Tabalipa Wine Co. Inherits Santa Ynez Valley Legacy

Paula Tabalipa and Michael Greenberg Breathe Living Life into Historic Hampton Vineyard

Paula Tabalipa | Photo: Courtesy

When Hollywood escapee Paula Tabalipa and footwear magnate Michael Greenberg purchased a 20-acre syrah vineyard on Roblar Avenue in the heart of the Santa Ynez Valley seven years ago, the couple didn’t fully realize the legacy that they’d inherited.

They were now stewards of the Hampton Vineyard, which was planted more than two decades before by Dale Hampton, one of the most influential viticulturists in Santa Barbara County history. Originally a table grape grower from Delano, he joined Louis Lucas to plant Santa Maria Valley’s Tepusquet Vineyard in 1969, and then started his own farming company three years later. In the decades that ensued, Hampton played a critical role in the establishment of such iconic properties as Firestone, Zaca Mesa, Fess Parker, and Bien Nacido, all the while mentoring the next generations of grape growers and winemakers.

The Hampton Vineyard was his personal project, and one he had to leave behind when health issues led him to Texas years ago, where he still lives today. Tabalipa originally just planned to sell grapes from the property until she learned more about Hampton.

“Everyone would say such wonderful things about him and tell me their stories,” she explained. “This was my inspiration to make wine.”

The desire to own a farm, however, goes back to her upbringing in Curitiba, Brazil, where she spent many weekends at her maternal grandfather’s cattle ranch in the countryside, riding horses and sheep, milking cows, and gathering beans and vegetables. Though she’d eventually get into bodyboarding and chase the surf (okay, maybe the surfers too) to California in 1999, her uncles, cousins, and now even her father — a retired hydroelectric dam engineer — are all involved in agriculture to this day.

Her last name comes from that property too, as the indigenous people who’d pass through the ranch took to calling her grandfather “Tabalipa.” According to Paula, that meant “big house” in their language, to which they meant “big heart,” so he eventually changed his name permanently.

Upon reaching California, Tabalipa studied fashion and found work dressing retail windows in San Diego and — after a brief six-month stint running pub tours in Berlin — in Los Angeles, where she worked at Gucci, Saks, and Tiffany & Co. That led her to Santa Barbara, setting up displays at the Tiffany in La Cumbre Plaza.

She kept coming back this way, staying in a friend’s yurt on Kinevan Road, learning about Chumash culture, and hanging out in Ventura County sweat lodges. Her career blossomed into costume design for TV shows, music videos, short films, and more.

“I shot so many car commercials here,” she said of the Santa Ynez Valley. It was also where she first went on a trip with her now-husband, who co-founded Skechers with his father. (He was also an early partner in Petros in Los Olivos.)

Tabalipa cellar sampling | Photo: Courtesy

Amid her other work, Tabalipa started a production company, with plans to produce a documentary series that brought together chefs and farmers to probe the challenges of farm-to-table cuisine. She traveled all around the country interviewing multigenerational farmers, attracting the interest of Amazon and Hulu. But then the streamers wanted to cheapen the concept, and one of her business partners died.

Tabalipa decided to go to chef school at night while doing fashion work during the day in New York City. A taste of being a sous chef for a pop-up in downtown L.A. convinced her to keep cooking as more of a hobby, though she’s integrating recipes and instructional videos into her wine marketing today. Eventually, she just ended all of her various gigs.

“I felt like I was losing my neck,” she explained, tucking her head into her shoulders. “I was just eager to go back to the land and be in a place where it was about community.”

That’s about the time they acquired the Hampton Vineyard as well as a home up the road in Woodstock Ranch where Tabalipa and Greenberg reside. Before fully knowing the impact of Dale Hampton, they renamed the vineyard, and for a meaningful reason: Greenberg’s son died in a tragic accident in Bangkok at age 19, and they’d enjoyed the time they spent together on a fishing boat called Living Life.

“When we moved here and decided to build a life together, I thought we should name it Living Life Vineyard,” said Tabalipa. She’s now figuring out how to keep the Hampton part of the name alive concurrently.

It didn’t take long for Tabalipa to become intrigued by the wine industry that surrounded her, and she felt immediately welcome. “I didn’t feel excluded at all when I got into wine,” said Tabalipa, who began taking UC Davis classes online, sometimes for six hours a day. “That’s when the journey started.”

She approached the team at Dragonette Cellars to make her wine, explaining, “I loved their wines and their philosophy.” But they didn’t just take her on right away, instead testing how serious she was about the project. Winemaker Brandon Sparks-Gillis prescribed books, podcasts, and the WSET training regimen, and she kept coming back, saying. “Give me more. Give me more.”

Convinced of her noble intentions, they produced a small amount of rose from the vineyard in 2022 under the name Tabalipa Wine Co., and kicked up to commercial speed in 2023 with a rosé and a syrah. (The vast majority of the grapes are still sold to longtime clients like Joey Tensley and Fess Parker as well as a chunk that goes to Constellation.) In 2024, Tabalipa purchased some sauvignon blanc grapes to round out her small portfolio.

She’s intentionally moving slow, and considering a potential tasting room down in Manhattan Beach, where they also own a home. But this business feels right for the long term.

“I became attracted to the wine industry because it’s everything I love: language, history, the land,” she said. “It’s so complex.”

Alongside the many llamas, goats, pigs, and miniature donkeys she’s acquired on the property over the years, she’s intent on caring for these historic vines. “We want to take care of the vineyard,” said Tabalipa. “It’s a legacy of the region.”

See tabalipawineco.com.

Tabalipa @ Garagiste Festival

Tabalipa Wine Co. is one of 30 small wineries pouring at the 11th annual Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure grand tasting event in Solvang on Saturday, February 8. Other new brands to the fest, which kicks off on February 7, with a “Rare & Reserve” kickoff party, include BeckersChild, Exprimere, Pars Fortuna, Sapien, and WineSpread Panic Wines. See garagistefestival.co or click here for tickets.