Sanford Winery

Botanist Michael Benedict and his friend Richard Sanford set out to find a cool-climate site with just enough heat accumulation to ripen, but not over-ripen, wine grapes. Benedict's research led them to the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County, where the first vines of the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard were planted in 1971. The vineyard supplied the cuttings for many of the surrounding vineyards and formed the backbone of what is now the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. Benedict and Sanford went separate ways after the 1980 vintage, and Richard Sanford started Sanford Winery in 1981. La Rinconada Vineyard was planted in 1997 adjacent to the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, and the winery complex, completed in 2001, stands at its center. In 2002 the Terlato Wine Group took a stake of less than 25 percent, and the Terlato family became majority owners and managing partners in 2005. Richard and Thekla Sanford severed ties with the winery in 2005 and started a new project, Alma Rosa Winery and Vineyards. The Terlatos purchased the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard in 2007, reuniting the two ranches.

• 1971: first vines planted at the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
• 1981: Richard Sanford starts Sanford Winery after he and Michael Benedict go separate ways following the 1980 vintage
• 1997: La Rinconada Vineyard planted adjacent to the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
• 2001: winery complex completed at the center of La Rinconada Vineyard
• 2002: the Terlato family becomes a partner; 2005: majority owners and managing partners
• 2007: the Terlato family purchases the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, reuniting the estate

As listed on the winery's site in October 2026, Trey Fletcher is senior winemaker, having joined Sanford in 2019 after work at Littorai and Bien Nacido. Laura Hughes is associate winemaker; she joined Sanford Winery in 2012 as enologist and was promoted to assistant winemaker in 2015 and associate winemaker in 2019. Cellar master Auggie Rodriguez started working for Sanford in 1986, and his father was one of the first employees hired to help plant the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard in 1971. Erik Mallea, director of viticulture, started working with the Sanford estate vineyards in 2009. Bill Terlato has been chief executive officer of Terlato Wine Group and Terlato Wines since 2008.

• Trey Fletcher: senior winemaker, joined 2019
• Laura Hughes: associate winemaker, with Sanford since 2012
• Auggie Rodriguez: cellar master, with Sanford since 1986
• Erik Mallea: director of viticulture, working with the estate vineyards since 2009

The Sanford Estate sits along Santa Rosa Road at the heart of the Sta. Rita Hills, 10 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, where the east-west orientation of the Santa Ynez Valley draws cool maritime air inland. The adjacent Sanford & Benedict and La Rinconada ranches total nearly 1,200 acres, with approximately 262 acres planted to vine and a 127-acre conservation easement pledged to the Santa Barbara Land Trust. The estate vineyards are farmed and harvested in more than 40 individual blocks. The Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, first planted in 1971, is home to the oldest Pinot Noir vines in Santa Barbara County; 51 acres of vines from the original planting are still farmed, on their own roots. Its calcium-rich clay loam soils carry fractured shale and chert, and the vineyard, primarily planted to Pinot Noir, has more than 20 individual blocks and 11 clones. La Rinconada, planted in 1997, has 20 blocks and 12 clones, primarily Pinot Noir complemented by Chardonnay, on sandy loam in its lower portion that transitions to clay loam with diatomaceous earth and shale on the hills closer to Sanford & Benedict. Other producers, including Sandhi and Au Bon Climat, also make wine from Sanford & Benedict fruit, and La Rinconada provides Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to other wineries as well as to Sanford.

• Sanford & Benedict Vineyard: first planted 1971; 51 acres of original own-rooted vines; calcium-rich clay loam with fractured shale and chert; more than 20 blocks and 11 clones
• La Rinconada Vineyard: planted 1997; 20 blocks and 12 clones; sandy loam transitioning to clay loam with diatomaceous earth and shale
• Two ranches totaling nearly 1,200 acres, approximately 262 acres planted, and a 127-acre conservation easement pledged to the Santa Barbara Land Trust
• Estate vineyards farmed and harvested in more than 40 individual blocks

The winery, completed in 2001 at the center of La Rinconada Vineyard, is built of adobe bricks hand cast on the property, with walls thirty inches thick that keep the cellar at 55 to 65 degrees with little need for supplemental mechanical temperature control. Its lumber is recycled timber from a turn-of-the-century sawmill building in Washington State, which supplied 500,000 board feet of Douglas Fir. A gravity flow system of four tanks of 30,000 gallons each, installed on hydraulic lifts, moves wine from tank to barrel or bottle without pumping. All water used in the winery and tasting room comes from natural springs on the estate. In the vineyards, Sanford uses cover crops and composting, mechanical tilling and cutting of weeds to reduce herbicide use, and owl and raptor boxes for natural pest control. By 2005 the winery was no longer committed to organic farming and continued a program of sustainable grapegrowing. The winery and tasting room are at 5010 Santa Rosa Road, Lompoc.

• Adobe winery completed 2001, walls thirty inches thick, cellar kept at 55 to 65 degrees
• Gravity flow system: four 30,000-gallon tanks on hydraulic lifts
• Cover crops, composting, mechanical weed control, and owl and raptor boxes in the vineyards
• Winery and tasting room water drawn from natural springs on the estate

Sanford's range centers on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay: Sta. Rita Hills bottlings of both varieties, single-vineyard Sanford & Benedict and La Rinconada wines, and named bottlings such as Block 5, Block 6, Loma Alta and Vista Al Rio Pinot Noir and La Entrada and Long Rows Chardonnay. The range also includes a Rosé of Pinot Noir and the Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs and Brut Cuvée sparkling wines, including a Late Disgorged Brut Cuvée. In 2002 the winery produced 50,000 cases a year and was shifting exclusively to estate-bottled wines.

• Pinot Noir: Sta. Rita Hills, Sanford & Benedict, La Rinconada, Block 5, Block 6, Loma Alta, Vista Al Rio
• Chardonnay: Sta. Rita Hills, Sanford & Benedict, La Rinconada, La Entrada, Long Rows
• Rosé of Pinot Noir
• Sparkling: Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, Brut Cuvée, Late Disgorged Brut Cuvée

Sanford describes its winemaking as 'the constant between the two vineyards,' so that differences in aroma, flavor, texture and mouthfeel among its single-block wines are attributed to the terroir of each vineyard block. John Terlato, who began visiting Burgundy in 2006 to understand the farming and vinifying of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, puts the goal this way: 'Our goal is to grow memorable wines that are reflections of the vineyard.' Decanter characterizes the wines of the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard as 'deep, textured and finely balanced.'

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.sanfordwinery.com/About, https://www.sanfordwinery.com/About/History, https://www.sanfordwinery.com/About/Vineyards, https://www.sanfordwinery.com/About/Winemaking, https://www.sanfordwinery.com/About/The-Terlato-Family, https://www.sanfordwinery.com/About/Winery, https://www.sanfordwinery.com/About/Sustainability, https://www.sanfordwinery.com/shop-all-wines. Official source: Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 27 CFR 9.162 (ecfr.gov). Secondary sources: San Francisco Chronicle (Matt Kettmann, 30 July 2019), Wine Spectator (3 August 2002 and 30 September 2005) and Decanter (28 November 2017). Last verified 2026-10-19. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.