Santa Barbara, Calif. – Picture this. Two couples sit on the ground at the edge of a vineyard, backlighted with golden beams from the setting sun. A picnic cloth is spread between them, the food punctuated with a bottle of wine. A more romantic wine country image is hard to imagine. It comes right out of the movie “Sideways.”
The setting is the Santa Inez Valley, Santa Barbara’s wine country spreading north of the city around the towns of Buellton, Solvang, Ballard and Los Olivos. It’s a sprawling area with both large and small wineries.
It’s a newer vineyard area and less discovered than the Napa or Sonoma valleys, but with the popularity of the quirky movie, the secret may be out.
Those who have seen the film, nominated for best picture in the Feb. 27 Academy Awards, know that it’s not a wine-country idyll, but a story of two men on a last fling before one of them marries.
Still, there’s plenty of gorgeous scenery, wine tasting and fine dining. There’s even lots of wine talk, some of it snobby, some informed and some poetic.
Moviegoers who know the Santa Ynez Valley will recognize the backcountry roads, wineries, restaurants and even a motel. To help visitors identify the sites, the Santa Barbara Conference and Visitors Bureau has published a map detailing the locations filmed in the movie along with the action that happened there.
Some of the sites are mentioned by name; others are not, especially the wineries where would-be novelist and oenophile Miles (Paul Giamatti) has less than kind words for the wine. He does, indeed, have high words of praise for Sanford Winery’s pinot noir, “the best” in California. The wine tasting starts here with Miles instructing Jack (Thomas Haden Church), a vain, fading television soap star, in the art of swirl, sniff, sip and swallow.
The winery building itself rates a visit. It’s constructed of stone, recycled timbers and adobe bricks fashioned by winery employees from clay on the site. Though the building is relatively new, Sanford is one of the valley’s oldest wineries, dating to 1981. Owner Richard Sanford planted the first pinot noir grapes in the Santa Ynez Valley in the early 1970s.
At Firestone Winery, Miles and Jack and Maya and Stephanie, the women they’ve befriended, encounter an insufferable wine snob giving a lecture. They slip out into the cool dimness of the barrel room and before long have set up the lovely wine picnic. Firestone, the oldest Santa Barbara County estate winery, has a spectacular view over the bowl-shaped Santa Ynez Valley. During the summer, a fragrant lavender field at the roadside adds to its appeal.
Firestone is on Foxen Canyon Road not too far from U.S. 101. Continue up the road, a winding two-lane country byway through a bucolic setting that is lovingly filmed in the movie. You will come to Fess Parker Winery, the Frass Canyon of the movie, where the wine doesn’t do much for Miles. However, the real-life Fess Parker pinot noirs have captured 90-93 ratings from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and other wine experts. Note the little coonskin cap on the wine label. Fess Parker of “Davy Crockett” fame owns the winery and an upscale inn in nearby Los Olivos.
Miles gets the bad news about his novel on the terrace outside of the “Frass Canyon” tasting room. You can sip wine on the Fess Parker terrace, but don’t, for heaven’s sake, indulge in Miles’ boorish behavior with the spit bucket.
Continue up Foxen Canyon Road, which narrows and grows ever more twisting. Cows and pastures alternate with vineyards. The wineries get more rustic.
The movie’s foursome went to Foxen Winery; I like nearby Zaca Mesa. Roses grow over a board fence and a giant chess set awaits players on the patio.
Here on a summer day, I was the only visitor. The tasting room manager had time to talk about the Rhone-style wines pioneered by the winery. “We planted the first syrah grapes (in the Santa Ynez Valley),” he said. Dining is as much a part of the wine country experience as the wine. Miles and Jack do their share. The Hitching Post II restaurant in Buellton is where Miles meets Maya and he and Jack share a bottle of Highliner pinot noir, one of the valley’s more prestigious wines.
The foursome have a first date over dinner at Los Olivos Caf, where they sip their way through several bottles of wine approved by Miles and dine on Caf Salmon, a house specialty. The caf, which is part of the Wine Merchant shop, offers about 300 wines on its list. During the day, the outdoor seating on a wisteria-covered patio is a favorite place for lunch.
The Old West meets art galleries and tourist-shop chic in Los Olivos, which is shown in several panned shots as Miles and Jack drive through town. Many of the buildings still have false fronts, but the garden shop in the 1901 Los Olivos Garage now offers fancy pots and Adirondack chairs and the deep overhang at Patrick’s Side Street Caf shelters diners.
This is still horse country, and you’ll find clothing, tack and gear for English or Western riding at Jedlicka’s Saddlery. Mattei’s Tavern is the real thing, where the stagecoach used to stop and dinner has been served since 1886. An old farmhouse now holds the Wildling Art Museum, which focuses on art inspired by nature.
The toniest thing in town is Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn, an elegant hostelry with a restaurant and spa. It doesn’t figure in the movie, but Miles and Jack are probably too uncouth to dine or spend the night here. Nor could they pay the tab.
They stay at the Days Inn Buellton/Solvang, called the Windmill in the movie. Windmills figure prominently in this Danish country, particularly in Solvang, where Miles and Jack have breakfast at Solvang Restaurant. They have a serious discussion here, and you can’t see what’s on their plates, but it should be aebleskivers (“Danish doughnuts”), the restaurant’s claim to fame.
In Solvang, the four main characters visit the Santa Ines Mission, just like any other tourists, though the old narrow church with its dazzling painted walls doesn’t appear to provide any spiritual enlightenment.
The movie’s main characters may not solve their problems in the Santa Ynez Valley, but they made a stab at living well and having a fine time. What more could you ask of a wine-country getaway?
Carol Fowler is a freelance writer who lives in Walnut Creek, Calif.
The details
Getting there: The Santa Ynez Valley is just off U.S. 101, about a 2 1/2-hour drive north of Los Angeles, or half-hour north of Santa Barbara. Wineries and sites in the movie are on California 246 around Buellton and Solvang, at Los Olivos on California 154 and on Foxen Canyon and Zaca Station roads, north of Los Olivos.
Staying there: Buellton and Solvang lodgings cover a wide price range. Here are some choices:
Buellton: Day’s Inn Solvang/Buellton. Miles and Jack spend the week here. Don’t let the images of their messy room influence your choice. It’s spick-and-span, and affordable. Rates: From $59.49. 805-688-8448;
Best Western Pea Soup Andersen’s: This well-known property doesn’t appear in the movie, but signs advertise it up and down U.S. 101. Rates: From $70 (off-season). 805-688-3216;
Solvang: The town has numerous inns on the Danish theme. The Royal Scandinavian Inn has spacious rooms with folk art motifs, a heated pool and fitness room. Rates: From $114. 800-624-5572,
Petersen Village and Inn (AAA Four Diamonds), is part of a charming complex with restaurants and shops surrounding a courtyard. Rates: From $220 (less mid-week), which includes dinner and breakfast for two. 800-321-8985,
Los Olivos: Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn pampers guests with a spa, fine dining room and French country dcor. Rates, including breakfast: From $260. 800-446-2455.
“Sideways packages and information: Several Santa Barbara County hotels offer “Sideways” packages with special room rates, wines seen in the film and tasting survival kits, along with dining specials. The restaurants in the movie feature dinners with wine paired to each course.
For the “Sideways” map, package details and area destination guide, contact the Santa Barbara Conference and Visitors Bureau. 800-927-4688.
Santa Barbara wine country: 800-218-0881.
– Carol Fowler
