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santa barbara vinti business g 135 other county lands. The purchases included 350 acres of unplanted land in Santa Maria and the Sierra Madre Vineyard.17 Not all participants in the Santa Barbara County wine industry feared the influx of northern vintibusinesses. Vineyard manager Jeff Newton believed that “the large wineries of Mondavi and Kendall-Jackson brought in the expertise and capital necessary to make the industry work.”18 Bryan Babcock added that “it is real healthy when people think enough of an area to come to the county and speculate in its soil and vineyards,” and he believed that “it will only help in the long run.”19 Between 1988 and 1996 California’s fifteen largest winegrape growers created a “vineyard royalty” that increased their vineyard ownership by 75 percent. For Santa Barbara County this meant that Wine World, Robert Mondavi Winery, and Kendall-Jackson vintibusinesses assumed ownership of more than 6,300 acres of the county’s nearly 10,000 acres of premium winegrapes. The top independent growers of Santa Barbara County dwindled to include Bien Nacido (589 acres), Firestone (448 acres), Rancho Sisquoc (408 acres), Zaca Mesa (224 acres), Carrari Vineyards (150 acres), Lucas Brothers (150 acres), Stolpman Vineyards (110 acres), Gainey Vineyards (85 acres), and small acreages maintained by wineries like Carey , Mosby, Buttonwood, Brander, Santa Ynez, and Santa Barbara.20 High industry demand and short supply encouraged the continued explosive growth in the county through the year 2000. Some began to consider Santa Barbara County to be the Silicon Valley of California’s wine industry . County wine giants moved to further expand their facilities. Kendall-Jackson Vineyards secured county permission to build two compacted earthern reservoirs to store 39 million gallons of water for its vineyards . Beringer Wine Estates soon followed with four earthen reservoirs. Beringer also built a tasting room for its Meridian Vineyards wines in the downtown Santa Barbara Paseo Nuevo Shopping Center.21 The Local Business of Wine Many independent Santa Barbara County wineries, mainly situated in Santa Ynez, secured alternative fruit supplies after their loss of Santa Maria grapes to northern wineries. Fears of the demise of the region’s in- 136 h salud ! dependent wineries subsided as local artisan wine businesses either sold their vineyard or winery, expanded their vineyard holdings and winery production, or adapted new marketing strategies. Funding for the expansion emanated from a strong U.S. and recovering California economy that permitted a new generation of professionals to retire to the wine lifestyle . For some, survival came by selling the winery to an investor willing to modernize and expand the business. In 1986 Firestone Vineyards purchased the 25 acres of grapes and 7,000-case production facility of J. Carey Cellars. English industrialist Robert Atkin and his wife, Janice, wine collectors, committed their retirement to the wine lifestyle in 1990 when they purchased the Benedict Vineyard and 674-acre ranch for a reported $2.5 million.22 This new influx of capital quickly expedited plans for a subterranean winery with a production of about 50,000 cases per year. The Atkins, also partners in the Sanford Winery, then hired Sanford as the vineyard manager and reunited him with the vineyard. Sanford decided to retain most of the vineyard’s Pinot Noir grapes and began plans to plant 150 acres of vineyards on his own 485-acre Rancho Rinconda. Capital for this multimillion-dollar vineyard would come from his newest partner, Robert Kidder, chairman of Borden Corporation and former chairman of Duracell Corporation.23 By the early 1990s Austin Cellars, faced with the necessity to recapitalize the winery, chose to sell to Art White, Napa and European wine researcher . In 1992 White and a silent partner formed the Santa Ynez Wine Corporation and purchased Austin Cellars. The niche for the small, vertically integrated enterprise would be centered on a converted home in the center of the Los Olivos tourist and art community. White said he was interested in “developing a close synergy between the businesses in Los Olivos , especially the restaurant, art galleries and our wines.”24 White, his wife, Nancy, winemaker Clay Thompson, and art gallery director Randy Viau created a two-room retail business that offered wine, gourmet snacks, Lenox china, tourist gifts, paintings, and sculpture. The struggle to stand apart in a crowded premium-wine industry requires the development of a marketing image. For years Zaca Mesa had watched its wine image decline, and in 1993 general manager Jeff Maiken [3.14.246...

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