The Origin Story Of Saucelito Canyon Vineyard And Bill Greenough | Part One

This Legend is about a remote canyon in the upper Arroyo Grande Valley, formerly known as Rancho Saucelito. This unique place in our South County is home to the oldest vineyard, continually growing Zinfandel, in San Luis Obispo County. The terroir and ecosystem were formed thousands of years ago. It has been nurtured by two important families between 1878 and the present. It is the land that ties these people together; each family had unique backgrounds and personal challenges that brought them to San Luis Obispo County. Both families made the same discovery of land and climate, creating a perfect place to grow Zinfandel

The first family, Henry and Rosa Ditmas, worked the land and discovered it was located in a remote area where plants, trees, and chaparral unexpectedly thrived beyond all expectations. The Ditmas family studied Saucelito Canyon carefully and applied their skills to plant this landscape with Zinfandel vines on their own roots. They were continually learning how the land and vines thrived in a unique microclimate. The most interesting question is how did Henry select Zinfandel grapes to plant in his first vineyard in 1879? We may never know, although we continue our research.  This was the only vineyard where Zinfandel grapes thrived south of the Cuesta Grade until the 21st century.

The young A. B. Hasbrouck was seeking adventure in the wild west. He came from a wealthy family in upstate New York. After losing his fortune in a mining investment in Colorado, he found work with early local settlers, the Steele Brothers, famous for their cattle and dairy businesses in the Upper Arroyo Grande Valley. A.B. worked hard, learned the cattle business, saved his money, and eventually purchased his own land in the Upper Arroyo Grande Valley in 1883. He named his new venture Rancho St. Remy and became well known for his dairy business, cheese production, and vegetable gardens. He planted his first vineyard in 1885. He built the first winery in the Upper Arroyo Grande Valley in 1886 and studied viticulture and winemaking. He sought advice on viticulture and bought grapes to make wine from Henry Ditmas. A.B. had a style and grace that made him a legend in hospitality on the Central Coast.

Bill Greenough grew up in postwar Montecito in the late 1940s and 1950s. This rural town is located on the California Coast, not far from the harbor in Santa Barbara. Bill’s childhood was a time when children were free to explore the neighboring ponds and the woods and make their own outdoor adventures. Their parents had no idea or concern about their whereabouts on lazy summer days. Bill made friends and spent time with fishermen and sailors who had served in World War II. He often sailed and worked on small boats with them. The stories shared and the interesting people he met influenced Bill greatly. Bill graduated high school from the Dunn School in Los Olivos in 1962 and earned an English degree at the University of Arizona. 

Bill returned to Montecito. He loved to build things. He soon became part of the counterculture that was thriving on Mountain Drive. His first notable project was the adobe house he built on East Mountain Drive in 1971. The house was designed by architect Bob Easton and impressed local lovers of Santa Barbara architecture. But the lasting impact of Mountain Drive on Bill’s future plans was the celebration of the Annual Grape Stomp; the Wine Queen removed her clothes and shoes, and stepped into the large vat to stomp the mixture of harvested grapes, some from as far away as San Luis Obispo County. Bill followed the tradition, disrobing and stomping, joined by friends and wine lovers. He also began to visit the vineyard of grower Mel Castell to buy grapes and celebrate among the vines in San Luis Obispo County.

Personal relationships shifted, and Bill found himself in search of himself, and although he did not know it then, it was a search for his own land – a place where he could communicate with plants, trees, and chaparral. The desire to bond with the land was pivotal. But he was also searching for a new life, a new commitment, peace, and privacy. Bill found that place in Saucelito Canyon – the most unique terroir for growing Zinfandel in San Luis Obispo County. The wines were waiting for him – waiting almost 50 years for rescue and release. I hope Henry Ditmas is watching from above. His legacy continues with Bill, a person with similar commitment and understanding of the ecosystem of Saucelito Canyon. Bill’s goal in 1974 was to craft an estate-grown, limited-production of  Zinfandel that would stand apart from all others in this unusual location.

The Impact On The Wine History Of SLO County

• The recognition of the unusual terroir, a fluke in geography, that supports a microclimate where Zinfandel and Bordeaux grape varieties thrive in the South County of San Luis Obispo. Saucelito Canyon is known as Zinfandel country. Bill Greenough decided, after spending a weekend alone camping and exploring the property, to purchase 560 acres.

• Bill Greenough made the decision to restore and revive 1120 Zinfandel vines of the 1500 originally planted in 1879 to 1880 by Henry Ditmas. These vines occupy a three-acre block of head-pruned, dry-farmed Zinfandel – the oldest commercial vineyard in San Luis Obispo County. Bill Greenough removed the plants and poison oak covering each vine and dug down to the crown with a pick and a shovel to restore each vine starting in 1974.

• The vines have been growing Zinfandel vines on their own rootstock; the first 1500 vines are believed to have been imported from Europe in the 1870s.

• Three additional Zinfandel blocks totaling six acres were planted in the late 1970s and early 1980s. An additional acre of Zinfandel was planted in 2014 from the original old vine heritage clone.

• The vineyard produces Zinfandel wines that express their unique terroir and do not taste like any other Zinfandel wines produced in California. Production is limited.

• Bill was one of the first in the county to discuss the importance of ecosystems in understanding the environment of San Luis Obispo County, including the interrelationship among chaparral, native plants, and trees with climate, weather, and soil in Saucelito Canyon. Bill describes his small vineyard as “tucked gently into the chaparral as it has been for more than 130 years.”

• Each bottle of wine depicts a silhouette of Saucelito Canyon and the surrounding mountains, as a testament to the wine’s most important ingredient – place.

• The winemaker, Bill Greenough, developed a Late Harvest Zinfandel with intense flavors from grape clusters on old grape vines in 1989. It is made most years with a very limited production.

• Bill developed a tradition of making Saucelito Canyon’s award-winning wines affordable, whether winning gold medals or honors as winemakers of the year. The prices continue to remain much lower than other award-winning Zinfandel wines.

• Bill made the decision to make wines with traditional handcrafted methods rather than using modern equipment for the first 25 years of winemaking.

• Bill decided to plant the Bordeaux triangle in 1999 in the Saucelito Canyon Zinfandel vineyard to grow Bordeaux grape varieties in the unusual microclimate where both Zinfandel and Bordeaux thrive in South County.

• Bill and Nancy Greenough received three honors in the year 2000: The Board of Supervisors of San Luis Obispo County awarded them the honor of Vintners of the Year, the Mid-State Fair named them Winemakers of the Year, and the Central Coast Wine Classic honored them as Winemakers of Distinction.

• Marketing the Saucelito Canyon wines is focused on seasonal newsletters, wine club membership, and annual tours and BBQs at the remote Saucelito Canyon Vineyard. Nancy Greenough spearheaded the marketing for almost 45 years.

• Saucelito Canyon Vineyard is celebrated as a Historical Vineyard, one of the oldest in California, documented by UC Davis.

• Joining ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) of California and working with the organization to promote the importance of Zinfandel in the history of California winemaking.

• The respect for the philosophy that the vineyard should tell the winemaker what wines to make. The winemaker is always in dialogue with the vines. Wine is the result of a dialogue between nature and climate.

• Bill Greenough, who loves to build things, designed and built his own winery.

• In 2009, Saucelito Canyon Vineyard became SIP (Sustainability in Practice) Certified, one of 14 vineyards in California.

• The Greenough family honors the tradition of multigenerational farming – passing the torch to their son Tom Greenough as winemaker and overseer of the vineyard and to daughter Margaret Greenough the production and marketing management of Saucelito Canyon.

Timeline – The Story of Saucelito Canyon Vineyard 
Saucelito Canyon Vineyard and Greenough Timeline – 1974 

The descriptions below are the words of Bill Greenough gathered by Libbie Agran from newsletters, personal diaries, and letters. Saucelito Canyon provides the content. It is their dialogue—Saucelito Canyon Vineyard and Bill Greenough—over the last 50 years.

1974: Looking For Land

I remember looking at Saucelito for the first time 51 years ago. It was spring when the road had dried enough to get into the property. I was struck by the physical beauty of the place. On my first visit I knew that Saucelito had setting and climate, but the soil really convinced me that “this was it.” Every time we crossed a wash or went over a hill to another canyon, I would ask the realtor to stop. I would get out and dig with my hands and hold this beautiful sandy soil. At each wash, I would go down to the bottom and look at the soil profile of the 10-foot bank–sand, sand, sand. After growing up in the Santa Barbara foothills, where clay is something one found between rocks, I thought, “I could grow anything here.”

I asked if I could camp out for the weekend at Saucelito. The realtor said yes. And so there I was, swallowed up by the canyon in the night, feeling the souls of the people and animals that had been here before me, the coyotes, what night music they made, the stars so bright.

After two days of studying the old vineyard, I realized the old vines just needed some help to become productive again. If given the protection of a poison oak plant, the vine not only grew six-feet high, but also produced fruit. And underneath was the sandy soil so willing to please. – Bill

The vineyard was purchased from the granddaughters, Margaret Ditmas Coyner and Barbara Ditmas, of Henry and Rosa Ditmas.

1974: Bill Greenough Purchases 560 Acres

51 years ago, a 30-year-old man bought 560 acres and 1,500 old grapevines in need of a lot of work. The property had no water, no electricity, no phone, no improvements, just old vines. Bill Greenough purchased the land known as Rancho Saucelito Canyon Vineyard from the granddaughters, Margaret Coyner and Barbara Tanis, of Henry Ditmas and Rosa Ditmas Hasbrouck. The vines appeared to be dead, but the roots were alive. 

First, Bill had to clear away decades of brush overgrowth and trim away all the dead branches on the vines. Then Bill had to dig a deep trench around each vine to recreate new growth from the old root stalk. All of the Saucelito Canyon vines are on their own roots; they were never grafted. Bill chose one shoot from each Zinfandel root crown and cut off the rest to make a new trunk. This means that Bill would dig down to the rootstock crown (each measuring about eight inches in diameter) and select one of the crown’s sprouting shoots. He cut off the rest and staked the selected shoot upright for support. This allowed the new shoot to begin forming a new trunk. 

Bill has kept the original three acres of vines in the same style as Henry Ditmas originally planted them. The vines are in a “head prune” layout. Each plant is supported by a single stake without any in-line trellis wiring, with a basket cluster of shoots at the top, supported by a single trunk three feet in height. Bill explained that this traditional vineyard design has challenges for the farmer. The vines have no wire support, so if the branches become too heavy with grapes, the branches will bend and sometimes break off. The pruning method can also lead to the need for canopy management to keep from crowding the fruit too close together. The modern tradition of trellising does provide wire support for the vines.

These old vines had very deep roots that had found their own water source, which is why the vines survived. Bill shared his views on the unique grapes in the vineyard in 1999 with Mark Sounder, the Editor of the Farm Bureau Bulletin. “The older vines do not produce as many grapes as young vines. These old vines produced a complexity of wine not found in most modern Zinfandel varieties.” Bill believes that these European vines have a certain time capsule quality – a rare example of a small isolated stock that’s been hidden away for over a century of selective Zinfandel cross-breeding and evolution. Bill noted that there was a difference in the taste of the older grapes from the newer ones. “The newer Zinfandel vines produce bolder flavors with tones of strawberry and raspberry. The older vines produce more subtle flavors in a blackberry and black cherry flavor range.”

“The maritime influence of the vineyard geology keeps the climate mild. The soil is an uplifted sea terrace now 800 feet above sea level with porous soils, and a micro-climate that is cooler than Paso Robles and warmer than both the Edna Valley and lower Arroyo Grande Valley. These elements combine to create fleshy, lushly fruited Zinfandels, exhibiting berry and chocolate, occasionally plum, with a spicy, peppery backbone.”

The winery’s Bordeaux varietal wine is equally lush and complex. The wines that come from the grapes grown on this wondrous property are consistent award winners. Bill Greenough attributes the success “to a vineyard that has a lot of strength and a lot of character.” It is certainly a vineyard with remarkable staying power and one whose roots reach deep in Arroyo Grande soil….and history.

Source: Edna Valley Arroyo Grande Vintners’ Association Spring Summer Newsletter 2000

1974: Bill’s Initial Goal

My initial goal in 1974 was to craft an estate-grown, limited-production Zinfandel that would truly stand apart. – Bill

Bill’s Tales From The Rancho – The Vineyard Response

On a spring afternoon, you sense the unique climate in the quiet, windless air. In the fall, you feel it in the dry, persistent sunshine. In the winter, you see it in the frozen puddles. Saucelito Canyon may reside just miles from the breezy environments of Edna Valley and Santa Maria Valley, but it is indeed worlds apart in climate.

The significance of the canyon’s unique meteorological bandwidth is found in our signature grape-Zinfandel. Zinfandel essentially drops off the map until you cross the grade north of San Luis Obispo or rediscover some of the old Cucamonga Valley vineyards near Los Angeles. Unlike Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Zinfandel is simply not suited to the cool winegrowing environments that surround us.

But Saucelito Canyon is a fluke of geography ideally suited for growing Zinfandel. It occupies a sheltered nook on the frontier of the inland ecosystem, where the sands and grasses of the coast yield to the chaparral and live oaks. Here, freezing nighttime temperatures in December and January help the vines go dormant. Long warm spring afternoons during the summer and fall help the grapes achieve a perfect ripeness.

Certainly, our Zinfandel benefits from the moderating influence of the nearby Pacific Ocean – it’s what separates our climate from Paso Robles. But the fogs and the breezes arrive later and depart earlier than they do in surrounding valleys. In other words, it is neither too hot nor too cold here in the canyon. It is Zinfandel country. 

Just 20 years ago in California, it wasn’t hard to find Pinot Noir planted next to Cabernet Sauvignon. Today, winegrowers are much more attuned to climates and microclimates, recognizing that different grapes excel in different conditions. In a sense, the American wine industry has finally learned what the Europeans have known all along.

Bill’s Tales From The Rancho – Why Did Henry Ditmas Plant Zinfandel?

Of course, we would like to take credit for being ahead of our time, for having the foresight to match Zinfandel to the unique conditions of Saucelito Canyon when we arrived in 1974. The only catch is that our Zinfandel vines were planted in 1879 and 1880. Did he plant Zinfandel just because it was available and popular at the time? Or was he, in fact, well ahead of the curve, a savvy Englishman with a European’s insight into the special synergies of grape and climate? These are intriguing questions to ponder, especially over a glass of Saucelito Canyon Zinfandel.

These 1974 fall photos of Saucelito Canyon were taken shortly after Bill Greenough purchased the former Rancho Saucelito.

1974: Bill’s Tales From The Rancho – Dusty Chaparell 

(Source: 2004 Spring Newsletter)

One often hears that “the vineyard makes the wine.” It’s an intriguing question that goes to the heart of our wines, and we think that the answer might be found in the tales of Rancho Saucelito, its geography, geology, and history.

Saucelito Canyon inhabits the rugged terrain of eastern Arroyo Grande Valley, which is part of a larger plant community known as chaparral. Along the California coastline, chaparral is responsible for everything from stunning vistas to diverse wildlife to the wildfires that scream across Southern California every few years. According to one source, “A chaparral is a shrubby coast area that has hot, dry summers and cool, somewhat rainy winters.” Chaparrels consist of regions of tall, dense shrubs with leathery leaves or needles; the shrubs are interspersed with some grassy woodland with live oak and valley oaks. The total annual rainfall in a chaparral ranges from 15 to 40 inches a year. The word chaparral comes from “chaparro” which means scrub oak in Spanish.

For Bill, chaparral is more than an ecosystem; it is a way of life and an important factor in the wines of Saucilito Canyon. Growing up on Mountain Drive in Montecito, Bill was immersed in the chaparral environment. In 1969, a wildfire tore through Montecito, burning virtually everything in its path. But somehow sparing the Greenough residence (the lawnmower, however, was turned into a stream of liquid aluminum).

When Bill visited Saucelito Canyon in 1974 and camped overnight, Bill discovered a familiar landscape. The gravitational pull of the chaparral was a key factor that inspired him to purchase the property and restore its century-old Zinfandel vines.

In describing Saucelito Canyon Zinfandel, we often find ourselves employing the descriptor “dusty chaparral.” Is it just the power of suggestion? We don’t think so. In some vintages, it is very vivid, others barely perceptible, but it is always there. It is a character of the land expressed through the vine, the grapes, and the winemaker.

The chaparral also influences our wine in more tangential ways. Deer, blue jays, foxes, bears, and other native wildlife regularly visit the vineyard to feast on the grapes, causing us to react and adapt in various ways – actions that ultimately shape our vineyard and wine.

It is the character of the land, expressed through the vine, the grapes, and the wine. Culturally speaking, this ecosystem is also rich in individuals who, through need, inspiration, or mere curiosity, spend time in the canyon, helping us pick our fruit, tend our vineyard, and make our wines. They, too, shape what we taste. In this way, our vineyard and our vines are inseparable from their larger ecosystem that has always been Bill’s home.

The first photo shows the area where Bill built his home with the help of a friend on newly cleared land. The second is the burning of the stumps from the vineyard that didn’t survive. The third and fourth are areas where more vines would be planted. The bottom two photos show the surrounding chaparral and rolling hills.  

Captions: The photos were taken in 1976. Bill decided to plant an additional five acres of Zinfandel in the Saucelito Canyon Vineyard. The tractor is a Cat D-4 7U, which, at the time, was older than Bill Greenough. The red truck was Bill’s chief source of transportation, and the white truck was used for selling firewood. The pink trailer was used for storage.

1976-1978: Restoring Vines

Three years later, in 1977, after restoring each individual vine, the Saucelito Canyon Vineyard started producing grapes and wine as it had all those years ago. Bill planted five additional acres of Zinfandel. “I figured that if it supported a winery and a family back in the 1880s, Zinfandel must grow pretty well out here,” said Bill. “So when we decided to plant more of something, I felt Zinfandel was the natural choice.” – Bill

1979: Bill’s Tales From The Rancho

Bill pressed his first grapes adjacent to the vineyard in the wine press below.

The first hand-cranked wine press.

1980: Nancy And Bill Greenough Were Married