This edition of Full Belly Files was originally emailed to subscribers on December 1, 2023. To receive Matt Kettmann’s food newsletter in your inbox each Friday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.
Santa Barbara County is blessed with a range of landscapes, soils, and microclimates that rival wine countries anywhere else in the world. We have the San Andreas Fault to thank for that, as it’s pushed (and is pushing) the Transverse Range into an east-west orientation, rather than the north-south lineup that dominates the rest of the West Coast of the Americas.
But despite the prominent peaks that such geologic tension creates, Santa Barbara is not home to many true “mountain vineyards.” This is not a defined viticultural category, but for me, anything proclaiming itself to be a mountain vineyard should sit at an elevation of at least 1,000 feet and then be obviously reflective of its mountainous setting, whether that’s being planted on precarious slopes or faced with excessive exposure to the elements. It’s usually all of the above, and the combination tends to create wines of intense structure and distinctive flavor. Good views tend to be a bonus part of the package.
Given those (admittedly arbitrary and somewhat subjective) parameters, I’d say that the higher elevation vineyards of the Sta. Rita Hills — like Rita’s Crown , which touches 900 feet, or Radian , at around 700 — do exhibit the mountain vibes, but just aren’t high enough. Meanwhile, the high-desert vineyards of Cuyama Valley — like Alta Mesa , at 2,300 feet — are plenty high, but they just don’t sport that mountain vibe. That could also be said for Zaca Mesa , whose 1,400-foot-high vines sit mostly on a tabletop.
I guarantee I’m missing something — please email me with ideas — but I can only think of a few Santa Barbara County vineyards that really fit my criteria.