Los Olivos Grand Avenue

EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION

Grand Avenue in Los Olivos is essentially one walkable block with more than 25 independent tasting rooms, Dragonette Cellars, Carhartt Family Wines, Beckmen Vineyards, and many others, all within easy reach of each other. There are no large chain operations here; virtually every producer is family-owned and estate-focused, specializing in Rhone varietals, Pinot Noir, and Syrah from one of California's cooler inland valleys. An afternoon here moves at its own pace, tasting room to tasting room, with no agenda required.

OPERATOR STORY

Los Olivos Grand Avenue is the informal name for the one-block concentration of independent tasting rooms that developed organically in this unincorporated Santa Ynez Valley village as small estate producers sought a place to sell direct. The Santa Ynez Valley's cool marine influence produces conditions suited to Rhone varieties and Burgundian grapes, and the producers who settled here are largely family-owned and estate-focused, growing their own fruit and making wine in small quantities available primarily direct from the winery.