When Alexander Payne’s wine-drenched dramedy “Sideways” first came out, Santa Ynez Valley didn’t have the luster of Napa or the breadth of the Russian River Valley. It still doesn’t match the touristic draw of either, but the spunky kid sister of the California wine countries has grown up since 2004, when Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church took their fateful stag trip into the region, declaring war on Merlot and driving Pinot Noir sales through the roof.
Locals called it the “Sideways effect.” In the years since the film’s release, tourism to the region has exploded, whole towns have been built and eyes have been cast upon once sleepy Solvang, Buellton, Santa Ynez, Los Olivos and Los Alamos (there’s also a sixth town, Ballard, but it serves as a bedroom community for the region).
Before “Sideways,” Los Olivos was mostly known as the home of Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch; now it’s a burgeoning hamlet. Solvang, the vestige of a Danish settlement once regarded as something of an oddity of the Central Valley, now has lines out the door of every restaurant.
And the region has benefited from the cannabis industry capitalizing on the terroir that makes the wine taste so good. A total of 9.8 million pounds of pot were grown in the region last year, making it a more valuable crop than even wine grapes. Maybe Santa Ynez Valley needs a “Sideways 2” starring Cheech and Chong (actually, they don’t: cannabis is highly controversial among residents).
Of course, Santa Ynez Valley was wine country before “Sideways,” and it’ll always be a prime destination just a hop-skip from L.A. So plan your escape to Santa Ynez, where you can learn to play polo from a master, the shops are all hygge, the food is as good as it gets and the wine flows like water at countless estates.