WINE
STANDING SUN
BLENDS BOTTLES WITH BANDS
John Wright Throws Concerts in His Buellton Winery by Matt Kettmann
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s a preservation architect on the East Coast, John Wright restored old farmhouses into comfortable homes. Upon coming to the West Coast with his wife — soap opera star Laura Wright, who left the New York–based Guiding Light series for General Hospital in Los Angeles — Wright discovered that restoration wasn’t in particular demand, but found some similarities in making wine. “Wine is a creative process with design and construction,” explained Wright, who started making 100 cases of Santa Ynez Valley wine with Joey Tensley in 2007 and steadily grew to the 3,000 cases he makes today under the Standing Sun brand.“There’s steel and wood and glass, and you are taking a raw ingredient and turning it into a finished product.” He did put his architecture skills to work by designing his facility at the end of Second Street in Buellton, where visitors to the tasting room can watch winemaking in action.“To me, the process is as important as the finished product,” said Wright, who makes mostly Rhône varietals and blends, as well as pinot noir and riesling. “When I go to a restaurant, I want to see the chef cooking, and I think a lot of people want to see the same things in action.” By 2012, he still felt his new career “was lacking the rest of the picture,” so Wright sought synergy with the singer/songwriter community by submitting “Standing Sun” as the name of a band into the Outlaw Roadshow in Austin, Texas, held during South by Southwest. “I felt like, independently and creatively, I was doing the same thing,” said Wright, whose follow-up tweet cemented his role as the event’s wine sponsor. He invited the musicians he met to come play his winery between gigs in L.A. and the Bay Area. Nearly 60 bands have played the winery since the Standing Sun Live series started in June 2012, and each concert also features a handful of food trucks and specially priced “Live” wines, making for a high-value $30 to $40 night when you
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n the afternoon Chef David Rosner of August 13, the Wine Cask’s servers gathered around the back bar to experience the new menu created by Chef David Rosner. He arrived from his native New York City about three weeks earlier to take the helm of the classically focused yet carefully innovative Santa BarSONIC PAIRINGS: Sunday night’s performance by Nashville bara kitchen. As Rosner described the ingredients of harissa, how singer/songwriter Patrick Sweany was just the latest for he first poaches some meats to render fat, and the specifics of his Standing Sun Live, winemaker John Wright’s music series that’s “free-range, air-chilled chicken,” the crew sampled the dishes for brought 60 bands so far to Buellton. the first time, occasionally inquiring about gluten and other popular allergies and quizzing him on the details of each plate. include the $10 cover, all of which goes to the band. Though he hadn’t been in a Santa Barbara kitchen since “The series is getting really great, nationally touring acts,” said Wright, who admittedly loses money on MORE his time at Café Luck on Cota Street from 2008 to 2011, the project but sees it as a way to foster community FOOD Rosner — who replaced longtime Chef Brandon Hughes, now at Montecito’s Birnam Wood Golf Club — answered and expose his brand.“We’re trying to bring a unique SEE P. 70 the questions well, giving sincere nods to the town’s manand eclectic group of singer/songwriters.” tras of seasonality and sustainability. For co-owner Mitchell That’s included the band honeyhoney, which played Sjerven, even more important was Rosner’s appreciation of Santa to about 100 people in between sold-out gigs at the Fillmore Barbara’s unique fine-dining needs — in short, those who regularly in S.F. and Fonda in L.A., and The Stone Foxes, who “played eat on white tablecloths here tend to prefer well-done standards to 40 people like they were playing the Wembley Arena,” to adventurous experiments.“We wanted to find someone who recalled Wright. “The people there got to see the absolute understood our program,” said Sjerven, admitting the search was coolest show.” The biggest concert yet is coming up on Septough.“We didn’t want someone who was going to put Sriracha on tember 27, when six bands will play the inaugural Harvest everything.” Blues Festival and Wright’s friend from college DJ BBQ will There was no Sriracha at the sampling, and Rosner is quite unleash his grilling-meets-performance art show that he happy to be back.“As a chef, this is one of the most fortunate places calls “cater-tainment.” to be in the country,” he explained, as the staff went off to offer the Wright’s expanding vision goes beyond just music. He inaugural dishes. There’s the bounty of fresh produce, of course, recently opened an art gallery next door and is cultivating but Rosner enjoys cooking for both the formal Wine Cask and the an industrial-chic vibe in this tucked-away collection of “blue jeans and T-shirt” setting of the adjacent Intermezzo.“Eletasting rooms (Cold Heaven, Crawford Family Wines) and gant and casual,” said Rosner, who trained at the Culinary Institute other assorted manufacturers. Explained Wright,“I basically of America in upstate New York and also tallied more than 11 years am trying to build my own Funk Zone of industrial, artistic, combined at Manhattan’s iconic restaurants Balthazar and Daniel. high-quality stuff.” The recipe is still warming up, but more “To have both on the same property is a dream.” and more people are coming to the table, which should spell Here are three highlights off the current menu, which will cool things for this hidden corner of Buellton. change a bit next season:
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Standing Sun Winery (92 2nd St., Unit D, Buellton; 691-9413; standingsunwines .com) hosts Makua Rothman on September 13, Kathleen Sieck on September 20, the Harvest Blues Festival on September 27, and Joe Fletcher on October 2.
CELEBRATING 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF SIDEWAYS
Ten years ago, Sideways put Santa Barbara wine country on the worldwide map. To celebrate the award-winning film’s 10th anniversary, there will be a free, star-studded screening at the Arlington Theatre on Sunday, September 28, at 3 p.m. (tickets are now available at the box office). Until then, be on the lookout for the 100 six-foot tall Sideways signs that are popping up throughout Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley over the next few days thanks to Visit Santa Barbara. Enter your best photo by tagging #Sideways10 on Twitter or Instagram, or uploading them to sideways10.com/enter. Daily winners get a copy of the film, with a grand prize winner getting a wine-country vacation. — MK
Summer Wild Kale Salad: The greens are accompanied by
market beets, beet purée, quinoa, shaved parmesan, toasted hazelnuts, and a hazelnut vinaigrette.“I want to represent what’s around us, so it’s a very American Riviera approach,” said Rosner, who frequents the farmers’ markets.“You let the vegetables speak for themselves.
Duo of Beef: Served with carrots, turnips, and a pomme purée,
the roasted ribeye and braised short rib are hormone-free,“clean, clean beef,” according to Rosner, who sources domestically rather than going abroad for wagyu meat.“I don’t need to fly something into the county that I feel we do here better than everyone else,” he explained. Roasted Rack of Lamb: Served as a disassembled rack with fried
artichokes and crushed potatoes, this entrée highlight is also a duo of sorts, coming with braised lamb belly.“Think lamb bacon,” Rosner tells the staff, to which one replied,“This is the game-changer. — MK That’s so good.”
Paul Giamatti (left) and Thomas Haden Church star in Sideways.
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Wine Cask is located at 813 Anacapa Street. Call 966-9463 or see winecask.com.