The boutique winery opens a second tasting room in Santa Barbara County, providing yet another welcoming place to experience their award-winning, small-batch wines within the chic ranch setting.
July 10, 2019 (Santa Ynez Valley, CA) – Folded Hills, the boutique winery and ranch dedicated to crafting small-production Rhône varietal wines from their organically grown estate vineyards in the Santa Ynez Valley, is pleased to announce the opening of its newest tasting room in the original homestead on the ranch – a much-anticipated follow up to their urban tasting room in Montecito.
Located in the Santa Ynez Valley, Folded Hills is a 600-acre ranch, vineyard and farmstead owned by Kim and Andy Busch. Originally from St. Louis Missouri, the family relocated to California in 2002 and purchased the ranch in 2004 as a place to lay down family roots for generations. After discovering pre Prohibition grapes were grown on the property, the Busch’s continued the tradition by planting a vineyard to make wine, later launching Folded Hills Winery in 2017. Today, Folded Hills is planted to 15 acres of organically-grown grenache, syrah, grenache blanc, marsanne and clairette blanche in what is deemed the closest vineyard to the coast in the Santa Ynez Valley.
On the heels of opening the Folded Hills Tasting Room in Montecito, the Busch family has unveiled a new tasting room location on the ranch, which occupies the original dwelling of a simple homesteader who settled on the land in 1898. After restoring the home to preserve its nostalgic characteristics, and enhancing the space to include modern comforts and conveniences, the Folded Hills Estate Tasting Room at the Homestead officially opened its doors on Friday, July 12 and is now welcoming guests from 11:00am – 5:00pm daily. Offering an inviting place to enjoy the winery’s acclaimed wines by the glass, tasting flight or bottle (as well as bottles to-go), the tasting room combines beautiful indoor and outdoor spaces, modern amenities and a relaxed, yet chic ranch setting. It’s a picturesque alternative to the more urban setting of their Montecito tasting room – Montecito’s first wine tasting room – located along Coast Village Road.
“Because the Folded Hills Estate Tasting Room at the Homestead is in the original farmhouse on the property, we very much wanted visitors to feel that they were walking into a home, that they would be greeted as our personal guests, which they are,” says Kim Busch. “The farmhouse is so welcoming and charming that it was easy to bring it back to its warmth while keeping the ranch feel. It’s a space where people can feel at home, come as they are, put their boots up and just relax.” Consisting of a tasting “living room” setting, a tasting bar, a private tasting room and several casual areas to sip wine al fresco, adding to the relaxed ambiance are the surrounding natural open spaces, fruit trees, Bocce ball courts, vines and the ranch’s nearby farm animals.
“Whether at our Montecito tasting room or at the Estate Tasting Room at the Homestead, we believe that wine is an experience to be shared. It’s a feeling, a memory, a connection,” adds Kim. “We want everyone who visits to feel at home, pampered and connected to the land and the people they are with. We like to say that at our estate we have weak Wifi but strong connections.”
Folded Hills Estate Tasting Room at the Homestead is open daily from 11:00am – 5:00pm, with no advanced reservations needed for drop-in tastings. Private tastings are currently available by appointment only. Please email wine@foldedhills.com to arrange.
Folded Hills Montecito Tasting Room and Wine Shop is open daily at 12:00pm, closing at 6:00pm on weekdays and 8:00pm on Friday through Sunday. No reservations necessary.
