With so many Sparkling Wine and local champagne producers in Santa Barbara County, there are over a dozen places to taste local bubbles right in downtown Santa Barbara. 17 wineries make local Champagne you can taste and buy in downtown Santa Barbara, including 1 in Montecito and 1 in Summerland.
There are also more that are sold online, or to Wine Club only (link coming soon). Plus, check out these 2 wine bars that have local or natural bubbles for sale: Corks ‘n Crowns and Satellite.
Read on to find out where to sip!
See more! There are over 75 sparkling wine producers in Santa Barbara County.
Sparkling Wine in the City of Santa Barbara
1. Area 5.1 Winery
Area 5.1’s sparkling 2020 Supernova is a California Sparkling Wine that pairs perfectly with your New Year’s Eve celebrations, as well as all year long. Buy it by the taste, glass or bottle in the tasting room in SB’s Funk Zone.
Méthode Champenoise is how sparkling wine is made in the Champagne region of France, also called méthode traditionnelle or classique. This is the highest-quality and most labor-intensive way to make sparkling wine. It involves bottling the still wine with additions of sugar and yeast after a first fermentation, ensuring a second fermentation happens in the bottle, trapping the bubbles inside. It then goes through aging (and periodic turning of the bottles to force the lees to the neck of the bottle), until it’s ready for dégorgement (to get these lees out) and dosage (to finish the wine).
2. Cebada
Cebada has 4 Champagne method sparkling wines; 3 are in the very driest style of Champagne, called Brut Nature or Zero Dosage. This means zero sugar or liquor dosage is added at the end of the second fermentation in the bottle. The Blanc et Noir is a Pinot Noir-based bubbly with a small amount of Chardonnay, the Blanc de Noir is 100% Pinot Noir, and the Brut Nature Sparkling Rosé is also 100% Pinot Noir, but with a little skin contact to make it pink. There is also a Blanc de Blanc made 100% from Chardonnay.
3. Fess Parker
This is Fess Parker’s new tasting room in the Funk Zone! Fess Parker makes various different sparklers made in the Méthode Champenoise: Fesstivity Blanc De Noirs, Fesstivity Blanc De Blancs, Brut Rosé, and Brut Cuvée. They also make a red sparkling wine, Sibling Bubblery Sparkling Grenache. The only place to taste these sparkling wines in a flight is at The Bubble Shack in Los Olivos, Friday – Sunday. You can also buy bottles (as well as tastes or glasses) at Epiphany in Los Olivos, Fess Parker Winery on Foxen Canyon, and the SB Wine Collective here in the Funk Zone (#13 on this list).
4. Fox Wine Co.
Blair Fox has been the winemaker at Fess Parker for quite a few years, and he also makes Foxy Bubbles, a Champagne method, brut style Grenache Rosé, for Blair Fox Cellars in Los Olivos and Fox Wine Co. here in Santa Barbara.
5. J. Wilkes
The Champagne method Santa Maria Valley Brut Rosé by J. Wilkes is from the family-owned wine company that also brings us Bien Nacido. It’s a quality choice that has classic Champagne notes, and even a little Euro funk on the nose – in a good way! Perfect choice for Sunday brunch, afternoons on the patio and summer BBQs.
6. Kunin
Sparkling Zero Chenin Blanc Jurassic Park showcases a savory side of Chenin Blanc, and is made 100% in-house, at the winery in Goleta in the Méthode Champenoise. It’s bone dry, with zero dosage (no added sugar). It’s also sold out! Waiting for the next bottling…
7. La Lieff
La Lieff is a woman-owned winery, and recently opened their tasting room in downtown Santa Barbara. They have a new 2021 Sparkling Rosé, releasing in early 2023.
8. Margerum / Barden
Barden, part of the Margerum Wine Company, produces limited quantity, boutique wines made from grapes solely sourced from the world-renowned Sta. Rita Hills. Enjoy their 2019 Blanc de Blancs (made in méthode champensoise) as it is Barden’s first sparkling wine! You can get it by the glass or bottle at their Santa Barbara tasting room. It’s not on any tasting list, but just ask and they will always pour it for you.
9. Melville Winery
Like Kunin’s bubbles, both the Blanc de Noir Estate and the Blanc de Blancs are made in the traditional method with no dosage (added sugar) making it also is super dry. This urban tasting room is great for lounging with a glass of wine, and Melville’s Estate Winery is in Sta. Rita Hills. Both are also sold out, so now we wait….
10. Municipal Winemakers
This fun, quirky brand doesn’t disappoint with its bubbly bottlings on both ends of the spectrum. One is made in the Champagne method, aged en tirage (on lees in the bottle) on its side for 10 years, the 10-Year Fizz sparkling Shiraz, making it one of the most special, rare wines they’ve ever released. The other is the club-only Mubbly, made from stuff like Arneis, Chardonnay, and Riesling picked at low sugars and then fermented to dryness in stainless steel. Bubbles are then added to the bottle for an easy drinker!
11. Pali Wine Co.
Pali produces Pinot Noir and Chardonnay sourced primarily from vineyards in the Sta. Rita Hills and neighboring wine-growing regions. Pali has several releases of Bubbles: a bone-dry (zero dosage) méthode-champenoise Sparkling Wine–Pali Vineyard made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and a limited “Pet Moon Pink” Pét-Nat collab with Neighborhood Winery. They also have a tasting room in Lompoc’s Wine Ghetto.
Pétillant Naturel, or Pét-Nat, is an even more ancient way to make sparkling wine than the widely-used méthode champenoise (also called méthode traditionelle) originated in Champagne, France. In the méthode ancestrale, the wine is bottled with a crown cap before it even finishes its first fermentation, so it develops carbon dioxide as it goes. It’s not disgorged, often unfiltered, and can be made from any grape variety.
12. Potek
From the same winemaker as Municipal, comes a traditional, elegant sparkling wine in the classic Méthode Champenoise. This Blanc de Blanc Sparkling Chardonnay is sold out – we’ll see what’s next.
13. Riverbench – flights!
This iconic winery is located at the northern end of Foxen Canyon in Santa Maria Valley, and this Funk Zone tasting room always offers a flight of Champagne method sparklers all made in-house. They are a pioneer of sparkling wine and were the first in Santa Barbara County to plant Pinot Meunier (one of the 3 grapes allowed for Champagne in France) solely for the sparkling wine program. They make between 7-8 sparkling wines, and you can always get a flight (or join a Bubbles Club!) at either location. Read more about Riverbench here.
14. Santa Barbara Winery
A true original in Santa Barbara County, this bubbly comes from the county’s very first winery! The Sparkling Rosé is made from Pinot Noir in the Sta. Rita Hills, a renowned growing area for Pinot Noir. This is also available as sister label, Lafond Sparkling Rosé in the Sta. Rita Hills. They are made in the classic Champagne stye, aged for 16 months on the yeast in bottle before disgorging to add mid-palate texture.
15. SB Wine Collective
This spot carries wines from various wineries in Santa Barbara County, and changes its lineups periodically. In Fall 2022, find Fess Parker “Fesstivity” Blanc de Noirs, Fess Parker “Fesstivity” Brut Rosé (both Champagne method), and Final Girl Sparkling Viognier Pét Nat, all from Santa Barbara County grapes.
Montecito & Summerland Sparkling Wine
16. Folded Hills
Folded Hills makes 2 sparkling wines: Sparkling Rosé of Grenache & Sparkling Clairette Blanche, both made in the Champagne method. Visiting the farm and winery on the 101 near Buellton is a treasure, but their Montecito tasting room is also divine.
17. Summerland
Summerland produces 2 sparkling wines: Sparkling Rosé (grapes from somewhere in California) and North Coast Blanc de Blanc (grapes from the California’s cool North Coast), both made in the Champagne method.
See more! There are over 75 sparkling wine producers in Santa Barbara County.
Sparkling Wine in San Luis Obispo Wine Country
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