When the characters in &#8220SidewaysC launched their Central Coast wine tour, their first stop was the Sanford Winery. But the boys wouldn/t recognize the Sanford tasting room today.

The winery opened a new, state-of-the-art tasting room in July, and the facility was introduced to about 100 representatives of the media, distributors and the local community at a special open house Thursday.

Located on Santa Rosa Road about halfway between Lompoc and Buellton, the tasting room is the newest addi- tion to the winery complex at the company/s Rancho La Rinconada estate vineyard.

It replaces the Sanford tasting room previously located in an old house a ways down the road, and matches the architecture of the wine-production building that opened at the site in 2001.

The new tasting room will give Sanford visitors a complete winery experience.

&#8220It will give consumers the opportunity to be here, taste the wine and see the winery,C said John Terlato, who owns Sanford with brother Bill and father Anthony.

In addition to the main tasting room, it includes a private room for small groups and educational tastings, a kitchen and covered terraces in front and back to accommodate groups and special events.

For cool, crisp days, it has a double fireplace, one facing the tasting room and one facing the rear patio.

Its very design reflects the Terlato family/s commitment to quality and to the unique area where the winery and vineyards are located, Terlato said.

&#8220Our family/s mantra, the motto for us, is >Quality endures,/C Terlato said, seated in a country-style wooden bench on the tasting room patio overlooking sun-splashed vineyards. &#8220We are quality-driven. That/s what we believe in; that/s what drives us.C

That commitment was first applied to the Terlato family/s wines even before the wine industry/s trend toward luxury wines, Terlato said.

Now it/s been applied to the winery and tasting room, the construction of which he called &#8220thoughtful, using reclaimed wood and adobe in the original mission style.C

Blending old and new

Frank DeJohn, the tasting room manager, plans to start free tours of the entire facility 7 three a day 7 once this year/s production ends.

Giving visitors a preview tour Thursday, he explained Terlato/s comment about the &#8220thoughtfulC construction of the facility.

About 120,000 handmade adobe bricks form the walls of the winery and tasting room, which are trimmed with natural rock taken from the nearby Santa Ynez River, DeJohn said.

The huge structural timbers supporting the Spanish-tile roofs, the thick wooden doors, the stairs and railings, even parts of the wooden benches, came from a sawmill built in Washington state around 1910 and abandoned more than 30 years ago.

DeJohn said the sawmill was disassembled, and 500,000 board-feet of it 7 some timbers 80 feet long 7 were trucked to the western end of the Santa Ynez Valley to build the winery and tasting room on the site of a former bean and flower field.

Nestled amid 75 acres of pinot noir and 75 acres of chardonnay vines in two estate vineyards 7 Rancho La Rinconada and Sanford & Benedict, the oldest pinot noir vineyard in the area 7 the winery is highly energy-efficient, he said.

Its two 12,000-square-foot barrel rooms maintain a consistent 55-degree temperature without air conditioning, the result of the double-sided adobe walls and a simple water trough that controls the humidity surrounding the 3,000 oak barrels.

Between the two barrel rooms, inside a three-story structure, is an elevator system that uses gravity instead of pumps to rack the wine, moving it from fermenting tanks to barrels.

It/s the only one of its kind in the United States, DeJohn said.

Giant stainless steel racking tanks are lowered below ground level, and the wine flows down into them from other nearby tanks. Then the racking tanks are raised above ground level, and the wine flows down into barrels.

Bottling the best

Back on the tasting room patio, winemaker and general manager Steve Fennell talked about this year/s crop of Sanford wines.

&#8220We/re just starting the harvest, first the pinot noir, then following with the chardonnay,C he said. &#8220It/s a very busy time. Most of the heavy work in the vineyard has been done. Now, we/re really just caring for that fruit.

&#8220It/s a light crop; there/s not much fruit out there,C he added about the 2007 harvest. &#8220But the quality looks fantastic. It/s probably the best in the last 10 years.C

Although pinot noir thrives on the cool temperatures and the moist, salty marine layer that blows along the valley directly from the ocean, Fennell said the extreme cold spell in January resulted in this year/s low yield.

But, as is often the case with low yields, the vines put all their energy into producing extremely high-quality fruit.

&#8220Winemakers are optimists in general,C Fennell said. &#8220We/re always trying to make the best vintage yet.C

Inside, in the bright, airy tasting room, employees poured tastes of Sanford/s 2005 vintages 7 the Santa Barbara County Chardonnay, Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir, Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir and La Rinconada Vineyard Pinot Noir.

If the 2007 vintage is even better than those, Fennell may accomplish his goal.

Terlato and sons have long history in wine business

The Terlato family, which owns Sanford Winery & Vineyards, has a history in the wine industry that stretches back more than 60 years and covers virtually every aspect of the business.

Starting out as retailers, the Terlatos purchased a distribution company in Illinois in 1947, said John Terlato, who owns Sanford with brother Bill and father Anthony.

In 1960, the family purchased the Paterno Wines International import company, which later became Terlato Wines International, he said.

Terlato noted it was his father who first brought pinot grigio to the United States.

Unsure of which one would be best, he went into a little restaurant in the Trentino area of Italy, where the varietal originated, and ordered 18 bottles, Terlato said.

His father explained to the startled waiter that he wanted to learn all he could about pinot grigio and the people who produced it.

&#8220The restaurant owner came over, sat down and shared his insights,C Terlato said. &#8220In the end, (my father) decided that Santa Margarita produced the level of quality and consistency he wanted.C

That was the one he brought to the United States.

In 1996, the Terlatos purchased their first vineyard in Napa, and Terlato Wines International purchased an interest in Sanford in 2002.

Sanford Winery started in 1971, when its owners planted the first pinot noir vines in the Santa Rita Hills at the Sanford & Benedict vineyard.

Sanford/s first wines, handcrafted in a former hay barn, were released in 1976. Sanford moved to a winery facility in San Luis Obispo in 1981, then to larger facilities in Buellton in 1983.

In 1996, the La Rinconada vineyard was planted with pinot noir and chardonnay.

Faced with a marketing challenge in 2002, Sanford partnered with Terlato Wines International, and in 2005, Terlato Wine Group, its parent company, assumed a majority ownership in Sanford Winery.

The Terlato family also has winery investments and partnerships in Napa Valley and Sonoma County as well as Victoria, Australia, and the Rhone Valley of France.

Terlato said his family is not only committed to creating fine wine in the Santa Rita Hills area but also to doing it together.

&#8220We have a commitment to continue to be a family business,C he said.

7 Mike Hodgson

Associate editor Mike Hodgson can be reached at 739-2221 or mhodgson@santamariatimes.com.

September 23, 2007