Santa Barbara County's Happy Canyon approved as a new wine appellation

  Happy Canyon: Cabernet Sauvignon vines in Star Lane Vineyard

On Thursday, October 8, the TTB (the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the Federal Government) made a final ruling in approving the establishment of the Happy Canyon appellation in the Santa Barbara County viticultural area.

The decision, a long time coming, was based on a petition written by vintner Wes Hagen, whose Clos Pepe Vineyards is located in Sta. Rita Hills. Hagen had previously written the petition that established Sta. Rita Hills as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in 2001.

Approving a viticultural area by a branch of the Federal government is not a recommendation or endorsement of the wines of that area. But the establishment of a viticultural area allows vintners to more accurately describe the origin of  their wines to consumers and helps consumers identify those wines. It also indicates that the wines from the area have a particularly quality, reputation or other characteristics that are defined by its geographical origin.

Happy Canyon consists of 23,941 acres, 492 of which are planted to grapes in 6 separate vineyards. Happy Canyon lies entirely with the Santa Ynez Valley viticultural area, but the petition lays out how different and distinguishable it is from other areas of the Santa Ynez Valley.

Happy Canyon is in the eastern edge of Santa Ynez Valley, while Sta. Rita Hills is on the western edge, which is closer to the ocean. Anecdotally, vintners often make the claim that, in the summer, for every mile you go east from Sta. Rita Hills, you can expect the temperature to increase one degree. For example, when it's 76 degrees on the western edge of the Santa Ynez Valley, it might be 90 degrees on the far eastern edge. In fact, the daytime highs and nighttime lows in Happy Canyon vary more in a 24 hour period than anywhere in valley.

But temperature and climate are not the only distinguishing features of Happy Canyon. There are also demonstrated differences in topography, drainage, soil and geography. Much of this evidence is scientific in nature, but suffice it to say, the petition makes a case for and supports how different Happy Canyon is from the rest of the Santa Ynez Valley. The Happy Canyon area's western boundary is 3 miles east of Highway 154 and continues west into the canyon. For wine travelers seeking direction, a good landmark would be Brander Vineyards or Bridlewood Winery and Vineyards: they are not in Happy Canyon, but the area begins several miles east of them. 

While the Sta. Rita Hills area, because of it's cool climate, is best known for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Happy Canyon, because of its warmer climate, is best known for Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, as well as a smattering of Syrah and Sangiovese. Traditionally many areas of Santa Barbara County where Bordeaux varietals were originally planted turned out not to be warm enough to ripen them. Happy Canyon, on the other hand, because of its location, gets enough heat to fully ripen the grapes.

Presently, six vineyards dot the Happy Canyon landscape: Cimarone, Grassini, Happy Canyon, McGinley (formerly Westerly), Star Lane and Vogelzang. While they make wines under their own labels, their effect is wide ranging because many sell grapes to well known wineries such as Rusack, Ojai, Margerum, Fiddlehead, Brander, Carhartt and Babcock. In the future, you can expect to see the "Happy Canyon" moniker proudly displayed as an origin of appellation on many of these bottlings.

For more information on the wineries of the Happy Canyon appellation, click here.