Lieu Dit Winery — Santa Ynez Valley Winery & Tasting Room

Lieu Dit Winery is named for the lieu-dit — the French term for a named place, the local toponym, the specific name that a piece of land has been called by the people who have farmed it across generations. Eric Railsback and François Vignot's Santa Barbara County project declares wine as an expression of the named place: Loire Valley varieties (Melon de Bourgogne, Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc) grown in the Santa Ynez Valley, a place with its own names.

The focus on Loire Valley varieties in a California wine region is a deliberate statement: these grapes express named places wherever they grow, and the Santa Ynez Valley's specific named places produce compelling expressions of varieties more commonly associated with the Loire Valley of France.