Taste
16 tasting rooms
verified oct 2026
Pick your town first, then the tasting room. Solvang has two kinds of rooms: downtown ones you can walk between, and rooms out on Highway 246 and Alamo Pintado Road. See wine tasting in Solvang, with fees and walk-in rules for 12 rooms. In Los Olivos, the rooms are all walkable. See Los Olivos tasting rooms. Planning a day? Start with Santa Ynez wineries across the valley or the best wineries by experience. Going further? See Santa Barbara County wine tasting, Sta. Rita Hills wineries, the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail, Santa Maria Valley wineries and wine tours compared.
Taste guides
Taste · Santa Ynez Valley
Walk-in wine tasting
Who pours without a booking, how big a group they take, and the estates where you must book.
Taste · Santa Maria
Santa Maria Valley wineries & wine caves
Presqu'ile's chef, cave and horses, Bien Nacido's Gatehouse, Foxen Canyon Road, four wineries with caves and tri-tip after.
Taste · Santa Ynez Valley
Wine tasting experiences in the Santa Ynez Valley
Ride a horse through the vines for $150, meet a camel and a zebra on a private ranch tour, or blend your own bottle. Prices, lengths and booking for each.
Los Alamos wine tasting
Grenache nerds, start at A Tribute to Grace (nine bottlings). Six tasting rooms on a quarter mile of Bell Street, and Casa Dumetz is now Clementine Carter.
Happy Canyon wineries: who pours & prices
Cabernet country east of Santa Ynez: Crown Point's 98-point Cabernet, Star Lane's wine caves and Grimm's Bluff, every visit by appointment.
Lompoc Wine Ghetto & Sta. Rita Hills route map
Sandhi, whose Pinot Noir made No. 57 on Wine Enthusiast's best wines of 2025, Camins 2 Dreams and Ampelos, all within a 7-minute walk of Chestnut Court in Lompoc. Who takes walk-ins, and four loops that fit the closing times.
Dog-friendly wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley
Sanger pours by the fire pits until 9:30pm with the dog at your feet, and Zaca Mesa lets you picnic with yours on Foxen Canyon Road.
Winemakers' side labels and cult wines
Ad Ripa, Lieu Dit, Mail Road, Piedrasassi and the small projects behind the big names.
Cult wineries: scores and how to get in
Stolpman's 98 from Vinous, Dragonette's 100 from Dunnuck, and which famous names pour by appointment or list only.
Taste · Santa Barbara
Best Santa Barbara County wineries
Picnic in gazebos at Beckmen, the county's first biodynamic vineyard, eat lunch from Roblar's own farm or book a private seated Cabernet tasting at Brave & Maiden. Nine wineries, picked by the day you want.
Unique wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley
Shop vintage at Babcock, ride a horse through Buttonwood's vines, or feed the animals at Folded Hills' weekend Farmstead. Seven wineries where the flight is the second reason to go.
Wineries with restaurants in the Santa Ynez Valley
Chef Terri Buzzard cooks from Roblar Farm next door, Refugio Ranch fries a weekend smashburger and Petros runs a full Greek kitchen. Where to eat a full meal at a winery, and how to book.
Family-friendly wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley
Kunekune pigs, llamas and minis at Folded Hills, a playground at Vega's 1853 ranch and free bubbles for kids at Brick Barn. Five wineries where kids are welcome, with the house rules at each.
Taste · Santa Ynez Valley
Santa Ynez wineries
Sunstone's stone caves, Sanford Winery's 1971 vines, where the Sta. Rita Hills began, and Melville's cold-climate Pinot: eight wineries across the valley and a one-day plan that works.
Sideways filming locations
Miles and Jack's 'Windmill Inn' (now Sideways Inn), the Hitching Post 2 bar and Fess Parker Winery as 'Frass Canyon', 20 years on. What moved, what closed, and a half-day and full-day route.
Foxen Canyon Wine Trail
Old ranch country from Los Olivos to Santa Maria: taste in Foxen Winery's Shack, an 1860s blacksmith shop, picnic at Zaca Mesa and stop at the 1875 San Ramon Chapel, where Benjamin Foxen, the sea captain Foxen Canyon is named for, is buried.
Los Olivos wine tasting
The valley's tasting-room capital: Sta. Rita Hills Pinot at Dragonette (97 points) and Brewer-Clifton, and Stolpman's Ballard Canyon estate wines, a short walk apart. Fees and walk-in rules for nine rooms.
Taste · Santa Barbara
Santa Ynez Valley wine tours
What two people really pay: shuttles from $139 a seat, private days from $700, party buses for the bachelorette, plus bikes, horses, a Jeep and the $45 Solvang Trolley loop.
Santa Rosa Road wineries
The slow road where the Sta. Rita Hills began: Sanford Winery's 1971 vineyard, Alma Rosa's 628-acre ranch and a farm lunch at Vega, with The Hilt's windswept Pinot at the Lompoc end.
Drum Canyon Road wine route
Pinot from the hillside outside Dierberg's Drum Canyon tasting room, Spear's barn on a 1920s dairy's footprint and Pence's 200-acre ranch, then lunch on Bell Street in Los Alamos.
Sta. Rita Hills wineries
Where the Sta. Rita Hills began: the Sanford & Benedict vines of 1971, Melville's cold-climate Pinot and Camins 2 Dreams, from a Chumash and Catalan winemaking duo. Seventeen stops from Highway 246 to the Lompoc Wine Ghetto.
Taste · Santa Ynez Valley
Top-rated Santa Ynez wines
Alma Rosa's 99-point Attente, Jonata's 98-point La Sangre Syrah and Melville's 98-point Donna's Block: the valley's top critic scores on current releases, each linked to its source.
Taste · Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara County wine tasting
Jim Clendenen's Au Bon Climat in Santa Barbara's Presidio, or a day in the Santa Ynez Valley vineyards? How to choose between the Urban Wine Trail and the valley, with typical fees.
Wine tasting in Solvang
Nebbiolo and sparkling rosato at Toccata (half off after a tasting at Lucas & Lewellen across the street), then Rhône flights in Rideau's historic adobe on Alamo Pintado Road. Fees and walk-in rules for all twelve rooms.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons and Unsplash. Photo credits and licenses
Santa Ynez
Santa Ynez
Sunstone Winery
93-pt Teddy's 2022 (Wine Enthusiast); taste in stone caves.
125 N Refugio Road, Santa Ynez, CA 93460
Santa Ynez
Gainey Vineyard
94-pt Sta. Rita Hills Pinot; $30 flights on the terraces.
3950 East Highway 246, Santa Ynez, CA 93460
Santa Ynez
Brander Vineyard
Sauvignon Blanc since 1975, an all-white flight.
2401 North Refugio Road, Santa Ynez, CA 93460
Solvang
Los Olivos
Los Olivos
Firestone Vineyard
Walk in daily at the Sideways barrel-room winery, since 1972.
5017 Zaca Station Road, Los Olivos, CA 93441
Los Olivos
Fess Parker Winery
Jeb Dunnuck's 96 for its Sanford & Benedict Pinot; in Sideways.
6200 Foxen Canyon Road, Los Olivos, CA 93441
Los Olivos
Carhartt Vineyard Tasting Room
Friday live music 5–8pm at the only place to buy Carhartt.
2939 Grand Avenue, Los Olivos, CA 93441
Los Olivos
Stolpman Vineyards Tasting Room
$25 tasting of Ballard Canyon limestone estate wines.
2434 Alamo Pintado Avenue, Los Olivos, CA 93441
Los Olivos
Beckmen Vineyards
95-pt Clone #1 Syrah; bottle service in a pond-side gazebo.
2670 Ontiveros Road, Los Olivos, CA 93441
Los Olivos
Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards
$30 flights and a BYO picnic in the courtyard, no booking.
6905 Foxen Canyon Road, Los Olivos, CA 93441
Los Olivos
Andrew Murray Vineyards
94-pt 2023 Seppo (Jeb Dunnuck); bottles under the oaks.
5249 Foxen Canyon Road, Los Olivos, CA 93441
Buellton
Buellton
Alma Rosa Winery
95-pt Caracol Pinot (Wine Enthusiast); Sunset award, 2023.
7250 Santa Rosa Road, Buellton, CA 93427
Buellton
Lafond Winery
From the founder of the county's first post-Prohibition winery.
6855 Santa Rosa Road, Buellton, CA 93427
Buellton
Kalyra Winery
The Sideways winery where Jack meets Stephanie.
140 Industrial Way, Buellton, CA 93427