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There’s nothing quite like the Cuyama Valley, and there’s certainly nothing like Larry Hogan and Karina Kansky, the couple behind the wine brand and restaurant Sagebrush Annie’s. Located officially in Ventucopa along Highway 33 as it drops from the treacherous canyons above Ojai into the high desert flatlands, Sagebrush Annie’s once served legendary dinners lubricated by Cuyama-grown wines, making for one of the more unique experiences anywhere.
I don’t exactly recall my first time meeting Larry and Karina — it might have been during a jaunt through Cuyama on a spur-of-the-moment adventure to the Carrizo Plain in the year 2000, which is certainly when I first glimpsed their impossible-to-miss spot. But I have accumulated wonderful memories of drinking their cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel while chatting with them at vintners events, where longtime cattleman Larry was sporting cowboy hats long before they were en vogue. Back in 2009, my wife and I dined with them into the wee hours at their rustic restaurant, where they kept going past 2 a.m. while we headed back to Quail Springs Permaculture Farm to sleep in a yurt. And we’ve stayed in touch off and on over the ensuing years.
Larry was the pioneer of wine grape-growing in the Cuyama Valley, planting what would become the quite large Barnwood Vineyard in 1983 as well as smaller plots around the area. His Sagebrush wines did quite well at various competitions, and Karina’s cooking really made Annie’s soar as a dining destination. On my visit way back when, we enjoyed grilled portabella, broccoli-Tillamook cheddar soup, a rib-eye the size of my plate, lentil stew, and a dessert triad of lemon chiffon pie, chocolate pecan pie, and triple-berry pie — easily rivaling some of the better menus in the greater Santa Barbara region 15 years ago.
That’s when I wrote all about them way back in this article. In 2020, I expanded on their life stories for the Sagebrush Annie’s chapter in my book Vines & Vision: The Winemakers of Santa Barbara County. Honestly, in re-reading it to write this, it has to be one of the more interesting chapters in the book, so fascinating are their combined lives and careers.
Run ragged from the job, Larry and Karina closed the restaurant in 2014, but kept the wine brand going for a few more years. Well, that’s all coming to an end now too.
Sagebrush Annie’s is for sale, as Karina and Larry, who turned 90 years old this year, are set on moving to a small riverside village in France. To do so and leave nothing but dust behind, they are liquidating their American holdings.
The main sale of Sagebrush Annie’s, which is listed at $925,000, includes the nearly 12-acre Ventucopa property, which features a tasting room, banquet hall, rodeo ring, bunkhouse, mobile home, and room for a vineyard. See photos and more details here.
But there are other things on the table too, including 1,400 cases of Sagebrush Annie’s wine, the permit needed to sell them, and their home located further up Quatal Canyon. They just hosted a large yard sale last weekend, and will be donating a bunch more to the nearby Goodwill and secondhand shops.
After a bunch of emails back and forth, I called Karina on Wednesday to talk about the sale and their pending move. She’s very excited to be leaving this all behind and moving to France, where she thinks Larry can live happily and healthily until he’s 100 years old. But they very much hope to find a buyer that brings Sagebrush Annie’s back to its former glory, or at least keep the hospitality spirit alive there.
They have kept it as a turnkey operation, and Karina believes an ambitious couple — or ideally, two couples — could make a decent living out of even just serving breakfast and lunch along Highway 33. There really isn’t much else around — The Place across the highway remains closed — aside from the Cuyama Buckhorn, which is about a 20-minute drive anyway.
If you’re interested and earnest about doing something cool to keep Sagebrush Annie’s relevant, I’ve been told that there’s a deal to be had. I even briefly considered it myself! Email Karina here to learn more.
From Our Table
Here are some stories you may have missed:
- Rebecca Horrigan reports on the latest eatery by Corazón founder Ramon Velazquez, the new Alma Fonda Fina on Coast VIllage Road in Montecito.
- There are back-to-back Outstanding in the Fields this weekend at Ojai Mountain on Saturday and Jalama Canyon Ranch on Sunday. I’m going to both, and I’m challenging you to do the same!
- This story about wine broker Daniel Berman’s For the Land chardonnay collaboration with the late artist Chris Potter came out about an hour before his launch party at the Dutch Garden last Saturday.I
- ’m working on a longer article about the painting that artist Pedro de la Cruz did to auction off during the Santa Barbara Wine Auction on November 9. In the meantime, here’s a short piece on what else to expect that weekend.
