South Central Coast
Santa Barbara County is one of California's premier wine producing and wine grape growing regions. Renowned for its distinguished vintages, quaint settings, friendly vintners, and welcoming locals, the region is home to more than 90 wineries and some 27,000 acres of planted vineyards. The microclimates of the valleys located in and around Santa Barbara County are well suited to growing a wide variety of grapes, including Chardonnay, Syrah, and Pinot Noir. With warm, sunny days and cool evenings, these narrow valleys carry in the cool ocean breezes from the Pacific which produces very high quality grapes.
Travel to the vineyards of Southern Central Coast has dramatically increased since 2004 after the movie “Sideways” highlighted many of the sights and vineyards in the Santa Ynez Valley. Fans of this movie should not miss visits to Sanford Winery in Buellton or Firestone Vineyard & Fess Parker Winery in Los Olivos.
There are several wonderful places to base your wine country trip to the Southern Central Coast. The city of Santa Barbara offers a large number of hotels covering a large scale of prices and amenities. Hotels near Buellton or Solvang will put you in the heart of ‘Sideways” country. Pismo Beach or Morro Bay are excellent places to stay if you want to stay close to the scenic Pacific Ocean shoreline, but still be in close proximity to the vineyards of the Southern Central Coast.
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