Gainey Vineyard

Vineyards

Gainey Vineyard was the first winery in Santa Barbara County to own vineyards in both the warm, eastern end of Santa Ynez Valley and the cool, western region of the valley in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA.

Santa Ynez Valley

The Santa Ynez Valley AVA is known for its warm days and calm winds. Flanked by the Santa Ynez Mountains, the only range on the Pacific Coast that run east-west, the valley is marked by cool ocean breezes that flow inland. Gainey Vineyard first planted grapes on its Home Ranch in 1984, in the warmer, eastern section, which has gained acclaim as a region for growing Bordeaux varieties.

Today, there are 100 acres of vines planted on the Home Ranch divided into four vineyards: Los Robles, Hillside, Meadowlark and Patrick’s Vineyard. The first three surround the winery on rolling hills. Red varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Franc are planted in the tops of the hillsides where the soil is shallow with gravel beneath it. The white varieties, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling are planted lower where the soil is heavier and includes a mixture of gravelly loam, clay, sand and Positas.  

The fourth and most recently planted vineyard, Patrick’s Vineyard is more steep than rolling. The hillside vineyard boasts only 20 inches of topsoil — a clay loamy soil so rich and dark it looks almost black. Its Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot vines are planted using 6-foot-by-3-foot spacing and are only 24 to 26 inches off the ground to benefit from the radiant heat of the Monterey shale beneath the soil. Ground cover is used to prevent erosion and like all of the vineyards, irrigation is used as needed.

Sta. Rita Hills

The Sta. Rita Hills AVA benefits from strong winds, morning fog and cool temperatures. These maritime conditions provide a long, cool growing season averaging 30 to 45 days longer than most of California’s grape-growing regions. These conditions also limit vine yields; providing grapes with a rare combination of intense ripeness, concentration, structure, minerality and acidity. The Gainey family purchased its first Sta. Rita Hills property in 1996, five years before the region was designated a sub-appellation of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA.

At Evans Ranch, the Gainey’s 120-acre property in Sta. Rita Hills, there are four vineyard parcels on strip of land stretching from the Santa Ynez River to the top of a hill. La Marina, the lowest vineyard, has sandy soil and is planted entirely to Chardonnay. Rising just above it is Lone Oak, a vineyard on the mid-section of the hillside with Botella clay loam soil ideal for growing Chardonnay, Syrah and Pinot Noir. Las Brisas is the steepest vineyard with Tierra gravelly loam soil and winds that whip through the rows of Chardonnay, Syrah and Pinot Noir vines. At the highest section is Todos Santos. It has the same soil series as Las Brisas and is planted entirely to Pinot Noir. 

West of Evan’s Ranch is Rancho Esperanza. Neighbored by Brewer-Clifton, Melville and Babcock vineyards, the 50-acre parcel has elder series sandy loam soil that looks like coffee-colored sand. High-density spacing was used for the 36 acres of Chardonnay and 14 acres of Pinot Noir planted in the spring of 2009.