Wine By Design: Santa Barbara’s Quest for Terroir

From its eighteenth-century beginnings, the Santa Barbara wine industry achieved success by embracing a ‘wine by design’ model. In this process farmers, wine makers, and entrepreneurs overcome roadblocks like diseases, government policies and regulations, and environmental concerns by utilizing the latest technological advances coupled with agribusiness capitalism.

As the American demand for premium wine-grapes intensified in the late twentieth century, the Northern California wine industry rapidly grew its boutique and innovative local designer winemaking to increase profit to meet demand and compete on a global scale. Set in the context of the regional, national, and global wine community, this story illuminates a regional story of how the Santa Barbara wine industry found solutions to current market conditions while utilizing local traditions to develop a new version of local wine terroir. An accomplishment that allowed them to compete in the global marketplace yet develop highly specialized wine that is unique to the region.

By employing leading-edge technology and entrepreneurship, the California Central Coast region of Santa Barbara became a model for the American vision of agricultural innovation and an integral part of the international wine trade, developing a personalized version of local wine terroir.