Buellton, with the Sideways Inn and the Hitching Post II, is the gateway to wine country. It also has the best coffee in the valley (and madeleines so sublime Proust could write the sequel to Sideways about them) at Ryan Dobosh and Grace Gates’s Little King Coffee, as well as one of the region’s essential restaurants Industrial Eats. Nearby Los Olivos is where you get a dash of luxury during your visit to the valley. There’s a large concentration of tasting rooms to enjoy and the shiniest new hotel in the entire area: the Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, Auberge Resorts Collection.
Los Alamos is the fine dining hub. Visitors stay at the Skyview and start their morning with fresh pastries from longtime foodie favorite Bob’s Well Bread, wait until lunchtime to try the best barbecue in the valley at Priedite, and hang by the pool until dinner at Michelin-starred Bell’s from New York fine-dining vets Greg and Daisy Ryan, who turn out excellent French-inspired bistro fare in a simultaneously bustling and breezy setting.
No matter where you are, your view is dominated by the mountain ranges to the north and south, which act like a wind tunnel funneling cool air from the Pacific deep inland, blanketing the vineyards in a shroud of fog every night, allowing the grapes to maintain acidity and recover from the higher daytime temperatures.
Early one morning, I meet Alice Anderson, one of the region’s rising stars, in one of the foggy vineyards she works for her regenerative organic wine project Amevive. We trek to the top of the hill amidst the sheep and ducks that share her land, seeking a view through the mists. Socked in, the only vone we find is of a mound of discarded oyster shells from one of her vineyard lunches. There’s no fancy tasting room here, either, which only adds to its charm.
Like a growing number of producers in the region, Anderson has a self-driven entrepreneurial streak and has sidestepped the traditional wine playbook now built around tourism. Unlike many, however, she has forgone Pinot for the varieties of the Rhône like Grenache, Syrah, Marsanne, and Roussanne to great success. Her wines are landing on the menus of some of the best restaurants in the country.