What Makes Santa Maria Valley Wineries Different From Sta. Rita Hills?
Short answer: Santa Maria Valley wineries tend to produce fruit-forward, rounder wines shaped by sandy loam soils and a wide-open valley, while Sta. Rita Hills delivers leaner, more mineral-driven bottles thanks to tighter wind tunnels, calcareous rock, and colder overall temperatures. Both sit in Santa Barbara County. Both grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. But the…
Why Do Sta. Rita Hills Winemakers Actually Make Their Wine at the Lompoc Wine Ghetto?
Most Sta. Rita Hills winemakers don’t produce wine at a vineyard. They make it inside gray warehouses in an industrial park called the Lompoc Wine Ghetto. The grapes grow in one of the best cool-climate AVAs in the state. But the wine gets made a short drive away, in Lompoc, tucked behind a Home Depot…