Not everyone can make Santa Barbara County their home, or join the winemaking region that is both competitive and highly regarded. Here are two success stories:

Clos Pepe Vineyard
Santa Rita Hills
clospepe.com

    Steve and Catherine Pepe spent 20 years practicing law in Orange County before moving to Santa Barbara County and starting their own winery. How do you go from a courtroom to Chardonnay? “I’m Italian, and my grandparents made homemade wine, so I’ve always had an interest in wine,” says Steve Pepe, who planted 70 vines in the back yard of a house his wife owned in Long Beach. “We had the largest and only vineyard in Long Beach. We made homemade wines for
10 years.”

    In 1994, they purchased a horse ranch in the Santa Rita Hills and converted the property to 24 acres of Chardonnay and Pinot vineyards. Steve maintains the business aspect of the vineyards while his son is winemaker and vineyard manager.

    Instead of operating their own winery and tasting room, the Pepes focus on growing grapes. Most are sold to other wineries; only a small portion is kept for their own Clos Pepe brand. This creates a unique atmosphere in the grape-growing process. Clients who purchase grapes have their own special maintenance requests. Others simply say, “What’s good for yours is good for mine.” This also affects the picking of grapes during harvest.

     “It depends on what the winemakers want,” explains Steve. “There may be a three- or four-week difference in our picking of Pinot because they have different views on the flavor profile they want.”

    The Clos Pepe brand is available for purchase from their website or in select Santa Barbara area restaurants. Private group tours are available.


Firestone Winery
Santa Ynez Valley
firestonewine.com

    Firestone Winery has the largest estate vineyard in Santa Ynez Valley. Its 550 acres of grapevines produce roughly 150,000 cases of wine annually.

     “That’s big for Santa Barbara County,” says winemaker Kevin Willenborg. “But in the greater California scheme I think we’re still fairly mid-size. We’re neither that big nor that small.”

    For Willenborg and his team, harvest usually starts in September and lasts two months. The entire winemaking process is done onsite, creating the need for multiple teams in multiple areas of the property, lots of communication and great leadership. At harvest time, the atmosphere can be described as a beehive of activity, with handpicking in the morning and machine picking by night.

     “By the time you’re hitting October, there’s a lot of adrenaline that keeps you moving,” says Willenborg.

    Firestone Vineyard offers public tours throughout the day, giving people the opportunity to watch the process from start to finish. The winery has beautiful views of the vineyard and a private area for wine club members that overlooks the large barrel room. Riesling is the big seller, but Willenborg has developed a renewed focus on Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah, which he says are ideal varietals for the region.