Tag: ranch

Located in the heart of Santa Barbara wine country on a 10,000-acre working cattle ranch, the Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort gives wine tourists enough outdoor activities to be considered a real vacation. Established as a cattle ranch more than 150 years ago, the Alisal started welcoming summer guests in 1946.

The Alisal hearkens back to early California living at its finest. The tidy yet spacious grounds contain 73 guest units decorated in classic California ranch design with studio or one-bedroom suite floor plans. Each cozy room provides complimentary firewood to burn in the working fireplace, a refrigerator, and many creature comforts.

Tucked away in the hills of Santa Ynez Valley, Pence Ranch is a small artisanal winery dedicated to producing world-class wines that highlight the unique complexity of Santa Barbara terroir.

Proprietor Blair Pence founded the winery out of his longtime passion for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, particularly those produced in Burgundy, France. He traveled there often to learn how the region’s renowned wines are created, and then began searching for a suitable site to cultivate cool climate grapes of his own. In 2004, he finally found the perfect property: a 200-acre ranch on the western edge of Santa Barbara County.

Lovers of great wine, fresh food, and the Wild West feel they’ve found a slice of heaven when they discover Anselmo Vineyards and Seven Hills Land and Cattle Ranch at Inwood Valley, California, just east of Redding. When Reverge and Ramona Anselmo purchased the 15-acre working ranch in 2005, they revived five overgrown vineyard acres and planted five more. They also restored the 1850s farmhouse to serve as a tasting room and casual restaurant offering a first-class dining experience. Today, guests come from near and far to relax, enjoy the beauty of the ranch, and dine on natural, pasture-to-plate cuisine. Nearly everything is grown on the ranch, including the succulent beef and the splendid portfolio of Anselmo wines.