About Santa Barbara Winery
Santa Barbara Winery is the oldest operating winery in Santa Barbara County. Pierre Lafond established the Anacapa Street downtown Santa Barbara winery in 1962 — a decade before the Santa Ynez Valley's modern wine industry began and two decades before the Sta. Rita Hills was identified as California's premier cool-climate Pinot Noir appellation.
The 1962 founding places Santa Barbara Winery among California's most historically pioneering small city wineries, established before the California wine renaissance made premium table wine commercially viable and before any serious critical attention had been directed toward Santa Barbara County's wine potential.
The downtown Anacapa Street tasting room — steps from Stearns Wharf and the Santa Barbara waterfront — provides the most conveniently located and historically founding-significance walk-in wine appointment available to Santa Barbara city visitors who want genuine Santa Barbara County estate wine within walking distance of the beach.