Santa Barbara Wine Writer Explores Wine & Fire in the Sta. Rita Hills 2026
How one of Santa Barbara Wine Country’s most memorable weekends reveals the people, vineyards, food, and sense of place behind the glass
By Jamie Knee
Jamie Knee, Wine Writer in Santa Barbara Wine Country
As a Santa Barbara wine writer, I am lucky to live close to one of the most fascinating wine regions in California. The Sta. Rita Hills is a place I return to again and again, not because it is familiar, but because it keeps revealing new layers. The wind feels different there. The light feels different. Even after years of attending tastings, vineyard walks, and wine country celebrations, I still feel that little spark of excitement when the road begins to pull me back toward this cool-climate corner of Santa Barbara County. Santa Barbara Wine Travel Writer
Sta Rita Hills Wine & Fire with Santa Barbara Wine Writer Jamie Knee
Every August, Wine & Fire draws me into the Sta. Rita Hills again. It is one of my favorite wine weekends of the year because it reminds me why Santa Barbara Wine Country is never only about what is poured in the glass. The wines matter, of course. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, sparkling wines, Syrah, and other cool-climate expressions have helped give this appellation its international reputation. But what makes the Sta. Rita Hills so compelling is the full experience: vineyards, geography, farming, food, music, history, friendship, and the people who give the region its identity.
This year felt especially meaningful as the Sta. Rita Hills AVA celebrated its 25th anniversary. For a relatively young appellation, it has already earned a place among the great cool-climate wine regions of the world, yet it still feels wonderfully intimate. That balance is part of its charm. The Sta. Rita Hills can impress serious wine professionals while still welcoming curious travelers who simply want to understand why this place tastes the way it does.
Sta Rita Hills Wine & Fire at Sanford and Benedict Barn, with Vintner of the Year, Francisco Ramirez
Our weekend began at the historic Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, a fitting place to open a celebration rooted in Santa Barbara wine history. The barn party brought together winemakers, growers, longtime friends, and wine lovers among the vines, with pizza and salads from Harvest Table Santa Ynez and Salty Strings playing bluegrass as the afternoon light softened across the vineyard. We moved from table to table with glasses in hand, catching up between pours, and it was exactly the kind of easy wine country evening that reminds me why I love writing about this region.
That is where wine travel becomes personal. A tasting is one thing. Standing in a vineyard with local music playing, food on the table, familiar winemakers nearby, and the hills glowing in the background is something else. It turns the wine into a memory, and it gives the traveler a way into the place. Santa Barbara Wine Travel
Wine & Fire also honored several people who have helped shape the appellation. Greg Brewer of Brewer-Clifton was named Vintner of the Year, Francisco Ramirez received the Farming Leadership Award, and longtime Sanford cellar master Auggie Rodriguez received the Cellar Excellence Award. I loved seeing that range of recognition because great wine regions are never built by one person alone. They are shaped by the growers, vineyard teams, cellar teams, winemakers, hospitality professionals, and community members whose work often begins long before the wine reaches the glass.
Sta Rita Hills Winemaker of the Year, Greg Brewer
The broader Wine & Fire weekend included vineyard walks, seminars, intimate tastings, dinners, and La Paulée, the Burgundy-inspired celebration that brings people together around great bottles and shared tables. We could not possibly attend everything, but that is part of the pleasure of the weekend. Visitors can choose their own path through the appellation, getting closer to vineyards and producers they may have known only from a label.
On Saturday, we headed to the Grand Tasting at La Purísima Mission, one of the signature events of Wine & Fire and still one of the most atmospheric wine tastings in California. Beneath magnificent old trees and surrounded by the quiet beauty of the historic mission grounds, Sta. Rita Hills producers poured their wines as guests wandered from table to table, rediscovering favorites and finding new ones. For me, it always feels as much like a reunion as a tasting, with familiar winemakers, old wine friends, and vineyards I have followed through different vintages gathered in one beautiful place.
Santa Barbara Winemaker, Larry Tercero, Tercero Wines
Santa Barbara Winemaker Kathy Joseph of Fiddlehead Cellars
Santa Barbara Winemaker, Peter Hunken, Holus Bolus & The Joy Fantastic
This is what makes Santa Barbara wine travel so special. You can come for the wine and leave with a deeper understanding of the region itself. You begin to see how the Pacific influence, transverse valleys, soils, wind, farming, and small-town hospitality come together. The experience becomes more than a tasting itinerary. It becomes a portrait of place. Discovering Santa Barbara Wine Country, with Santa Barbara Wine Writer Jamie Knee
Santa Barbara Wine Country Winemaker Justin Willett of Tyler Winery
Sunday brought us to Fiddlestix Vineyard for Fiddlefest, hosted by Tyler Winery, and it may have been my favorite afternoon of the weekend. Tyler founder and winemaker Justin Willett, whose wines have long been part of the Sta. Rita Hills story, is now part of the ownership group behind this storied vineyard, making the setting especially fitting for a tasting devoted to one celebrated site.
Santa Barbara Wine Writer Jamie Knee, exploring Fiddlestix Vineyard
Inside the famed Fiddlestix barn, established names including Hitching Post, Sea Smoke, and Ken Brown Wines poured alongside newer labels such as Voom, Crū, and Fate’s Lieutenant, with Tyler’s own wines at the heart of the gathering. I loved what that mix said about the Sta. Rita Hills. There is confidence in its history, but also room for new voices, emerging talent, and different interpretations of the same vineyard. The site provides a common language, yet each winemaker gives it a different accent.
That is one of the most vivid ways to understand terroir. You can read about it, hear people talk about it, and taste through technical explanations, but when several producers interpret the same vineyard in different ways, the idea becomes much more alive. With barbecue, vines stretching in every direction, and Salty Strings playing once again, there was very little reason to hurry. It was the kind of sunlit afternoon that makes wine travel feel effortless and meaningful at the same time. Sommelier, Jamie Knee, Santa Barbara Regional Wine Ambassador
Our final stop was SAMsARA Wine Co., one of our longtime favorites, for a library tasting with winemaker Matt Brady. Among the bottles he opened was a 2018 Syrah from Zotovich Vineyard that was pure silk on the tongue, supple and layered, with a quiet savory depth and an elegance that made me linger over the glass.
Jamie Knee, Santa Barbara Wine Writer at Samsara Winery
Library tastings fascinate me because they allow wine to become a kind of time travel. A bottle carries you back to a particular growing season while also revealing everything that has happened since. Structure softens, aromas deepen, and the wine finds a kind of harmony that only time can give. In that moment, the Sta. Rita Hills was not only a place on a map. It was a vineyard, a vintage, a cellar, a winemaker, and a memory held in the glass.
Santa Barbara Wine Country with Matt Brady, Samsara Winemaker
That is what keeps bringing me back to Wine & Fire. Over the course of a few days, the Sta. Rita Hills becomes more than an appellation name. It becomes vineyards, winemakers, farmers, food, music, conversation, history, and friendship, all gathered into one sense of place.
After traveling through wine regions around the world, I continue to believe the Sta. Rita Hills belongs among the finest. Yet for all its growing international stature, it has retained an intimacy and generosity that make it distinctly its own. For anyone looking to understand Santa Barbara Wine Country, Wine & Fire remains one of the most beautiful ways to begin. Santa Barbara Luxury Wine Travel Regions
As a Santa Barbara wine writer and wine travel storyteller, this is the kind of experience I love most: a weekend that brings the region to life through the glass, but also through the people, vineyards, meals, music, and moments around it. The Sta. Rita Hills is not only a destination for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay lovers. It is a place where wine becomes a passport into California coastal beauty, agricultural heritage, and the ongoing story of one of the most exciting wine regions in the world.
Santa Barbara Wine Writer, Jamie Knee, Cheers to Sta Rita Hills Santa Barbara Wine Country
Twenty-five years into the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, there is so much worth celebrating and an exciting future still unfolding in the vineyards. Wine & Fire remains one of the most meaningful ways to understand why this small corner of Santa Barbara Wine Country holds such an enduring place in the world of wine, and such a personal place in my heart. Santa Barbara Wine Writer Wine & Fire Retrospective
Work with Jamie Knee
Jamie Knee is a Santa Barbara wine writer, luxury wine travel writer, global wine presenter, wine spokesperson, Forbes Travel Guide Speaker, international wine judge, and founder of Petite Wine Traveler. Her work explores wine regions through travel, food, hospitality, culture, vineyards, restaurants, hotels, and sense of place.
Through editorial coverage, hosted tastings, television segments, keynote presentations, wine education, and destination storytelling, Jamie helps wine regions, tourism boards, hotels, resorts, restaurants, festivals, and luxury hospitality brands bring wine to life for travelers and audiences.
For Santa Barbara wine coverage, wine travel writing, destination storytelling, hosted wine experiences, television segments, speaking engagements, wine education, or media partnerships, please contact Jamie through Petite Wine Traveler. About Jamie Knee, Wine Travel Writer and Entourism
I love California wines. So good.