of those notes is apparent as we taste barrel samples of Jonata’s 2012 vintage. The Sangiovese smells like flowers and fresh fruit. On the palate it grips with tannins and seduces with savory herb flavors, dried fruit, and meatiness.

As we marvel at its duality, Dees explains that the wine’s shrill acidity and deep tones remind him of a jazz song, more specifically of Miles Davis on the trumpet, accompanied by Ron Carter on the upright bass. When we taste the 2012 Syrah, it’s sophisticated, dark and smoky, with rippling tannins that linger. “It’s sultry and soulful,” he explains, equating it to the polished timbre of Johnny Hartman’s voice with John Coltrane on saxophone. “The property gives us such a bounty of flavors to work with,” Dees says. And indeed, it’s hard to believe that the myriad of notes offered by these nascent wines represents only a fragment of what will one day be a multifaceted opus.

Clarissa Nagy works with the natural notes in a slightly different way. Nagy produces Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for Riverbench Vineyard and Winery as well as Viognier, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir and Syrah for her own C. Nagy label. She works with fruit from vineyard blocks that she has deliberately selected for their flavor profiles. “That way, I don’t do a lot of blending. Instead I try to reflect the flavors I see in those blocks and simply highlight them.” She cites distinct rose petal and Chinese Five Spice nuances that the 777 clone fruit from her block at Garey Ranch provides, as well as the citrus, Gold Rush apple and triple-crème brie notes that she’s discovered in Riverbench’s Chardonnay plantings. “It’s about working with these flavors and finding the optimum proportions that create synergy,” she says.

The purity of those notes is essential in the eyes of veteran winemaker Rick Longoria of Longoria Wines. “The quality of any wine comes down to one question: How special is your raw material?” he says. Longoria works with fruit from his Fe Ciega estate vineyard as well as other carefully selected vineyard sources. He feels that beautifully farmed, high-quality fruit doesn’t need a lot of stylistic embellishment—that in the right hands the notes should fall together easily and naturally.

Matt Dees of Jonata Winery.

Clarissa Nagy of Riverbench Vineyard and Winery.

In blending separate barrels, he visualizes each component—fruit flavors, acids and tannins—as a sphere of varying size which, in the ideal proportions, will align and meld into a seamless, beautifully balanced wine. For his Blues Cuvee, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec, he selects a remarkable lot as the core or backbone of the finished wine and thoughtfully adds in other components. “In blending we aim to elevate the intrinsic value of the wine,” he explains, adding that “wine A” plus “wine B” often yields a finished product that is better and more interesting than the individual components.

“Our wines are like minimalist music — like Górecki—that begins very quietly and gradually builds”—Matt Dees

“I seek to create wines that fall together effortlessly, that harmonize,” he says, sharing as an example the stylistic differences of blues guitarists Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac and Eric Clapton. “They’re both tremendous guitarists,” he says. “Clapton is brilliant. But he plays in a purposeful way, in a style that deliberately sets out to impress you. Peter plays fewer notes but with a natural fluidity that just leaves you breathless.”

While wines that are more heavily styled (over-oaked or containing residual sugar) may make a more forceful, in-yourface impact, Longoria’s are deliciously understated with an innate elegance and power that one might equate with flamenco guitar. “We all recognize when music is so well put together that it’s just inspiring and mind-blowing. That’s what I’m seeking to do with wine—create a balance that is so graceful and seamless that in a way it feels natural.”

Winemaker Paul Lato echoes this sentiment. His wines represent an elegant interpretation of the earth’s sonata. “I try to guide the wine toward where it wants to go. With my artist’s soul I try to interpret each vineyard to its best.” Lato spent 10 years as a sommelier in Toronto during which time he carefully defined the style of wines he produces—wines with alluring aromatics that engage with graceful fruit, texture and finesse. His 2009 Le Souvenir Chardonnay from Sierra Madre Vineyard is a beautiful example of his stylistic signature in the way that it swirls with fruit purity, minerality, vivacity and depth.

Lato’s time as a sommelier provided him with both tasting experience and stylistic maturity. “Blending is very instinctual,” he says. “It’s a matter of using your intuition and trusting it. That takes time.” To demonstrate the stylistic effect of experience, he shares two recordings of pianist Glenn Gould playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations—one as a young man in 1955 and another 26 years later. The early recording is precise and enjoyable. However, the later recording is achingly beautiful. It is slower, with fewer flourishes. There are breathing spaces between notes. “His touch is softer,” Lato notes. “He generates greater expression from each key strike, which is the ultimate goal in winemaking—to do more with the least amount of intervention. This is what I strive for.”

As we savor Lato’s 2009 Cine Sera Pinot Noir from Fiddlestix Vineyard, we listen to Bach’s cello suite played by Yo-Yo Ma, Rostropovich, Jacqueline du Pre and Mischa Maisky. “Give four musicians the same score and they will each interpret it differently,” he explains. And indeed, there are subtle differences in the way each cellist slides the bow across the strings. Their passion-inspired inflections captivate us in an intimate, personal way. So too with liquid expression, he says.

With regard to composition, winemaker Matthias Pippig of Sanguis Winery believes that wine should be two things: “It should be strong in character with a clear personality, and it should be balanced.” A life-long amateur artist, Pippig crafts wines that convey the essence of the vineyards he works with, yet also engage with intellectual succulence.

Right: Matthias Pippig of Sanguis Winery.

Each year Pippig names every barrel in his cellar according to its distinct personality and the year’s theme—ranging from popes, to porn stars, poisons and popular songs. When blending, he combines these vinous personalities in ways that create complexity and a tension of opposites. “You absolutely need tension to evoke an emotional response,” he asserts. “Without it, nothing is interesting.”

Sometimes, Pippig juxtaposes the bold, rich flavors of a dark and brooding barrel of Syrah with another that is more delicate, vibrant and youthful. He may co-ferment dark Syrah along with floral, feminine Viognier. While dedicated to the expression of each vineyard, he often employs site diversity to create complexity by pairing barrels from cooler sites with barrels from warmer climates to produce layers, high tones and low tones. The results are enigmatic combinations that refuse to follow the rules.

“Tension can also come from texture,” he adds as we taste his 2011 Out of Line, a blend of 95% Chardonnay, 4% Roussanne and 1% Viognier. The wine’s mouth-filling juiciness is beautifully framed by peripheral acidity. Pippig’s talent for contrast becomes even more apparent when we sample Verve, an experimental Grenache from Sebastiano Vineyard. “It tasted great on the vine but refused to ripen to proper sugar levels,” he says, “so we harvested and dried the fruit, stem and all like a vin de paille to bring up the sugars and concentrate the juice.” The wine opens with savory, gamey aromatics and unfurls with flavorful facets on the palate. The crescendos and lulls intersect its tannins, creating rhythmic interest, syncopations and downbeats.

Within this liquid framework, Pippig pushes the boundaries of balance and restores harmony in a dynamic surge and release that’s at once improvisational and captivating. “There’s a certain amount of improvisation each vintage,” he says. “We’ve come to accept that. In fact, we use it to create more dimensions to our wine.”

Listening to wine’s subtle rhythms and responding with both flexibility and patience is essential for Santa Barbara County’s terroir-focused winemakers. In adopting the pace of nature, they ensure that their wines are both profoundly resonant and reflective of their vineyard origins. “Our wines are like minimalist music—like Górecki—that begins very quietly and gradually builds,” explains Matt Dees. “We can taste through them in January and our top 20 lots will be our bottom 20 in August. We wait for flavors to fully develop so that we can see the true expression of every note.”

This patience is often rewarded with unexpected beauty. This year Rick Longoria delayed bottling his 2011 Longoria Bien Nacido Pinot Noir for three months in order to let it evolve. The results are deliciously poetic. “As wine ages its melodic composition changes,” Longoria explains. “Time lets flavors mellow and integrate so that the notes fall into place. That’s the enigma of winemaking. It’s often what you don’t do that creates harmony.”

Wine writer Laura Sanchez openly admits that she can lose herself within a sip of wine as easily as she can amid a measure of music or a myriad of brushstrokes. Laura@Nectar-Media.com

Breaking into Bread At New Vineland

by Marne Setton

PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRAN COLLIN

Winemaking and bread baking are similar pursuits. Both are nearly as old as civilization itself, with weighty histories and production traditions that date back thousands of years. Both are elemental. Both are associated with religious sacraments. And yeast-inspired fermentation is crucial in both processes.

So it was perhaps inevitable that Sashi Moorman, a wine hero here on the Central Coast, and his long-time friend restaurateur Peter Pastan decided to convert the space behind their Lompoc tasting room into a bakery.

It is usually possible to sniff out a working winery. The pungent smell of wine lees—the dead yeast and sediment that falls to the bottom of a wine barrel during fermentation—is pervasive and hangs like an acrid cloud around wineries. But if you happen to be standing outside Piedrasassi/New Vineland Winery in the Lompoc Wine Ghetto, you are bowled over not by the smell of lees but by the much more pleasant aroma of baking bread.

I experienced it firsthand when I stopped by to sample the loaves I’d been hearing folks rave about.

Inside, Kate Heller, a young, flour-smudged bread-maker, handed me more paper bags full of warm, just-baked loaves than I could possible carry, much less eat. (Bread bakers are a notoriously generous lot.) The bread Kate bakes at New Vineland Bread, as the bakery side of the winery is known, is exquisite: Naturally leavened using wild yeasts, it has a dark, easily-shattered crust and an irregular, lacey, open-crumb interior. It tastes like bread should taste—like fresh wheat—and it has a very slight nutty tang from the acids produced during its long fermentation.

Similar to the way vintners name their wines after specific grape varietals, New Vineland bakery names its breads after the strain of wheat predominant in each loaf. And, like a bottle of wine, each loaf tells a story about how it came to be.

The Red Fife, for instance, was made from wheat grown on land just miles away, in Ballard Canyon. The wheat berries were

Above: Kate Heller. Opposite, from left: Kate Heller, Chester (the poodle), Sashi Moorman, Jacob Grant of Roots Farms (on tractor), Melissa Sorongon and Juliet (Sashi's and Melissa's daughter). Taken at the wheat fields they share with Jacob on Ballard Canyon Road.

cleaned up the street at a Lompoc seed mill, ground into flour on-site at the bakery and kneaded by Kate’s expert hands along with water, yeast and a little salt. Then the loaves are slid into a 550° wood-fired oven that was built for New Vineland by Turtlerock Masonry in Vermont. It’s a labor-intensive process that’s indicative of the same level of craft and attention to detail that Sashi Moorman, the winemaker at Piedrasassi/New Vineland, puts into his wine.

Piedrasassi/New Vineland Winery has been producing small batches of mostly Rhône varietals since 2003. Their intense and vibrant Syrahs are a standout in the Ghetto as is their Sangiovese dessert wine, a blend of Syrah and a raisin wine made from dried Sangiovese grapes. “The winery has informed the bakery and the bakery has informed the winery,” says Sashi.

Drawing an interesting parallel and eloquently illustrating their uphill battle, he adds that “trying to make great bread with low-protein flour and a wood-fired oven is like trying to win a race with a VW bus.” Sashi and Kate, under the advisement of Peter Pastan, are unwilling to compromise their bread’s taste for efficiency. They’re baking with challenging low-protein/low-gluten flours that demand more skill from the bread-maker but create loaves with complex flavor profiles. And whereas some bakeries rely on steam-injected ovens to add height to their loaves in the first stages of baking, the crew at New Vineland Bakery opted for a traditional wood-fired oven, which maintains a much higher and more consistent heat than a gas or electric oven and creates breads with beautiful mahogany crusts.

Sashi, who moved to Bethesda, Maryland, when he was 15 years old, has known Peter Pastan since he was a freshman in college. Newly in love with working behind the scenes in restaurants—“there’s a smell in kitchens,” Sashi tells me wistfully—he begged Peter to give him a job at his Washington, DC, restaurant Obelisk. And baker Kate Heller has known Peter since she was a child. While in high school in DC, she worked at Peter’s Neopolitan pizza joint.

Though Kate admits to having no formal bread-baking experience before starting at Piedrasassi/New Vineland a few years ago, she has a long-running soft spot for wood-fired

ovens: She’s built several small ovens from cob, a sort of plaster made from sand and clay, once almost convincing her parents to let her build one in their urban Washington, DC, backyard. They didn’t bite.

Sashi’s wife, Melissa Sorongon, talked to me about the peculiar joys and challenges of getting bread to market in this area. In order to be sold at the Santa Barbara Farmers Markets, they learned they had to not only bake the bread within the confines of the county but the wheat they used to bake the bread needed to be Santa Barbara County–grown.

Not to be deterred, they found unused land on a vineyard in Ballard Canyon and planted nine acres of the grain. Down the street from the Wine Ghetto, off Sweeney Road in Lompoc, they planted four more acres. Though they consulted the California Wheat Commission for guidance in their endeavor, there was plenty of trial and error as new wheat farmers. They tried several strains of wheat to find ones that worked: Red Wing, Durum, Sonora Wheat and Red Fife.

Early in the summer of 2011 they harvested their first wheat crop, and days before I met with Kate and Melissa they presented their very first Santa Barbara bread to the farmers

Kate Heller grinds their Santa Barbara County-grown wheat on-site at the bakery. Opposite: the process of making their bread—from wheat to flour to dough to bread.

market board. They received approval and now, in addition to their bread CSA, you can buy these superb, darkly crusted and über-local breads at the Friday Montecito farmers market and the Sunday Ojai farmers market.

Zoning laws in Lompoc proved another challenge. The city is restricting food service in the Wine Ghetto, effectively prohibiting the sale of bread—or any other kind of food—from the Piedrasassi tasting room. “The town is changing in a lot of ways,” says Melissa. “Zoning issues are hot right now as adjustments are made to accommodate the growing wine industry in Lompoc.” Those struggles are perfectly reflected in the winery’s ironic name: The City of Lompoc was once a temperance colony known as New Vineland.

Despite or maybe because of the hurdles, Sashi Moorman remains steadfastly philosophical about all of it, and steadfastly a wine enthusiast. “To me food is a vehicle for wine. I always look at a wine list first and then decide what to eat.”

He believes that “when wine is perfect, cellared perfectly from a great vintage, served perfectly…” As he leaves that sentence unfinished and gazes off into the middle distance, he adds another thought about perfection.

“When we started out, Kate told me she wanted to make beautiful bread, like Tartine’s,” he says. “But I told her, ‘Don’t chase someone else’s idea of perfection—beat them.’”

Very good advice and, frankly, I’m pulling for this crew: It’s very nice to have bread this good, this close to home. Tartine is a really long drive.

Marne Setton is a freelance food writer based on the Central Coast. Before her recent move back to her home state, she was an editor at Saveur magazine in New York.

Above: Kate Heller uses Passito Sangiovese dried grapes to make the traditional Tuscan bread Schiacciata. It's a saltless bread dough, rolled thin and topped with grapes, olive oil from Stolpman, fennel seeds, a little sea salt and sugar.

AGrapeseeds and Vinotherapy The Grape’s Hidden Treasure

by Nancy Oster

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN FEINBLATT

A Caribbean Adventure

Their story begins in 1999, when Kristin and Peter met in Boston. They both love the water, Kristin as a competitive swimmer and Peter as a sailor on his 30-foot sloop. And both enjoy diving and surfing. As they got to know each other better, they decided to take a break from their chosen career paths and sail the Caribbean together. Their journey was one part adventure and two parts education.

During those next two years they intentionally kept their carbon footprint small. Most of their food came from the ocean— fishing with lines or spears and diving for conch and lobster. They carried some dry goods and grew sprouts for their greens. Their 15-horsepower outboard motor was not large enough to charge batteries so they installed solar panels for energy.

Water was precious. Their 50-gallon tank sometimes had to last at least a week, so saltwater baths were frequent and rainwater collectors supplemented their water supply. A whole day on land might be spent filling jugs of water (one bucket at a time) from the town well to take back to the boat. They had no refrigeration. Trash was minimal but carried with them until it could be

s I drive the winding roads through the back hills of Santa Barbara on a fall afternoon, I reach the crest of a small hill. An artist’s palette of colors—reds, oranges, golds, browns and greens—paints the landscape in front of me. One golden vineyard here, a crimson one over there, they appear like blocks of a quilt resting on the hills. Up closer, I see sun-lit clusters of ripe grapes hanging from the vines.

While it’s easy to recognize the potential for Santa Barbara grapes to produce delicious, award-winning wines, what many don’t realize is that the bark, leaves, grape skins and seeds of these beautiful vines are all valuable sources of nourishing protective antioxidants.

I’ve only recently learned about grapeseeds—the grape’s hidden treasure—from Kristin Fraser Cotte. In 2004 Kristin and her husband, Peter Cotte, started the Grapeseed Company, a beauty product business that uses local grapeseeds and grapeseed oil as a primary ingredient. Grapeseeds are a byproduct of winemaking and are often discarded or used as compost.

Above: whole grapeseeds and ground grapeseeds.

a batch of body butter is whipped up in a KitchenAid mixer.

The Dream of an Eco-Friendly Business

Kristin says, “Dreaming and imagining ‘what if’ occupied many hours at sea.” A frequent topic was what type of eco-friendly business they could start that would be creative and fun.

Kristin had taken along some books on aromatherapy and handcrafting soaps and lotions. Lemon Joy dishwashing detergent works well with salt water so it’s often a pantry staple for washing everything on the boat, but it was not her soap of choice for hair and skin. “There are over 500 islands in the Bahamas,” she says, “but not a lot of islands with stores selling shampoo or soap.” She did find some islanders making products with coconut oil and a Caribbean spice shop in the British Virgin Islands inspired further study and experimentation on the boat.

Her success using the oils and plants she picked up along the way fueled her passion for developing pure, simple skin care formulas that protected her skin from constant exposure to sun, salt and wind.

Then in 2002, on the island of Tortola, Peter asked Kristin to marry him, and they began to make plans for their move back to the mainland.

The Grapeseed Discovery

They each made a list of the top three places they’d like to live. Kristin says, “We wanted warm weather, good surf and a good graduate program for Peter.” After a short visit to the West Coast, Santa Barbara became their choice.

Kristin got a job at Hollister School as a resource specialist and Peter as a PE teacher in Goleta for the remaining part of the school year, and then Peter began his master’s degree work at UCSB. He also took a part-time job as a wine country bicycle tour guide. Meanwhile Kristin was still passionately whipping up scrubs, lotions and soaps in their kitchen and sharing them with appreciative friends.

While bicycling through vineyards on his wine tours, Peter noticed piles of discarded grapeseeds lying on the ground. He told Kristin about them. With a little research she discovered that grapeseeds are rich in antioxidants including resveratrol, a plantderived polyphenol reputed to protect cell membranes and have anti-inflammatory properties. Antioxidants help prevent damage to healthy cells done by free radicals. Grapeseeds also contain vitamins A, C and E. The light oil pressed from grapeseeds absorbs easily and is used to moisturize and tone the skin.

She learned about vinotherapy spas in France that use grapeseed-based products in their treatments. Classic vinotherapy includes exfoliating grapeseed scrubs, grapeseed oil massages, grapeseed extract baths (sometimes in a wine barrel) and wraps made with honey and grapeseed oil.

The Grapeseed Company

Kristin used a coffee mill to grind up some grapeseeds in her kitchen. When she hand-mixed the seeds into a scrub, she realized that a skin care line using ground seeds and oil pressed from local grapeseeds was exactly the eco-friendly business that she and Peter had envisioned. So with $1,000, they launched the Grapeseed Company in 2004. Offering the first vinotherapy line in the United States, Kristin began selling her bath and body

products at the Sunday Santa Barbara Arts & Craft Show on the beach and online through her website.

For the first five years she made the products in her home kitchen, moving a few times to places with larger kitchens. The business gradually expanded to take up two bedrooms, the garage and attic. Today she has two shops, one in Santa Barbara and a production facility and shop in Carpinteria.

At the Santa Barbara shop you can customize your own signature fragrance for many of her vinotherapy products. I created my own roll-on perfume at the Scent Bar, choosing from a collection of over 50 essential and fragrance oils. With the help of sales manager Rachel Nobles I settled on equal parts clary sage and tangerine essential oils. My friend Lucy Thomas custom blended three essential oils—two parts lemongrass to one part each clary sage and litsea for her body lotion.

The shop’s shelves are stocked with Kristin’s bath and body products featuring her seven classic and five vineyard fragrances. She also has baby products, belly balm for pregnant moms and men’s shaving products. Surf, her Labrador, inspired a line of Dirty Dog Organics to keep his coat soft and fresh-smelling. Surf visited the shop while I was there, easily convincing me that Carob, my chocolate Lab, would benefit from their aloe and lavender–based shampoo.

Kristin Fraser Cotte of the Grapeseed Company.

The Carpinteria location is a production warehouse, with a small shop at the front. If you peek through the door from the shop, you’ll see KitchenAid mixers on the counter and the long table where staff members like Bree Wright work alongside Kristin to mix up bath salts, pour soy candles, make vineyard soaps, grind grapeseeds and package up online orders for shipping.

Kristin says her shop sales staff learn about the products by helping to make them. This engages them, encourages them to feel like they are a part of the growing company and gives them a hands-on way of becoming more knowledgeable about the products.

Kristin’s fragrances are light, refreshing and uplifting. Standing over a batch of Surf Foot Scrub or Sunshine Day Bath Salts as it mixes is a special treat. However, staff member Katie Prakash warns me that it’s best to avoid mixing the Lemon Cake scented items when you are hungry.

Managing Growth and Keeping It Local

The company has grown at a frenetic pace this year. Online and walk-in sales have increased. One product Kristin made the day I visited was wrap mixture for a vinotherapy spa, sold under their private label. She says, “Our wholesale distribution to spas is growing rapidly.” TJX Group has contracted six products to sell in their TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Home Sense and Winners stores in the U.S. and Canada. Receiving industry recognition for her unique business model, Kristin was invited last April to speak in Barcelona at In-Cosmetics, the largest cosmetics ingredients conference in the world. She spoke about growing businesses that focus on a local ingredient. And this year the Grapeseed Company will have a table at the Oscars.

This is all good, but as volume increases Kristin is looking at ways to keep the production and ingredients such as the grapeseeds, honey and herbs local. She points out that grapeseeds are a seasonal crop and she has to anticipate her needs for the whole year. Last year she used 50 pounds of seeds for scrubs, masks, and soaps and 500 gallons of grapeseed oil. As the company grows, cash flow needs become greater. They have never taken a loan. They’ve grown through reinvestment and a lot of hard work.

Kristin says that creating new products and handcrafting small batches with her workers is what she enjoys the most. She defines success by the quality of her products and ecofriendliness of her business model, not the volume of sales.

Not surprisingly, Kristin Fraser Cotte loves to cook. We agree that making body products is like cooking without the calories. Not only is Kristin creative but she is generous as well. She shares the following recipes for you to make up in your own kitchen using fresh local ingredients.

Honey Brown Sugar Lip Scrub

Even as her company expands to include national and international sales, Kristin plans to maintain the local roots of production and administration. “I will continue to make smaller batches in-house by hiring more people from the community to help,” she says. Keeping her footprint local and making use of local resources that might otherwise be overlooked or underused, that’s what it’s all about.

Since making her first batch of real soap, Nancy Oster has developed a strong appreciation for body products made from simple, pure, skinnourishing ingredients. She is grateful to Kristin Fraser Cotte for making products with ingredients that are good for the body inside and out.

1 tablespoon organic brown sugar

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

1 teaspoon local honey

1 ⁄4 teaspoon of aloe vera gel

A few drops of baking flavoring, if you desire (vanilla, peppermint, orange or almond extract)

Mix ingredients together in a small bowl with a spoon and scoop into a small container for future use. Apply to your lips with fingertips or a soft toothbrush with gentle, circular motions, then rinse.

An array of ingredients used in making your own body products.

Luscious Lavender Almond

Honey Facial

11 ⁄ 2 tablespoons almond meal

1 teaspoon lavender buds

1 teaspoon honey (such as a local avocado blossom honey)

11 ⁄ 2 to 2 teaspoons grapeseed oil

5 to 10 drops of lavender essential oil

Mill lavender buds in a coffee grinder or herb mill and mix in almond flour. Add honey, oil and essential oil and mix thoroughly. Add a bit more grapeseed oil to thin the mask if needed. Drape a washcloth soaked in hot water on your face for 1 minute. Remove and apply mixture evenly, like a mask.

Relax for 10 to 15 minutes. Gently massage into your skin in upward, circular motions over your entire face for 1 to 2 minutes. Rinse thoroughly.

Chocolate Scrub

1 cup organic brown sugar

1 ⁄4 cup grapeseed oil

1 ⁄4 cup plain or vanilla organic yogurt

1 tablespoon organic cocoa powder

15 drops vanilla essential oil

Mix brown sugar and cocoa powder in a small bowl with a spatula, then add yogurt, oil and vanilla oil and blend until smooth. Massage your warm, damp skin from the feet up with gentle, upward circular motions, then rinse. Any remaining scrub can be saved in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Resources

You can follow Kristin’s progress on her Green Skin Care blog and read about her latest research into beauty product ingredients and trends at Personal Care Truth: Information Based on Scientific Facts.

TheGrapeseedCompany.com 805 456-3655

GreenSkinCareBlog.com PersonalCareTruth.com

Flagship Store and Scent Bar 201 W. Carrillo St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Monday–Saturday 10:30am–5:30pm

Retail Store and Production Facility 4193 Carpinteria Ave. #9, Carpinteria, CA 93013

Specializing in Local, Seasonal, Organic, Pesticide Free Produce, Local Grass-fed Meats, Poultry and Fresh Fish

Subscriptions start at just $26.50/per box. You control your produce box delivery via our website!

• Delivery options include weekly or every other week

• Freedom to suspend your delivery

• Weekly billing and various box sizes available

Check Out Our New Drive-Up Juice and Coffee Bar, Rori’s Ice Cream, Fresh Produce and More!

New Plow to Porch Express: 5329 Calle Real (just off North Patterson Ave.) • 805 895-7171

Plow to Porch Market: 3204 State St., Santa Barbara www.plowtoporch.com

“Where Every Goat Has a Name” DrakeFamilyFarms.com “Liquid Nutrition from the Ground Up” VibrantEarthJuices.com

Extra Virgin – Cold Pressed Estate Grown in California JoelleOil.com

Good for You. Better for the Farmer. Best for the Planet. GreenStarCoffee.com

The Wine Infused Cooking with

an Extraordinary Ingredient

by Pascale Beale

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN FEINBLATT

Poached/Roasted White Fish with Meyer Lemons and White Wine.

The house was nondescript. It stood squashed between its neighbors on a narrow street in a small, unpretentious village in a very remote part of the French countryside. I wondered why we were stopping here but was assured by my father that this was a requisite stop of the utmost importance.

We were ushered into the salon—a slightly stale room at the front of the house. The owner’s wife stood by during the introductions, before being dismissed by her husband. As soon as she was gone he got down on his knees and rolled back the worn carpet that covered most of the wooden floorboards. He reached for a latch in the floor and opened up a huge trap door.

“I’ll be right back,” he muttered and disappeared down an ancient ladder into the bowels of the house. Minutes passed. We heard the odd thud. He reappeared with cobwebs attached to his beret (yes, he was wearing one), cradling a very dusty bottle which he reverently placed on a sideboard. He closed the trap door, rolled back the carpet and summoned his wife to bring the glasses.

The men exchanged looks of anticipation. The owner opened the bottle with great care, held it up to the light and then poured into the waiting glasses. It looked like liquid gold. Its hue was the color of rich honey. It shone in the filtered sunlight. The man raised his glass and made a toast. My father tasted the wine and smiled knowingly. He looked at me and said, “Taste this—a sip—you’ll remember this for the rest of your life.” I took the glass and sipped the wine. The extraordinary, rich liquid startled me. It tasted as though it were filled with roasted fruit and flowers. It was a very rare Sauternes. I was 9 years old.

The owner’s wife bought in a fine duck liver pâté, which was served on plain toast as an accompaniment to the wine. The combination of the two was perfect. Suddenly all of the conversations I had heard about food and wine made sense. When well-paired, they were wonderful.

I realize now that wine played a central part in many of the dishes and desserts we grew up with. Coq au vin, Boeuf Bourguignon, Boeuf en Daube, French onion soup, Baba au Rhum, Bananes Flambé and Crêpe Suzette to name a few. A few years into my cooking in earnest I started using wine to deglaze pans in which roasts had been cooked, as I had seen my mother and grandmother do. This was a simple way to get a good sauce out of all those tasty brown bits that were in the bottom of the pan. I learned (the hard way) that using the right amount of wine and letting it cook out the alcohol were crucial to having a good sauce. Too much wine, and it drowned the flavors; not cooking it enough left an unpleasant taste and bitterness in the dish. After drowning a few fish and overpowering a couple of roasted chickens I finally got the hang of it and picked up some useful tips about cooking with wine along the way.

One of the most important is not to use cheap wine in a sauce or dish (i.e., a wine you wouldn’t think of drinking). It will taste like cheap wine. That being said, nor do you need some ruinously expensive wine to make your dish successful. Cooking with wine enhances and complements the food, whether you’re using it in a marinade (the acidic nature of wine and its tannins will tenderize tough cuts of meat), as part of a cooking liquid (as the wine evaporates its flavor will be concentrated and complement the ingredients) or to flavor a finished dish (often a dessert that is set alight or has a fortified wine that soaks into it, such as a Baba au Rhum).

The alcohol in the wine is not what imparts flavor, rather it helps release flavors in the food you’re cooking. (Extracts such as vanilla and almond use alcohol for that very reason). Because of this, using the right wine for the right dish is important. White meats such as poultry and fish are enhanced by lighter reds or white wines. Red meats are complemented by more robust red

Spring Salad with Goat Cheese Crostini and a Red Wine-Balsamic Vinaigrette.

wines. Vegetables are wonderful braised with white wine such as a Sauvignon Blanc and mushrooms can be magnificent served with a reduction made from port or a fruity red. Pears, citrus fruit and vanilla pair well with dessert wines. Reds tend to complement berries, oranges and chocolate.

Cooking with wine is not a new phenomenon. Ancient Roman texts are filled with recipes that used wines to enhance their dishes. Reductions and braises abounded in Medieval kitchens and fortified or spiced wines have even been used as rations for troops in multiple wars. The key to wine-infused dishes is using a judicious hand to extract the wine’s essence.

Last spring I came across a particularly fragrant crop of apricots at the farmers market and got slightly carried away. After making an apricot tart, some jam and roasting Cornish hens with them there were still a few left. I had some late-harvest Riesling at home and poached the fruit with some spices. I spooned the fruit and accompanying liquid into a small glass bowl. Something about the color looked familiar. As soon as I took the first bite I was transported back to that village in France. The apricots echoed that Sauternes. As I savored every morsel a film ran through my mind of all the dishes created with Sauternes that I had been fortunate to taste over the years. My father was right—I had never forgotten that wine.

Pascale Beale grew up in England and France surrounded by a family that has always been passionate about food, wine and the arts. She was taught to cook by her French mother and grandmother. She is the author of A Menu for All Seasons—Spring, A Menu for All Seasons—Summer, A Menu for All Seasons—Fall and A Menu for All Seasons—Winter. Visit her website at PascalesKitchen.com.

Recipes

Spring Salad with Goat Cheese

Crostini and a Red Wine-Balsamic Vinaigrette

Makes 8 servings

FOR THE VINAIGRETTE

1 ⁄ 3 cup red wine (such as a Merlot or Zinfandel)

1 ⁄ 3 balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons golden raisins

3 tablespoon olive oil

Pinch salt

Pepper FOR THE SALAD AND CROSTINI

6 ounces mixed salad greens—try to add some leaves that are a little peppery (such as arugula, dandelion or watercress)

16 small thin slices baguette or olive bread, toasted

Goat cheese

Place the red wine and balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan over low heat. Let the mixture reduce by two thirds—this will take about 15 to 20 minutes. At the halfway stage, add in the golden raisins and make sure they are submerged. Stir the ingredients occasionally. Once the mixture has thickened, set it aside to cool. Strain the reduced wine/vinegar mixture into a small bowl and set aside. Reserve the golden raisins.

In a small bowl whisk together 1 tablespoon of the red wine/ vinegar reduction with 3 tablespoons olive oil (save the remaining reduction for the crostini). Add in a pinch of salt and a touch of pepper. Pour this vinaigrette into the bottom of a medium-sized salad bowl and place serving utensils over the vinaigrette.

Add the salad greens on top of the utensils to keep the greens from soaking in the vinaigrette, and set aside.

Place a little goat cheese on top of each slice of toast. Add a few golden raisins on top of the goat cheese and drizzle a little of the reduction over each toast.

Toss the salad so that the ingredients are well combined and divide it equally amongst eight plates. Place a couple of the crostini on each plate alongside the salad.

Poached/Roasted White Fish with Meyer Lemons and White Wine

Makes 6–8 servings

Olive oil

3 shallots, peeled and diced

4 green onions, very thinly sliced

2 cups white wine (such as a Sauvignon Blanc)

2 tablespoons chives, finely chopped

1 tablespoon dill, finely chopped

1 tablespoon butter

Pinch salt

Black pepper

Juice of 1 lemon

2 pounds white fish (halibut or sea bass work well), filets cut into 1 ⁄4 to 1 ⁄ 2 inch-thick slices (you are creating petals of fish)

3 Meyer lemons, very thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Pour a little olive oil into a medium-sized saucepan placed over medium heat. Add the shallots and green onions, the salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 to 6 minutes. The shallots should be soft and translucent. Add the wine and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes. It should have reduced by 50% to 60%. Add the butter and let it melt. Then stir in the chives and dill. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Pour the lemon juice into a shallow baking dish. Place the fish slices into the dish. You will probably have two rows of fish in the dish. Carefully insert slices of Meyer lemon between the fish slices. They do not have to go in-between every slice; every third or fourth slice is fine. The slices should overlap slightly.

Sprinkle a little salt over the fish. Put the white wine/herb mixture over the fish. Cover the roasting dish with parchment and then with foil.Place the dish in the center of the oven and poach/roast for 12 minutes.

Serve the fish (including the edible lemon slices) and juices on warmed plates. This is delicious served with wilted spinach or sautéed greens such as chard or kale.

Poached Apricots in Late-Harvest Riesling

Makes 8 servings

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

3 cardamom pods, slightly crushed

Zest of 1 lemon

16–24 apricots, halved (if they are large then use 2 per person)

2 cups late-harvest Riesling (or other dessert wine)

1 tablespoon honey

Créme fraîche

cook so that they are covered in the sugar and start to get a little browned—this only takes a couple of minutes.

Pour the wine and honey into the saucepan and let the apricots poach in the liquid for 10 minutes. If the apricots are very ripe 5 minutes will be sufficient. Remove the pan from the stove. Using a slotted spoon remove the apricots from the wine and place them in individual bowls. Return the saucepan with the wine to the stove and simmer for a further 5 minutes to thicken. Spoon some of the wine over the apricots and serve with a dollop of crème fraîche.

Tips for Cooking with Wine

• If you have any wine left over in a bottle, pour it into an ice cube tray and freeze it. You can then put the ice cubes into a zip-lock bag and take one out when you need to deglaze a pan or a little wine for a particular dish.

• Avoid bottles labeled “cooking wine.” They contain a lot of salt and additives.

Place the butter in a saucepan that is large enough to hold all the apricots and melt it over medium heat. Add in the sugar and cardamom pods and cook for 1 minute. Add in the apricots and

• The cooking of wine does reduce the alcohol content but not completely. Simmering wine for 30 minutes will reduce the alcohol content by about 50%; flambé a dish and it will reduce by about 25%.

Use pans or skillets with nonreactive surfaces when cooking with wine. Its acidic nature will react and cause discoloration if used in aluminum pans.

SANTA BARBARA, CA

SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2013 3 - 6 p.m.

General Admission $75/$85 at the door

VIP $100/$125 at the door

For more information visit TasteOfTheNation.org or call 877.26TASTE

PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS

Anchor Woodfire Kitchen, Bacara Resort and Spa, Bella Vista at the Four Seasons Biltmore, Coast Restaurant at The Canary Hotel, Jessica Foster Confections, Marmalade Café, Montecito Country Club, New West Catering, Olio e Limone Ristorante

CITY, STATE

Alma Rosa, Ampelos cellars, Beckmen Vineyards. Brander Vineyard, Buttonwood Farm Winery, Carr Vineyards & Winery, Demetria Estate, Dierberg and Star Lane Vineyard, Dragonette Cellars, Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards, Naked Grape, Oreana Winery, Tercero Wines, Vino V Wines, Whitcraft Winery

PARTICIPATING BREWERIES

Firestone Walker Brewery, Island Brewing Company

CITY, STATE

MARCH

SATURDAY MARCH 16

Los Alamos Third Saturday Evening Stroll

5–8pm, downtown Los Alamos

The Los Alamos merchants on Bell Street invite everyone to join the fun and experience Los Alamos community charm first hand with its new Third Saturdays program. Downtown businesses will all have a special theme. Ongoing. For more information call 805 344-1900.

APRIL

SATURDAY APRIL 20

Foxen Winery Winemakers Dinner

Alisal Guest Ranch, Solvang

Join the Foxen winemakers and their wives for a fun evening at the Alisal Guest Ranch during Vintners’ Festival Weekend. Reservations: 805 937-4251. FoxenVineyard.com

SPRING EDIBLE EVENTS

MARCH

13–17

Taste of Solvang

Since 1993 Solvang has celebrated its rich culinary and cultural heritage with the Taste of Solvang Food & Wine Festival featuring local desserts, delicacies, wines and live entertainment. Advance ticket purchases are highly recommended and can be made online at SolvangUSA. com or call 800 719-9106 to purchase by phone.

SUNDAY APRIL 7

Earth Month Herb Garden Tour

10:30am at Buttonwood Winery, Solvang

Join Abel Navarro and Lupe Flores on a tour of Buttonwood’s herb and flower garden. Finish with herb-infused appetizers paired with Buttonwood wine. Everyone will go home with a potted herb plant and some herb and wine recipes. $20. Reservations required. 805 688-3032. ButtonwoodWinery.com

APRIL 20–21

Earth Day Festival

Saturday 11am–7pm; Sunday 11am–6pm; Alameda Park, Santa Barbara

The Community Environmental Council Earth Day Festival is the signature annual event for the region’s environmental organizations, including Edible Santa Barbara. Food, music and demos. Free. For more info visit SBEarthDay.org

WEDNESDAY MARCH 20

Paella Night

Cava Restaurant & Bar, Montecito

A weekly (every Wednesday) event. A 3-course Spanish dinner is offered and includes a glass of house-made Sangria or Segura Viudas Brut Cava and live flamenco guitar. $35. For reservations call 805 969-8500. CavaRestaurant.com

WEDNESDAY APRIL 10

Off the Hook: A Taste of Local Santa Barbara Seafood

7pm, location: TBD

Santa Barbara’s first CSF, Community Seafood is having a special 6-course dinner featuring locally caught Santa Barbara seafood with local wine pairings, prepared by four contributing local chefs. For tickets and more info, visit CommunitySeafood.com

SATURDAY APRIL 20

Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Festival

1–4pm at Mission Santa Ines, Solvang

More than 100 vintners pouring their latest releases of the 54-plus varietals of wine grown in the county. Wine country cuisine and music, in the original location this year. For more info and to buy tickets, visit SBCountyWines.com

MARCH

16–17

Edible Institute

Mar Monte Hotel/Hyatt, Santa Barbara

Edible Communities presents Edible Institute—a weekend of talks, presentations, workshops and local food & wine tastings by some of the local food movement’s most influential thinkers, writers and producers. EdibleInstitute.com

SATURDAY MARCH 30

Annual Easter Egg Hunt

11am & 2pm at Riverbench Vineyards & Winery, Santa Maria

An annual, family friendly Easter Egg Hunt. Be sure to arrive on time as the hunts start promptly. Kids who find eggs hidden outside on our grounds will be awarded candies, including chocolate bunnies. Cost: Included with $10 tasting fee; free for children. 805 937-8340; Riverbench.com

SATURDAY APRIL 13

Hike with your Dog in the Vineyard

10am–1pm at Zaca Mesa Winery Winemaker Eric Mohseni will lead a walk through the vineyard with your dogs. Enjoy a gentle hike and a vineyard picnic lunch with Zaca Mesa wine. Doggie bags and water provided. $50. To RSVP or ask questions, call Kori 805 688-9339 x314. ZacaMesa.com

TUESDAY APRIL 23

Edible Santa Barbara Supper Club 6:30pm at Avant, 35 Industrial Way, Buellton

The Supper Club brings together a small group of people for prix fixe dinners at one of the restaurants in our Dining Guide. Join us for this special dinner with Chef Brooke Stockwell at Avant. For details and tickets visit the Events section on EdibleSantaBarbara.com

WEDNESDAY MAY 1

Evening with the Winemakers

MAY

SATURDAY MAY 18

Chicken Dinner at Bell Street Farm

6pm at Bell Street Farm, Los Alamos

On the third Saturday of each month, enjoy a prix-fixe chicken dinner at Bell Street Farm. Endless antipasti bar, complete family-style rotisserie chicken dinner, cookie plate or affogato! $40 per person, plus tax and gratuity. For reservations, call 805 344-4609; BellStreetFarm.com. Ongoing.

JUNE

5–7pm at Los Olivos Cafe in Los Olivos

Meet Andrew Murray of Andrew Murray Wine and Ryan Roark of Roark Wine Co. and taste their lineup of exceptional wines. $25 (not including tax) includes light hors d’oeuvres. Reservations suggested, call 805 688-7265 ext. 203 or email wine@BuySantaBarbaraWine.com

SATURDAY MAY 11

Wine Blending Class

10am at Zaca Mesa Winery

Blend your own GSM (Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre blend) with winemaker Eric Mohseni and enjoy a picnic lunch. You’ll take your blended creation home. $60 per person. To RSVP or ask questions, call Kori 805 688-9339 x314. ZacaMesa.com

WEDNESDAY JUNE 5

International Wine Region

Education Night: Spain

6 –7pm at Los Olivos Cafe in Los Olivos Lead sommelier Matt Williams will conduct an educational class on the wines of Spain, as you sample vintages that highlight the terroir, climate and varieties. $25, plus tax; includes light hors d’oeuvres. Reservations suggested, call 805 688-7265 ext. 203 or email wine@BuySantaBarbaraWine.com

SATURDAY MAY 18

Zaca Mesa Winery 40th

Anniversary Celebration

11am–4pm at Zaca Mesa Winery

Enjoy the history of Zaca Mesa, wine education, barrel samples, new release wines, food, live music and winery tours. 805 688-9339; ZacaMesa.com

SUNDAY MAY 19

Taste of the Nation

6pm; Montecito Country Club

Guests will enjoy tastings from an array of select wines and special dishes prepared by over 25 of Santa Barbara’s top restaurants. Supporting Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger. Proceeds benefit the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County. Tickets: $65 or $75 at the door. For more info visit Strength.org/santabarbara

SATURDAY MAY 11

Buellton Brew Fest

Over 40 craft breweries will be featured along with music, food and fun. Advance tickets will be available for purchase starting March 1–April 30 for $35. After May 1 the price will go up to $45. Proceeds benefit Buellton Chamber of Commerce. More information is at BuelltonBrewFest.com

THURSDAY MAY 23

Open Bottle Night: Santa Rita Hills

6pm at Los Olivos Cafe, Los Olivos

Guests will bring a bottle of wine ($30 and up from the Sta. Rita Hills) to share with other guests (no corkage fee). A special $29 three-course menu will be prepared by Chef Chris Joslyn. Reservations required, call 805 688-7265 x203 or email wine@BuySantaBarbaraWine.com

SATURDAY JUNE 29

Santa Barbara Wine Festival

Santa Barbara Natural History Museum

Swirl, sip and savor wines from premier Central Coast wineries complemented with sweet and savory delectable delights on the beautiful grounds of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. For details and to purchase tickets visit SBNature.org/winefestival

Dining Guide edible

Santa Barbara County has its own unique food traditions—from Santa Maria barbecue to Santa Barbara spot prawns and the world-class local wines that accompany them—so we’d like to help you find some of the area restaurants that create the distinctively Santa Barbara dining experience. Restaurants are invited to advertise in this guide because of their emphasis on local, seasonal ingredients and their commitment to real food.

South County

Arlington Tavern

21 W. Victoria St.

Santa Barbara 805 770-2626

ArlingtonTavern.com

Offering a winning combination of local, farm-fresh fare, exceptional service and a unique relationship between beer, wine and food. Chef Ron True crafts his seasonal menu using only the highest-quality, simple and honest ingredients. Dinner Mon–Sat 5–10pm, Sun 5–9pm; bar 4pm–midnight, Sun 4–10pm.

Backyard Bowls

Santa Barbara Locations:

331 Motor Way 805 845-5379

3849 State St., La Cumbre (next to Vons) 805 569-0011

Goleta Location: 5668 Calle Real 805 770-2730

BackyardBowls.com

Santa Barbara’s most innovative breakfast and lunch spot featuring Acai Bowls and smoothies. They also offer oatmeal, yogurt and more.

Bouchon

9 W. Victoria St. Santa Barbara 805 730-1160

BouchonSantaBarbara.com

Bouchon sources all of its ingredients using an “asfresh-and-as-local-as-possible” approach. Experience fine dining, excellent regional wines and relaxed service in a warm, inviting ambience. Private dining in the Cork Room is available for groups of 10–20. Dinner nightly 5–10pm.

Cadiz

509 State St.

Santa Barbara 805 770-2760

CadizSB.com

Cadiz is a Southern Mediterranean restaurant and lounge serving fresh ingredients bought from local farmers markets by Executive Chef John Pettitt. Happy hour Tue–Fri 5–7pm; dinner Sun, Tue, Wed 5:30–9:30pm and Thu–Sat 5:30–10pm; late night dining Thu–Sat 10pm–midnight.

Carlitos Café y Cantina

1324 State St.

Santa Barbara 805 962-7117

Carlitos.com

Enjoy fresh Mexican cuisine across from the historic Arlington Theatre on State Street in a sun-filled patio while the beautiful dining room features lovely views and a Cantina stocked with 100% Blue Agave tequilas. Member Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program. Open daily 11am–10pm.

Cava Restaurant & Bar

1212 Coast Village Rd. Montecito 805 969-8500

CavaRestaurant.com

Experience the bold flavors of superb Latin cuisine from Spain, Mexico and South America in a romantic setting in Montecito. Member Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program. Open daily 11am–11pm; Sunday brunch 10am–3pm.

C’est

Cheese

825 Santa Barbara St. Santa Barbara 805 965-0318

CestCheese.com

In addition to being a local source for the finest cheeses and artisanal foods, C'est Cheese also serves lunch—sandwiches, soups, salads and, of course, grilled cheese sandwiches. Mon–Fri 10am–6pm. Sat 8am–6pm. Closed Sun.

Giannfranco’s

Trattoria

666 Linden Ave. Carpinteria 805 684-0720

Giannfrancos.com

Experience authentic Italian regional cuisine at this family-owned and -operated trattoria in downtown Carpinteria. Chef Giovanni prepares each dish from the freshest local and imported foods to offer his creative take on Tuscan grill specialties. Weekday lunch served 11am–3pm. Weekend lunch served noon–3pm. Dinner served 5–9pm. Closed Tuesday.

Goodland Kitchen & Market

231 S. Magnolia Ave.

Old Town Goleta 805 845-4300

GoodlandKitchen.com

The Goodland Market is a grab-and-go eatery in Old Town Goleta, specializing in delicious, locally sourced and affordable meals. They prepare food in small batches and utilize produce from local farmers to provide an exceptional culinary experience. Mon–Fri 8am–2:30pm; Sat 8:30–2:30pm.

Pizza Guru

3534 State St.

Santa Barbara 805 563-3250

PizzaGuru.com

Locally owned and operated, Pizza Guru serves traditional and eccentric gourmet pizzas, salads, panini and pastas made fresh daily from locally sourced, organic ingredients. They also specialize in vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free pizzas. Open Mon–Thu 11am–9:30pm; Fri–Sun 11am–10pm.

Renaud’s Patisserie & Bistro

Loreto Plaza at 3315 State St.

Santa Barbara 805 569-2400

Arlington Plaza at 1324 State St.

Santa Barbara 805 892-2800

RenaudsBakery.com

Renaud’s is a bakery specializing in French pastries and French-style cakes, as well as a bistro offering an extensive menu for lunch and dinner. Arlington location open daily 7am–3pm; Loreto Plaza open Mon–Sat 7am–5pm, Sunday 7am–3pm.

Seagrass

30 E. Ortega St.

Santa Barbara 805 963-1012

SeagrassRestaurant.com

Seagrass offers a fresh Santa Barbara Coastal Cuisine fine dining experience, procuring the highest quality ingredients available and superior local bounty. Open Tue–Thu 5:30–9pm; Fri–Sat 5:30–10pm; Sun 5:30–9pm.

Silvergreens

791 Chapala St.

Santa Barbara 805 962-8500

900 Embarcadero del Mar

Isla Vista 805 961-1700

Silvergreens.com

Committed to sustainability and nutrition, Silvergreens offers a made-from-scratch menu with soups, salads and sandwiches using fresh, local ingredients. They are also Santa Barbara’s first Certififed Green Restaurant. Catering and School Lunch Program available.

Simply Pies

5392 Hollister Ave.

Santa Barbara 805 845-2200

SimplyPiesSB.com

The pie cottage offers sweet and savory pies, quiches and salads handcrafted with fresh, local organic ingredients. Vegan, gluten free and sugar-free options. Open Tue–Fri 7:30am–5:30pm; Sat 10am–5:30pm.

Sly’s

686 Linden Ave. Carpinteria

805 684-6666

SlysOnline.com

Sly’s is known for great food, with an emphasis on farmers market and local produce, great cocktails and great times in Carpinteria. Open Mon–Fri for lunch 11:30am–3pm, lounge menu weekdays 3–5pm; dinner Sun–Thu 5–9pm; Fri and Sat 5–10pm; and weekend brunch & lunch Sat–Sun 9am–3pm.

Sojourner Café

134 E. Cañon Perdido St.

Santa Barbara

805 965-7922

SojournerCafe.com

The Sojourner has been serving unique dishes created with wholesome natural ingredients for over 30 years. They purchase organic produce from local growers, carry local wines and beers and are known for their innovative desserts. Serving lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. Open Sun–Wed 11am–10pm; Thu–Sat 11am–11pm.

The Wine Cask 813 Anacapa St. Santa Barbara 805 966-9463

WineCask.com

The Wine Cask Restaurant features the freshest local ingredients, the best wine list in town, and seasonal signature cocktails. They offer fine dining in their exquisite Gold Room and casual dining in the courtyard, and at their Intermezzo bar. Lunch: Tue–Fri 11:30am–3pm. Dinner: Tue–Sun from 5:30pm. Last seating at 9pm Sun–Thu, 10pm Fri–Sat.

bouchon

santa barbara

North County

Avant

35 Industrial Way

Buellton

805 686-9400

AvantWines.com

Avant offers seasonal full lunch and dinner menus; 52 wines available by the glass; winery tours and retail wine shop. Lunch daily 11am–3pm; dinner Sun–Thu 5–9pm; Fri and Sun 5–10pm; Happy Hour Daily 3–5pm.

Bell Street Farm

Eatery & Market

406 Bell St. Los Alamos 805 344-4609

BellStreetFarm.com

With farm-fresh cuisine and sophisticated yet comfortable design, Bell Street Farm offers a distinct environment to enjoy a meal, snack or a wine tasting. The market showcases picnic baskets and accessories for creating a portable meal, as well as gifts and merchandise from local artisans. Open Fri–Mon 10am–6pm.

Cecco Ristorante

475 First St. Solvang

805 688-8880

CeccoRistorante.com

Award-winning Chef David Cecchini offers rustic Italian cuisine, handmade fresh pasta, artisan pizza from an authentic wood-burning oven, grilled meats, seafood, salads, an extensive wine list including Santa Ynez Valley & Italian varietals, plus premium draft beers. Reservations accepted. Open 11:30am–3pm & 5–9pm.

Dos Carlitos Restaurant & Tequila Bar

3544 Sagunto St.

Santa Ynez

805 688-0033

DosCarlitosRestaurant.com

Dos Carlitos offers inspired Mexican and Latin cuisine handcrafted from the freshest ingredients to accompany its award-winning 100% Blue Agave margaritas. Dos Carlitos is a place to enjoy friends and family in a relaxed outdoor patio or casual indoor setting. Member Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program. Open daily 11am–10pm.

Full of Life Flatbread

225 W. Bell St. Los Alamos

805 344-4400

FullofLifeFoods.com

On weekends Full of Life Flatbread converts their production flatbread bakery space into a restaurant and offers an extremely innovative menu based almost entirely on what is grown locally and in season. Open Thu–Sat 5–10pm; Sun 4–8pm.

Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café

2879 Grand Ave.

Los Olivos 805 688-7265

LosOlivosCafe.com

The Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café brings together the best flavors of the Central Coast. Their awardwinning wine list offers over 500 wines, primarily from Central Coast winemakers, to enjoy with their fresh, seasonal and local cuisine, or to enjoy at home. Open for lunch and dinner daily 11:30am–8:30pm.

Succulent Café & Trading Company

1555 Mission Drive Solvang 805 691-9444

SucculentCafe.com

Succulent Café is a family-owned business specializing in handcrafted and artisan culinary goods. Featuring buttermilk biscuit sandwiches at breakfast, gourmet sandwiches and salads at lunch and unique localcentric plates at dinner. Lunch Wed–Sun 11am–3pm; breakfast Sat–Sun 9am–2pm; dinner Thu–Sat 6–9pm.

The Hitching Post II

406 E. Highway 246 Buellton 805 688-0676

HitchingPost2.com

From Santa Maria–style barbecue to more contemporary cuisine such as smoked duck breast, ostrich, homemade soups and outstanding pastries, The Hitching Post II also offers their own world-class Hartley Ostini Hitching Post Wines. Open daily except major holidays. Cocktails/wine tasting Mon–Fri at 4pm, Sat–Sun at 3pm. Dinners only Mon–Fri 5–9:30pm, Sat–Sun 4–9:30pm.

edible SANTA BARBARA SUPPER CLUB

The Supper Club brings together a small group of people for prix fixe dinners at one of the restaurants in this guide. For details, sign up for our email newsletter and visit the Events section on EdibleSantaBarbara.com

Come to our next Supper Club on April 23 at Avant in Buellton

edible Source & Map Guide

BREWERIES AND DISTILLERIES

Telegraph Brewing Company

Handcrafting unique American ales that embrace the heritage of California’s early brewing pioneers and use as many locally grown ingredients as possible. Visit the tasting room Thursday 4–6pm, Friday 4–8pm, Saturday 2–6pm. Telegraph beer is available at many restaurants and grocery stores in Santa Barbara County and throughout California. TelegraphBrewing.com

CATERERS AND PRIVATE CHEFS

Le Petit Chef

Personal chef, private parties, cooking lessons. Personal chefs aren’t just for the wealthy—for about the same price you might spend at a restaurant, Le Petit Chef can provide you with local, fresh, seasonal, organic dinners in your own home. 805 637-3899; LePetitChefSB.com

Main Course California

Main Course California is a creative, service-driven catering company that specializes in sustainable, from-scratch cuisine and personalized care. They are dedicated to food that is sustainable and delicious—specializing in off-site catering for private parties, corporate events and weddings. 805 658-8900; MainCourseCA.com

New West Catering

Uniting the artistry of fine restaurant cuisine with the versatility of full-service catering, New West Catering is your unparalleled choice for special events in the Santa Barbara County wine country and beyond. 805 688-0991; NewWestCatering.com

Nimita’s Cuisine

Nimita Dhirajlal delights in sharing the art of Indian vegetarian cooking using organic, local ingredients. She offers classes, catering, weekly deliveries, as well as prepared foods such as curry, daal, chutney and raita. NimitasCuisine.com

COMMERCIAL KITCHEN SPACE

Goodland Kitchen

Goodland Kitchen, located in downtown Goleta, rents the use of its licensed and insured facility on an hourly basis to local food producers and re-packagers. It is also available as a teaching venue and for special event food processing. 805 845-4300; GoodlandKitchen.com

FARMERS MARKETS

Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market Eight markets, six days a week. See schedule on the inside front cover. 805 962-5354; SBFarmersMarket.org

FARMS, RANCHES & FISHERMEN

Community Seafood

A community-supported fishery, Community Seafood is a grassroots effort to support our fishing community and a sustainable future for local seafood by offering a subscription program. Bi-weekly half shares start at $96 for a 12-week season. For program details, visit CommunitySeafood.com

Drake Family Farms

Making locally produced farmstead artisan goat cheese in Ontario, California. At Drake Family Farms every goat has a name and their goat cheeses are made on the farm with milk exclusively from the farm’s own animals. Available at local farmers markets and at DrakeFamilyFarms.com

Fat Uncle Farms

Fat Uncle Farms grows almonds in Wasco, just northwest of Bakersfield, and they sell fresh whole raw almonds as well as roasted and flavored almonds and many other almond products at the Saturday, Tuesday, Friday and Thursday farmers markets. 866 290-0219; FatUncleFarms.wordpress.com

Rancho San Julian Beef

Rancho San Julian Beef produces high quality beef from cattle raised humanely and healthfully on an agriculturally sustainable ranch in Santa Barbara County. Available at the following farmers markets: Saturday in Santa Barbara 8:30am–12:30pm, Tuesday in Santa Barbara 3–6:30pm and Friday in Montecito 8–11:30am as well as at RSJBeef.com

FOOD

PRODUCTS

Green Star Coffee

Green Star Coffee sources only the finest Certified Organic Fair Trade coffees and teas from the premier growing regions around the world. GreenStarCoffee.com

Joëlle Olive Oil

Joëlle Olive Oil offers a full line of fresh, cold-pressed, extravirgin olive oil estate grown in California. Award winning in international competitions, all of their oils are unfiltered, extra-virgin and date-stamped for year of production. JoelleOil.com

Ocean Ranch Organics

Granola handcrafted in small batches using organic and natural ingredients. High in protein, calcium, iron, fiber and Omega 3 oils. OceanRanchOrganics.com

Vibrant Earth Juices

Vibrant Earth Juices are liquid nutrition from the ground up. Offering freshly pressed, raw, organic juices and juice cleanses. Please visit their newly opened juice bar inside Plow to Porch. VibrantEarthJuices.com

GROCERY STORES & PRODUCE DELIVERY

Isla Vista Food Co-op

A community-owned food co-op open to the public and highly regarded for its sustainable business practices and highquality foods. Highlighting tri-county local, organic, fair-trade, farmer-owned, vegan, vegetarian, kosher, raw, gluten-free and all-around sustainable ways of being. Open daily 8am–10pm. 6575 Seville Rd., Isla Vista. 805 968-1401; IslaVistaFood.coop

Lazy Acres

Santa Barbara’s best source for wholesome, natural and organic foods and products with real people dedicated to providing unmatched personal service. Monday–Saturday, 7am–11pm, Sunday 7am–10pm. 302 Meigs Rd., Santa Barbara; 805 5644410; LazyAcres.com

Los Olivos Grocery

Los Olivos Grocery offers a wide selection of local products, wines, beers and produce. Their delicatessen is a valley favorite, with a wide lunch menu. Breakfast is served on their enclosed patio. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, BBQ is offered. Open daily 7am–9pm; 2621 W. Highway 154, Santa Ynez; 805 688-5115; LosOlivosGrocery.com

New Frontiers Natural Marketplace

New Frontiers Natural Marketplace is a full service natural foods grocery store and deli. Located in Solvang at 1984 Old Mission Dr. (corner of Alamo Pintado and Mission Dr.); 805 693-1746; NewFrontiersMarket.com

Pacific Health Foods

Offering organic groceries, vitamins, a helpful staff and the best smoothies in town. Open Monday–Friday 9am–6pm; Saturday 10am–6pm. Located at 944 Linden Ave., Carpinteria; 805 684-2115; PacificHealthFood.com

Plow to Porch Organics

Local organic/pesticide free/chemical free and all natural produce delivery service and organic market. The market carries a wide array of seasonal and local produce, meat and food products and is located at 3204 State St., Santa Barbara. Open Monday–Friday 10am–7pm. 805 895-7171; PlowToPorch.com

Santa Barbara Public Market

Serving Breakfast & Lunch

With Local, Farm Fresh Produce Mon–Fri 8am–2:30pm, Sat 9:00am–3:00pm

805-845-4300

231 South Magnolia Ave, Goleta www.goodlandkitchen.com

The Santa Barbara Public Market, located in the heart of the performing and cultural arts district, will house handcrafted, regionally sourced and sustainably made food and wine. With an ardent focus on local farms and artisanal ingredients, the Santa Barbara Public Market will present residents and visitors alike with a well stocked pantry for daily foraging. SBPublicMarket.com Goodland Kitchen & Market

Whole Foods Market

Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market, a leader in the natural and organic foods industry and America’s first national certified organic grocer, was named “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store” in 2008 by Health magazine. 3761 State St., Santa Barbara; 805 837-6959; WholeFoodsMarket.com

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

American Riviera Bank

Offering a local and sustainable approach to banking. The founders of American Riviera Bank are a carefully selected group of successful, prominent, experienced and influential community and business leaders who understand the unique needs of the Santa Barbara community. Monday–Thursday 8am–5pm, Friday 8am–6pm. 1033 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara; 805 965-5942. AmericanRivieraBank.com

Center for Sustainable Medicine

Specializing in nutrition, allergies, weight management, women’s health and preventative medicine. Dr. Andrea Seiffertt, DO, osteopathic physician, board certified in internal medicine, certified Ayurvedic practitioner. 805 245-4291; OnePlanetOneHealth.com

Cookbook Writing Workshop with Janice Cook Knight

Janice Cook Knight is the author of the Follow Your Heart Restaurant cookbooks. Her cookbook writing workshop in Santa Barbara reflects her passions for food and cooking, and the love of preserving food and family memories and traditions through the medium of the cookbook.

JaniceCookKnight.com

Integrative Medicine Center of Santa Barbara

The Integrative Medicine Center of Santa Barbara is a primary care medical clinic, balancing modern conventional medicine with alternative healing. Santa Barbara office: 601 E. Arrellaga Suite 101; 805 963-1824. IMedSB.com

Nest

Nest is an integrative medicine spa combining the best of conventional and natural therapies. Dr. Kristi Wrightson ND, RD along with her staff of professionals offer services from preventative primary care to anti-aging treatments, specializing in women's health and hormones, optimal weight control and detoxification. 523 Chapala St., #2, Santa Barbara; 805 770-2607

Nicholson & Schwartz

From starting a business to growing one, to managing your finances and children’s future, they focus on your success by specializing in individual and small business tax planning and compliance—a must with today’s ever changing tax laws. 111 E. De la Guerra St., Santa Barbara. 805 969-9662; NicholsonSchwartz.com

Patricia Figueredo Interior Design

From kitchen design to residential and commercial interior design, Patricia Figueredo Interior Design provides innovative and quality design services in Santa Barbara County and beyond. Call for more information 760 459-2522; FigueredoInteriorDesign.com

Rabobank

Rabobank is a valued financial partner for thousands of individuals, businesses, farmers and ranchers, food and agribusiness companies and other select institutions in many California communities, meeting the financial needs of local families, businesses and organizations with great banking products and personalized service. RabobankAmerica.com

Scent From Heaven

Amy Bacheller, M.Ed, NC, CMT is honored to offer classes, private consults and individual healing sessions in Santa Barbara as part of her Scent From Heaven holistic healing practice. Amy specializes in essential oils and raw foods. 415 450-5000; ScentFromHeaven-SB.com

RESTAURANTS

listing of Local Restaurants on page 72.

SCHOOLS

Santa Barbara Montessori School

The main objective of the SB Montessori School is to provide a carefully planned, stimulating environment to help children develop the habits, attitudes and skills essential for a lifetime of creative thinking and learning. 7421 Mirano Dr.; 805 6857600; SBMontessori.com

SPECIALTY RETAILERS & PRODUCTS

Chocolate Maya

Chocolate Maya scours the world for pure, luscious chocolates and offers incredible savory bars, truffles, bonbons and gift baskets as well as a wide choice of organic and fair trade chocolate products. Monday–Friday 10am–6pm, Saturday 10am–5pm, Sunday 10am–4pm. 15 W. Gutierrez St., Santa Barbara. 805 965-5956; ChocolateMaya.com

Enjoy Cupcakes

Enjoy Cupcakes is a cupcakery, dedicated to making highquality cupcakes, cakes and other baked goods with innovative flavor combinations, many infused with wine. Open Thursday through Sunday 11am–5pm at 2971 Grand Ave., Los Olivos; 805 451-0284; EnjoyCupcakes.com

Grapeseed Company

The Grapeseed Company creates botanical spa and skin care products handcrafted from the byproduct of wine plus antioxidant-rich local and organic ingredients. Flagship store in downtown Santa Barbara: 201 W. Carrillo St.: open Monday–Saturday 10:30am–5:30pm. Warehouse store in Carpinteria: 4193 Carpinteria Ave #9: open Monday and Thursday–Saturday 10:30am–5:30pm. 805 456-3655; TheGrapeseedCompany.com

Here’s the Scoop

Here’s the Scoop offers the finest gelato and sorbet made fresh daily from local farms and farmers market fruit. They specialize in seasonal flavors as well as traditional Italian flavors. Monday–Thursday 1–9pm. Friday–Saturday noon–10pm and Sun noon–9pm. 1187 Coast Village Rd., Montecito. 805 969-7020; ScoopSB.com

Olive Hill Farm

Gus Sousoures has been making his olive oils for many years in the Santa Ynez Valley and now you can taste and buy them, along with other oils, vinegars and gourmet food products at his cozy store in Los Olivos. Open daily 11am–5:30pm. 2901 Grand Ave, Los Olivos; 805 693-0700; OliveHillFarm.com

Tecolote Bookstore

Tecolote Bookstore is an independent bookstore located in the upper village of Montecito at 1470 East Valley Rd.. Open Monday–Friday 10am–5:30pm, Saturday 10am-5pm, closed Sundays. 805 969-4977

WINERIES AND WINE RETAILERS

Alma Rosa

With certified organic vineyards in the Sta. Rita Hills, Alma Rosa focuses on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, as well as other food friendly wines with the high acid and extraordinary balance for which Richard Sanford’s wines have been known since 1976. Open 11am–4:30pm daily. 7250 Santa Rosa Rd., Buellton. 805 688-9090; AlmaRosaWinery.com

Alta Maria Vineyards

Alta Maria Vineyards and its subsidiary wine brands. They strive to make the best wine possible in a conscious manner utilizing organic and sustainable techniques along with conventional methods, which leave no indelible mark on the people, places and products around us. Tasting room open 11am–5pm daily. 2933 Grand Ave., Suite A, Los Olivos; 805 686-1144; AltaMaria.com

Au Bon Climat Tasting Room and the Jim Clendenen Wine Library

Celebrating 30 years of winemaking in Santa Barbara County, Au Bon Climat is world renowned for beautifully balanced and elegant Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The tasting room features a large selections of cellar aged library wines and Jim Clendenen’s eclectic smaller labels. Open daily noon–6pm; 813 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara, next to the Wine Cask. 805 845-8435; AuBonClimat.com

Avant

Avant is the tasting room for over 30 vintners producing their wine at the Terravant Wine Company’s state-of-the-art production facility. Open for tasting Monday, Thursday and Sunday 11am–9pm, Friday–Saturday 11am–11pm. 35 Industrial Way, Buellton. 805 686-9400; AvantWines.com

Buttonwood Farm Winery

In 1968 Betty Williams came to Buttonwood, creating a life that found expression through a connection with the land. The vineyard now has 33,000 vines with a mix of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Marsanne, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Syrah. Visit the tasting room at 1500 Alamo Pintado Rd., Solvang. Open 11am–5pm daily. 805 688-3032; ButtonwoodWinery.com

Cambria Estate Winery

Farming for over 25 years, Cambria specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. They are committed to sustainable practices in both the vineyard and in the winery. Visit the tasting room 10am–5pm. 5475 Chardonnay Lane, Santa Maria; 805 9387318; CambriaWines.com

Carr Vineyards & Winery

Established in 1999, Carr Vineyards & Winery specializes in ultra-premium, limited-production wines from Santa Barbara County. In the heart of Downtown Santa Barbara or in Old Town Santa Ynez: 11am–6pm for wine tasting, wines by the glass, flights of wine, wine on tap at 414 N. Salsipuedes St., Santa Barbara; 805 965-7985; and 3563 Numancia St., #101, Santa Ynez; 805 688-5757; CarrWinery.com

Casa Dumetz

Making wine from their organic vineyard in Malibu and from the Tierra Alta vineyard in Santa Ynez. Visit Babi’s tasting room Thursday noon–7pm, Friday–Saturday 11am–7pm, Sunday 11am–6pm or by appointment. 448 Bell St., Los Alamos. 805 344-1900; CasaDumetzWines.com

De Su Propia Cosecha

De Su Propia Cosecha, which means ‘of one’s own harvest,’ has opened a tasting room at the Lompoc Wine Ghetto at 1501 E. Chestnut St., Suite A. Open Friday–Sunday 11am–5pm. 805 345-9355; DeSuPropiaCosecha.com

Cinque Stelle Winery

Cinque Stelle (“Five Stars” in Italian) is a family owned and operated winery. Stop by their tasting room to taste several varietals including Albarino, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir and Syrah, among others. 2445 Alamo Pintado Ave, Los Olivos; 805 688-4101. CinqueStelleWinery.com

Consilience

Consilience has produced some of Santa Barbara’s boldest, most expressive Syrah. Sister label Tre Anelli carries the tradition in food-friendly Spanish and Italian varietals. Both labels make wines with unique flavor intensity, and source from vineyards in Santa Barbara County. 2923 Grand Ave., Los Olivos; 805 691-1020; ConsilienceWines.com

Flying Goat Cellars

Flying Goat Cellars specializes in vineyard-designated Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and sparkling wine. They offer four expressions of méthode champenoise: Goat Bubbles: Rosé, Crémant, Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs. YNOT is a blend of Pinot Noir from all Santa Barbara County vineyards. Thursday–Sunday, 11am–4pm. Lompoc Wine Ghetto, 1520 E. Chestnut Ct., Unit A, Lompoc; 805 736-9032; FlyingGoatCellars.com

Foxen Winery & Vineyard

Bill Wathen and Dick Doré have been making wine together since 1985, when they founded Foxen Winery & Vineyard at the historic Rancho Tinaquaic in northern Santa Barbara County. Visit the two tasting rooms at 7200 and 7600 Foxen Canyon Rd., Santa Maria. Open daily 11am–4pm. 805 9374251; FoxenVineyard.com

Grassini Family Vineyards

Boutique winery specializing in handcrafted production of Bordeaux varietals. They focus on farming the vineyard to its fullest potential using renewable and sustainable resources. An artisan approach helps make wines that represent the uniqueness of Happy Canyon. Tasting room 813 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara; 805 897-3366; GrassiniFamilyVineyards.com

Longoria Wines

Longoria Wines is a small family owned winery producing acclaimed artisanal wines from some of the finest vineyards in Santa Barbara County. Visit their tasting room in Los Olivos at 2935 Grand Ave., daily 11am–4:30pm or in the Lompoc Wine Ghetto at 1700 Industrial Way, unit A, Saturday and Sunday 11am–4:30pm. 805 688-0305; LongoriaWine.com

Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Cafe

The Wine Merchant specializes in premium California wines with a focus on highlighting the Central Coast. They feature Bernat Wines, which are estate grown and made by owner Sam Marmorstein. In addition they carry a line of signature gourmet products. Open daily 11:30am–8:30pm. 2879 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. 805 688-7265; LosOlivosCafe.com

Municipal Winemakers

After spending their formative years traveling and studying terroir and techniques, Municipal Wine is now working hard to make honest, interesting and delicious wines for the people of this world. They do this with love—carefully and slowly. Tasting room open daily 11am–6pm at 22 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara; 805 931-6884; MunicipalWinemakers.com

Qupé

For 30 years, Qupé has been dedicated to producing handcrafted Rhône varietals and Chardonnay from California’s Central Coast. Employing traditional winemaking techniques and biodynamic farming practices, Qupe’s wines are true to type and speak of their vineyard sources. Tasting room is open daily 11am–5pm. 2963 Grand Ave., Suite B, Los Olivos; 805 686-4200; Qupe.com

Riverbench Vineyard & Winery

Since 1973 Riverbench has produced some of Santa Barbara County’s finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. With their initial harvest in 2006, they have now begun producing their own wines with winemaker Chuck Ortman. Tasting room is open 10am–4pm daily. 6020 Foxen Canyon Rd., Santa Maria. 805 937-8340; Riverbench.com

Standing Sun Wines

Standing Sun Wines focus on Rhone variety wines, handcrafted in small lots from some of Santa Ynez Valley’s premiere vineyards. Tasting room at 92 Second St., Unit D, Buellton, is open Thursday–Monday 11am–5pm; 805 904-8072 or 805 691-9413; StandingSunwines.com

Stolpman

After 20 years of revolutionary viticultural experimentation, the Stolpmans are proud to present their unique offering of Rhone Varietals. 100% estate-grown wines crafted on the limestone hills of Ballard Canyon, Santa Barbara County. 2434 Alamo Pintado Ave., Los Olivos; 805 688-0400; StolpmanVineyards.com

The Good Life

A craft beer and wine cellar featuring California craft beers and central coast wines. Open daily Sunday–Wednesday noon–9pm, Thursday–Saturday noon–11pm. 1672 Mission Dr. (Hwy 246) Solvang. TheGoodLifeCellar.com

The Hitching Post II

The Hitching Post II offers their own world-class Hartley Ostini Hitching Post Wines. Open daily except major holidays. Cocktails/wine tasting at 4pm, dinners only 5–9:30pm. 406 E. Highway 246, Buellton. 805 688-0676; HitchingPost2.com

The Winehound

The award-winning Winehound features the world’s best wines—from the everyday to a luxury cuvée—all top dogs, no mutts. Open 11am–7pm Monday through Saturday, noon–6pm Sunday. 1221 Chapala St., Santa Barbara. 805 845-5247; TheWinehound.com

Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards

Tecolote Book Shop

Zaca Mesa is a Santa Ynez Valley estate winery dedicated to Rhone varieties. Since 1972, they have handcrafted wines from grapes grown in their vineyards to express their distinct character and genuine quality. Open daily 10am–4pm. 6905 Foxen Canyon Rd., Los Olivos. 805 688-9339 ext. 308; ZacaMesa.com

Lompoc Wine Ghetto

Los Olivos

Municipal W inemakers

Riverbench W inery

& 32. Backard Bowls

Chocolate Maya

Cadiz

Grapeseed Co.

Bouchon Santa Barbara

Carlitos 14. & 28. Renaud’s

American Riveria Bank

& 25. Rabobank

Plow to Porch

The W inehound

Lazy Acres

the last Bite LOCAL HERO WINNERS 2014

Farm/Farmer

Tom Shepherd

Tom Shepherd is famous throughout the area for his salad greens, but Shepherd Farms produces far more than lettuce. His popular CSA and crowded stand at the farmers markets are signs of just how much people love his produce. ShepherdFarmsCSA.com

Chef/Restaurant

Brian Collins, Full of Life Flatbread

This is the third time that Flatbread has been a Local Hero winner, and for good reason. From local soil to local hands, the food at Full of Life Flatbread is something to be experienced. Owner Clark Staub and Chef Brian Collins are the leaders of local food with their innovative farmfresh cuisine. FullOfLifeFoods.com

Food Artisan

Chocolate Maya

In addition to her retail shop, Maya Schoop-Rutten creates a variety of exquisitely produced handcrafted chocolate confections from the finest organic, fair trade and local ingredients. ChocolateMaya.com

Beverage Artisan

Pop Culture

A newcomer to the local beverage scene, Andrew and Elske Daigle’s Pop Culture is a farm-to-bottle soda that is made with locally sourced organic fruit. PopCultureBeverage.com

Nonprofit

Food From the Heart

Food From the Heart is a volunteer-driven organization that prepares and delivers healthy meals at no charge to our community’s homebound neighbors in need.

SBFoodFromTheHeart.com

Food Shop

Isla Vista Food Co-op

For 40 years, the Isla Vista Food Co-op has brought local, natural and organic foods to our community. And recently, due to immense community support, they were able to buy their building and ensure their future. IslaVistaFoodCoop.blogspot.com

Thank you to our 2013 Edible Institute Sponsors

Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards

Arlington Tavern

Au Bon Climat

Buttonwood Farm Winery

Cambria Estate Winery

Casa Dumetz

Chocolate Maya

De Su Propia Cosecha

Enjoy Cupcakes

Flying Goat Cellars

Goodman Reed Motorcars

Foxen Winery

Full of Life Flatbread

Goodland Kitchen

Grapeseed Company

Grassini Family Vineyards

Green Project Consultants

Here’s the Scoop

Longoria Wines

Los Olivos Café & Wine Merchant

Main Course

Margerum Wine Company

Municipal Winemakers

New West Catering

Nimita’s Cuisine

Ocean Ranch Organics

Qupé

Riverbench Vineyard

Telegraph Brewing Company

The Hitching Post II

VerTerra

Whole Foods

Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards

DENISE SHURTLEFF, WINEMAKER

At Cambria Estate Winery, our vineyard practices reflect our commitment to both present and future generations. Farming our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay sustainably is a way of life, one that honors the land, watershed, animals and people who inhabit the area. We are Certified Sustainable cambriawines.com

Cambria Winery, Santa Maria Valley, CA

©2013

Cambria Winery, Santa Maria, CA