Winery Details

In Santa Barbara wine country, it all started with Sanford. 
 
In 1971 Sanford Winery and Vineyards discovered an overlooked, grape-growing treasure in the Santa Rita Hills. Recognizing a magical combination of climate and soil conditions much like those in France's famed Burgundy province, Sanford planted the area's first Pinot Noir in its Sanford & Benedict vineyard. 
 
Pinot Noir has thrived in the Santa Rita Hills ever since, and so has Sanford Winery. The pioneering winery's Pinot Noir ranks among the best and most distinctive in the world. And Sanford's leadership helped put Santa Barbara and the Santa Rita Hills on the map of the world's great wine regions. Certified as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in 2001, today the area is renowned for its Chardonnay as well as Pinot Noir. 

• Ownership: Anthony Terlato and his sons Bill and John hold majority ownership of Sanford; for a half-century, the Terlatos have succeeded by following a simple principle: always put quality first, because quality is the only thing that endures.

• Gravity: The winery uses a Gravity Racking System to move wine through the facility; four 3600 gallon wine tanks are positioned on hydraulic lifts allowing winemarkers to gently move wine from tank to barrel (or bottling) without pumping and agitation.

• Lumber: The wood in the winery was recycled from a turn of the century building in Washington State; 500,000 board feet of first growth Douglas Fir timbers were transported in 48 trucks to Santa Barbara County saving countless trees.

• Facility: A tribute to mission architecture, green construction techniques and state of the art wine production, the winery facility is the largest handmade adobe construction since the California missions were built.