Full Belly Files | Foxen Canyon Memories and More Wine Country Cruising

By Matt Kettmann Wed Dec 11, 2024 | 12:00pm

This edition of Full Belly Files was originally emailed to subscribers on December 6, 2024. To receive Matt Kettmann’s food newsletter in your inbox each Friday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

Dick Doré’s introduction to sales came when he was just 8 years old, while living in the towering white house along Foxen Canyon Road that his ancestors started building in 1860.

“I thought it was a good idea to sell lemonade,” Dick recalled while standing inside this remote home on the southeastern edge of the Santa Maria Valley, where the 80-year-old lived from birth through most of his elementary school years. “One car came by that didn’t stop,” he explained. “It was my first experience with retail.”

With a dry, wry chuckle, Dick explained that his early attempts to sell the Foxen wines he started making with his friend Billy Wathen in 1985 were about as successful. “The two of us played out here and put the winery together,’ he said, pointing toward the basketball court where they processed their first ton of fruit, all by hand on the back of a pickup truck.

Of course, Billy and Dick are today Santa Barbara wine royalty, and Foxen Vineyard & Winery is one of our better-known kingdoms. I’ve visited many times, from some of my earliest wine country adventures decades ago — don’t hold onto truck beds while bicycling, I once learned on the road nearby — to more official journalist visits, rolling around the vines and popping into the cellar. But the imposing, white, English-style farmhouse across the street always fascinated me, appearing somewhat abandoned yet rather well-kept. And more than a little bit creepy.

Back in September, I happened to sit next to Dick and his wife, Jenny Williamson Doré, during a Sideways anniversary dinner at the Hitching Post 2. I was happy though somewhat surprised to see them, as Jenny had just been social-media cataloguing Dick’s long stay in Cottage Hospital, where he was dealing with a series of obscure health issues. But he’d gotten better, well enough to celebrate the 20th birthday of the 2004 film that made Foxen a bit more famous.

Dick Doré holds his a photo of himself as a kid living in the old Foxen home.

Over Frank Ostini’s grilled meats, veggies, and pinot noirs, we got to talking about history, specifically his family’s ties to Benjamin Foxen, the Englishman who moved to Santa Barbara in the 1830s and became a pillar of the ranching world. I mentioned that I was curious about the house, and they were both excited to give me a tour.

So there we were on October 30, my late afternoon stop during a long day of wine country appointments, the rest of which are detailed below. As we walked up the front steps past the drizzling sprinklers, Jenny explained that the house is still owned by the family, and used as a vacation getaway and holiday gathering place. Though, she lamented, the younger generations seem to be using it less as time goes on.

Inside, Dick put on his tour guide hat, pointing out the maps and old photos in each room, including the tiny portrait of himself in first grade. The family lore here starts in 1852, when Benjamin Foxen took ownership of Rancho Tinaquaic. Then his daughter, Ramona Foxen, and son-in-law, Frederick Wickenden, started building this structure in 1860 or so. It was originally a small adobe that grew, a couple decades later, into the imposing wooden structure it is today. (Although the second story, I was a bit stunned to learn, is just a facade. There’s nothing up there, nor stairs to get there.)

“It was the first post office in northern Santa Barbara County,” said Dick, explaining that the stagecoach would swing by between Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos and points north. “So this would have been the post office,” he said, pointing to an interior room, “and the general store would have been over there,” motioning outside.

A drawing of Fred Wickenden’s home on Rancho Tinaquaic

“This was Dick’s room,” said Jenny as we entered another doorway. Dick recalled the wallpaper — “after 80 years, it fell off the walls” — and his horse named Snip, which he got when he was 5 years old.

Back in the kitchen, Dick showed where his grandfather would cook refried beans while listening to Mexican music. “He’d warm his feet by the fire,” said Dick, who has warm memories of the holidays too. “When I lived here, Christmas was amazing.”

Although he was free to roam as a kid, he was alone a lot, way out in the middle of nowhere, without any modern conveniences. “Fond memories,” he remembered, “but a lot of boredom.”

After a brief career in banking and a family romp through Europe in 1976, Dick made up for those less exciting young years by starting Foxen Vineyards & Winery, and he’s very proud to still be in charge, 40 years later. “We’re the only one of the first wineries left to be owned by the original owners,” he said.

And the extended Foxen family legacy continues to pulse through Santa Barbara’s veins. At some point in their relationships, Jenny started to wonder, “Is everyone related to Dick?” After many more years of observation, she now surmises, “If you’re a Santa Barbara native, there’s a 30 percent chance of being related to Dick.”

Folded HIlls co-owner Kim Busch and winemaker Angela Osborne

ANGELA OSBORNE @ FOLDED HILLS: My morning started a bit closer to home at Folded Hills Winery, which is the closest Santa Ynez Valley winery to my house. (Well, Grimm’s Bluff Vineyard in Happy Canyon on the other side of the valley is a bit closer by mileage but typically longer by drive time. Of course, it’s not open to the public anyway, so….)

I’ve been to Folded Hills many times, often to sip the latest vintages pond-side with Andy Busch, who hails from the Anheuser Busch family, found Santa Barbara through polo, and started plotting this project a decade ago. What drew me back this time was to officially meet his wife and Folded Hills co-owner/co-founder, Kim Busch, and reconnect with Angela Osborne, who was rehired as the brand’s winemaker after a four-vintage hiatus.

What I wasn’t expecting was to learn that Kim was now in charge because Andy is battling a malignant brain tumor. He took a step back from running the winery in August 2023 when he was diagnosed, but is still very much present, and even popped in to say hello during this visit.

Originally, Kim and Andy ran the operation together, but that wasn’t a good fit for their homelife. “I chose my family over our business,” said Kim, who left cold turkey in 2020 and stayed out until the bad news came. “Overnight, after three-and-a-half years, I had to come back.”

If Kim was gonna do it her way, she knew that she needed Angela, who was the brand’s original winemaker but left in 2020 when Andy hired Michael Brughelli to make wine instead. “I can’t imagine working in the wine business full time and not working with Angela,” said Kim. “I think that Angela uniquely understands this place, and she has a feminine but strong approach to winemaking.”

From left: Folded Hills 2019 Marsanne; Folded Hills 2019 Grenache

Angela, meanwhile, was basically waiting for the call, as she had a premonition she might return when she heard of Andy’s illness. “It was a very strong immediate thought,” she explained. “That’s what is gonna happen.”

Though her own grenache-focused brand A Tribute to Grace is still firing on all cylinders, Angela was very excited to be back for the 2024 harvest at Folded Hills, the only place she’s ever worked for someone else as a head winemaker. She’s a fan of the densely planted 15 acres that Peter Stolpman and Ruben Solorzano developed in 2014, and believes the site — which sits very close to the Gaviota Coast, yet is protected by the Santa Ynez Mountains — offers a truly unique terroir.

Kim sees Angela’s willingness to return as a mark of her character. “When was the last time you had a winemaker who was let go then agree to come back?” asked Kim. “That speaks so much about her.”

From left: Folded Hills 2019 Estate White; Folded Hills 2018 Estate Syrah

And it just felt right. “You can bang your head against the walls, but when things fall into place, that’s when it’s meant to be,” said Kim. “That’s kind of how I run my life.”

To celebrate the homecoming — I called Angela the “Prodigal Daughter,” so let’s see if that goes anywhere — Folded Hills is offering the Angela Osborne x Folded Hills Library Wine collection, which includes wines from the 2016 to 2019 period where she was making the wines. I tasted quite a few of them during my visit, and they’re all excellent — indeed, the white wines may just now be hitting their stride, as white Rhones tend to do a bit better with time.

Angela looks at those older wines like a mother would. “They’re like children I sent to boarding school,” she said. “And now I’ve got them back.”

From left, Debra Eagle, Matt Kettmann, Richard Sanford, and Samra Morris at Alma Rosa Vineyard

INDUSTRIAL EATS @ ALMA ROSA: Still on schedule, the day’s next stop was the Alma Rosa Vineyard, where Debra Eagle invited me to lunch with the brand’s founder, and my good friend, Richard Sanford and the current winemaker Samra Morris. Samra’s rise to success in wine and her cheerful demeanor after surviving the war in Bosnia as a child never fails to impress me.

Debra is retiring at the end of the year, and plans to head back home to Sonoma to be closer to her husband, family, and friends full-time. She came to Alma Rosa in 2018 as the last stop in a three-decade wine career, previously working for such big names as Robert Mondavi, Sutter Home, Hestan, and BR Cohn. That career actually followed some years in the diamond business, itself the source of many great tales.

We met at the brand new home built for Alma Rosa’s current owners Bob and Barb Zorich, a modernist, window-dominated, rather modest home about halfway up the mountain, surrounded by vines and canyon views. As we tasted Samra’s latest bottlings — which deftly balance ripeness with elegance like few others in the region — we also toasted Debra’s success in elevating Alma Rosa to a more prominent player in Santa Barbara and beyond.

Lunch came in the form of Industrial Eats pizzas, and then came our photo shoot overlooking the vineyard. Richard also handed me a couple more bow ties, as he’s done in the past, and I honored the gesture by nearly running him over in the driveway as I left.

“I’d rather be run over by a tractor than some itinerant writer!” he yelled with a big smile on his face as I apologized. I don’t think he was actually kidding.

Sta. Rita Hills–raised rabbit prepared by Chad Melville

MOTLEY CREW RABBIT @ MELVILLE: My evening ended at Melville Winery, where I was effectively crashing a meeting between vintner Chad Melville, who I’ve known for years, and my former Wine Enthusiast colleague Jim Gordon, who now writes for JamesSuckling.com. On an expedition to better educate himself on the best Santa Barbara wines, Jim — who was the original managing editor of Wine Spectator many decades ago, among other critical wine journalism roles — was dropped off by Santa Barbara Vintners CEO Alison Laslett, who gave me an update on Santa Barbara County’s ongoing wine BID process, which resulted in this story.

After Chad put the finishing touches on the roasted rabbit, which he’d purchased from Motley Crew Ranch across the street, we headed upstairs to taste through the recent Melville wines, which are always electric with acidic energy and bright in red fruit flavors.

The pinots never fail to wow me, but it’s always the Melville syrah — so peppery, so tense, so unique — that wins me over.

Then Chad served the rabbit atop mashed potatoes and alongside soy-charred carrots and green beans. It was easily the best rabbit I’ve ever had in my life. Coated in a lighter hued sauce, it was treated more like poultry than red meat, proving succulent and savory without ever going heavy.

We finished our glasses while watching the Dodgers beat the Yankees to win the World Series. Being a Giants fan, I wasn’t pleased with their come-from-behind victory in the game, but it would be hard to ruin a wine country day like that.