Taxonomy: 2022 Tour

At this lush ranch in the rolling hills of California’s central coast, host vintner Jeff LeBard and his team tend to a variety of warmer-climate grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc and transform that fruit into some very lovely wines. After a reception at the historic barn, we’ll take a stroll around the property and settle into the table set in their sun-soaked vineyard or under the shade of the live oaks, depending on the weather. Then we’ll sip on a sampling of Gainey Family wines while guest chefs Jeff and Janet Olsson of Industrial Eats work their magic in the field kitchen. This husband-and-wife chef team has cooked for us several times over the years at many equally extraordinary sites. They’re also masters of the wood-burning oven and good friends with a slew of sustainable farms, foragers and fisherpeople across the Central Coast which they’ll source from for the menu.

One long table set between the vines surrounded by rolling golden hills and the pink light of early summer sun. A place like this deserves two nights. This plot of land in the eastern end of Santa Ynez Valley is ideal for growing warmer-climate grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc and host vintner Jeff LeBard and his team transform all that high-quality fruit into some very scrumptious wines in their on-site cellar. We’ll sample many varieties of their delicious wines alongside our meal from guest chefs Lauren and Christina Olufson. Lauren and Christina have quite the culinary chops between the two of them, including long tenures at Suzanne Goin’s a.o.c. and Luques in L.A. In 2019, the couple opened Bossie’s Kitchen in Santa Barbara in The Live Oak Dairy building, a Milpas Street landmark built in the last phase of Art Deco in the late 1930’s. At Bossies, they’re committed to sourcing local and organic ingredients from the abundance of area farms. This dynamic duo cooked for us earlier this year at Dos Pueblos Orchid Farm and we are thrilled to have them back in the field kitchen.

This vineyard and winery is the brainchild of host vintner Matthew Rorick and the result of his very hardworking team of vignerons, farmworkers and cellar hands. We feel quite lucky to dine among their 75 acres of organically grown grapes in the Sierra Foothills — where steep rows of vines are surrounded by thick woods and cascading hills gleaming under the California sun. The property’s limestone soils and 2,000 ft. elevation make for elegant, distinctive wines with deep aromatics, texture, and acidity. And low intervention winemaking without additives or commercial yeasts means the wines maintain their natural terroir. We’ll taste all those delicious wines alongside a Mediterranean meal from guest chef Kevin O’Connor. He’s a Sierra Foothills native passionate about hunting, foraging, and cooking outdoors. He’s also a self proclaimed olive oil geek and a certified olive oil sommelier. This is bound to be a fun one.

Napa wines have become some of the most hyped, celebrated, and sought after wines available and we have noticed that the wineries in the Valley seem to fall into two camps – the old guard and the new kids in town. While we aren’t going to make an argument here about which is better, we definitely admire and revere the history, longevity, and style of Mayacamas Winery. The vines at Mayacamas Winery cling to the side of Mt Veeder up to 2,400 feet above the valley floor, and this high elevation fruit offers depth, nuance, and intensity. It also makes for stupendous views from the table — acres of terraced vineyards, wildflower meadows, rugged mountains dotted with firs. On a clear day, you can see all the way to San Francisco. Couple all of that with a winemaking style that tips its hat to the old world and very limited production, and you have a wine so desirable that Mayacamas constantly sells out of current vintages. To say that we feel lucky to set our table at the top of all of this is an understatement. Luckier still is that Mayacamas is opening its vintage library to us for this occasion, so the wines we will be enjoying at the table will have some of their own history, and we can’t wait to see what story they tell us from the glass. Joining us from just on the other side of the hill, Sonoma’s the girl & the fig is the legendary restaurant we’ve chosen to work with for our feast between the vines. The restaurant is well-known for its award-winning wine list and a rotating seasonal menu featuring locally grown produce and wild-caught fish.

This charming family farm near our hometown of Santa Cruz has been an OITF staple since the beginning. Take a stroll through their 45 acres of bountiful farmland and you’ll find persimmons, beets, blackberries, cider apples, artichokes and other goodies along with a lively flock of laying hens and a herd of friendly goats. Guest chefs Jessica Yarr and Cynthia Leung will share the field kitchen on our first night. Jessica is a Santa Cruz native who worked at hotspots Gabriella Cafe and Assembly before opening Chicken Foot early last year. Her menus combine the flavors and food traditions of her Ukrainian heritage with the agricultural bounty of the Bay Area. Cynthia is a French pastry aficionado. She studied French pastry in Paris and worked at the 3-Michelin starred Guy Savoy before starting C.ie.L Patisserie during the pandemic. She bakes up a variety of French classics like madeleines and sablés using locally sourced ingredients and the flavors from her East Asian heritage. Think black sesame madeleines, California citrus tarts and matcha sablés. Yum.