WINERY PROFILE
Kitá Wines: Blending the Natural Elements of Life into Wine by Hana-Lee Sedgwick PHOTOGRAPHY BY COLIN QUIRT
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t’s not every day that a local winery makes history. The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians is the first tribe to own and operate both a winery and a vineyard. And their Kitá Wines have helped them put their stamp on the wine world. Kitá Wines, which translates to “our valley oak” in the Chumash native language of Samala, was founded in 2010. That same year, the tribe hired Tara Gomez, Santa Maria native and daughter of the tribe chairman, as the winemaker. While many people most strongly associate the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash with their casino, I wanted to get to know another side of the Chumash: as players in the wine industry. So, on an uncharacteristically cold winter day (we’re talking in the 30s), I set out to meet with Tara at Kitá’s winemaking 28 | EDIBLE SANTA BARBARA SPRING 2017
facility in the Lompoc Wine Ghetto. It’s early on a Sunday morning and two days before she’s leaving the country no less, but Tara opens the door with a smile and warmly welcomes me into the winery. After a quick tour, I ask her how she got into wine. “As a kid, I loved exploring nature,” she responds. “I remember having a microscope and looking closely at things I would find outside.” It wasn’t long before that fascination grew into an interest in wine and later, with the help of a scholarship from her tribe, Tara entered the enology program at California State University Fresno. While at CSU Fresno, she interned at Fess Parker Winery, where she was hired as the enologist after graduation.