Santa Ynez Valley: a quirky Californian wine region

It was the hit film "Sideways" that put the Santa Ynez Valley on the map, said Francesca Angelini in The Times. Fifty years ago, this beautiful wine region two hours' drive north of Los Angeles was "proper hardscrabble frontier country". Then a few bold souls began planting vines, and soon wineries were springing up all over. 

Still, the valley remained an oenophile's secret until 2004, when it appeared in Alexander Payne's quirky road movie about two wine-loving friends and their midlife crises. After that, Los Angelenos began visiting, and Santa Ynez became known as "the new Napa". But while the Napa Valley – California's most established wine region – can be "stuffy", Santa Ynez retains its pioneering spirit. Its 235 vineyards are all independent, and some produce as little as 80 cases each year. 

Driving into the valley, you know you're entering ranch country because of the horses grazing everywhere behind white picket fences. Its "velvet green hills" are faintly reminiscent of the Cotswolds, although bears and mountain lions roam their remote reaches. In its six hamlets, stores selling horse feed sit next to boutiques specialising in "£28 scented soya candles" – a mixture of "rugged rustic" life and "modern luxury" that I found appealing. The newest and most "stylish" of the valley's hotels is The Inn at Mattei's Tavern, a stylish "beautifully renovated" former 19th century stagecoach stop in Los Olivos. With its spa, festoon lights, lavender beds and fire pits, it's a lovely place to while away the cool evenings. 

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Santa Ynez is blessed because it's a transverse valley (that is, it runs east to west), which means a sea breeze and microclimates that allow you to grow "pretty much any grape". This makes for wonderfully varied tastings at its wineries. It also has "some of the best food in California" (I can particularly recommend Bar Le Côte, a French-influenced "seafood tavern" in Los Olivos). And the hiking on offer is splendid, with trails such as the fourmile Lover's Loop wending among fields of wildflowers and oak trees – "a very pleasant way to clear a head".

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