Firestone Vineyard
Four years after Temecula’s first vines went in, the Firestone family planted Santa Barbara County’s first estate winery outside Los Olivos — and the county’s whole wine story grew up around it.
The name is exactly the one on the tires: Leonard Firestone, son of the tire founder, and his son Brooks established Santa Barbara County’s first estate winery in 1972, on rolling ranch land above the Santa Ynez Valley. It was the bet that opened the county — the same wager Temecula’s pioneers were making in the same years, seven hills and one ocean fog apart — and half a century later the estate still anchors the Foxen Canyon wine trail.
The visit is big-sky Santa Barbara: a timber-and-stone estate winery looking over its own sweep of sustainably farmed vines, pouring the county’s signatures — Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, then Merlot, Cabernet and their Bordeaux company. Start here the way the county did, then follow Foxen Canyon north as the road unspools winery by winery.
What to expect
| Go for | Where Santa Barbara wine began — the county’s first estate winery, still pouring over its own vines |
|---|---|
| The house | Founded 1972 by Leonard and Brooks Firestone — yes, that Firestone family — outside Los Olivos |
| The trail | The anchor of Foxen Canyon — wine country’s prettiest detour road runs right past the gate |
| From the valley | The Central Coast leg — about three hours northwest, an easy pair with Los Olivos’s tasting-room village |
Featured videos
The county’s founding estate and its golden hills — Firestone and the Santa Ynez Valley on film.
More of this direction
The other central coast doors on the shortlist — every one worth the drive back to Temecula.