Sign up to get Matt Kettmann’s Full Belly Files, which serves up multiple courses of food & drink coverage every Friday, going off-menu from our regularly published content to deliver tasty nuggets of restaurant, recipe, and refreshment wisdom to your inbox
Driving off of Mail Road, across the tiny bridge, and past the Italian cypress trees into what until recently was called Ampelos Vineyard a couple weeks ago felt familiar and welcoming, like pulling into an old relative’s ranch. This was really where my wine writing career started to take off, thanks to my years of making wine with Ampelos founders Peter and Rebecca Work over the past dozen-plus years. (I also directed this two-minute film about them with my buddy Ryan Grau like 15-plus years ago?!?!)
I’d returned to meet the new owners, Chiara Shannon and Joseph Brent, who purchased the Ampelos property from the Works last year. Upon sitting down with Chiara — who I had met once in Los Angeles while working on a story about the vintners reviving that region years ago — she was quick to tell me that they were changing the name to Groundstar Vineyards.
It was not much of a surprise. With the Works continuing to make wine under the Ampelos Cellars name, I assumed there would be some weird licensing issues and general brand confusion if the vineyard remained with the same name.
To be honest, I wasn’t immediately taken with the name, thinking it was something imagined in a New Age–y vein — Chiara is, after all, “The Yogi Sommelier. But then I quickly changed my mind, learning that it was to honor the recent rediscovery of a tiny plant species called Santa Ynez groundstar that was thought to be extinct.
As a lover of native plants and triumphant nature stories myself, Groundstar made a ton of sense. And given that Chiara and Joe were doubling down on the Works’ pioneering biodynamic and organic growing ways by pushing for regenerative farming, the name rings rather perfect for me now.
I wrote a feature about the name change and the new owners’ desire here. It will be entertaining and educational to watch as they push deeper into regenerative grape growing, with the help of Jordan Lonborg, who led the regenerative certification at Tablas Creek in Paso Robles and is now working with Coastal Vineyard Care. In a mostly un-wine-related twist, I’ve consulted with Jordan’s wife, winemaker Molly Lonborg, on his Melin hat gifts over the years. (I have about a dozen now.)
Ampelos has always been a model for pushing sustainable farming techniques, and now Groundstar is taking an even more holistic approach, envisioning such beneficial possibilities as monarch butterfly reserves and native plant gardens. They’re also connecting with like-minded organizations such as the White Buffalo Land Trust and Los Padres ForestWatch, realizing that cultivating a regenerative future involves fostering the community to do so. I feel like I’ll be back soon.
Convivo’s Boar Dinner
I’m still pulling myself together as I write this the morning after Convivo’s “Wild Boar Dinner,” followed of course by a stop at The Pickle Room, which was my former living room back in the early 2000s under the banner of Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens.
Chef Peter McNee gets really into butchery when he can, so he turned one pig — raised by Arroyo Grande farmer Chuy Mendez — into 10 dishes for nearly 80 people, which itself is a feat worthy of feasting. There was lots of querying among diners as to favorites, so I’ll divulge mine. I’d eat the “boar-tadella” every day for breakfast or lunch, and, given Peter’s Italy-honed prowess, the two stuffed pastas were lights-out: a boar’s head agnolotti and slow-cooked boar tortelloni in browned butter with fried sage.
Washing it all down were wines from SAMsARA, whose winemaker Matt Brady was proud to present alongside such special creations. For the finale, which was indeed one of the evening’s highlights rather than a sweet afterthought, Jessica Foster served five separate confections, all of which were heavenly. I think the white sage Marcona almond brittle would kill it on store shelves.
Did we need cocktails at The Pickle Room and then a glass of Saxum at my house to end the night? Well, what is it you want? We want it all.
Mark Your Calendars
Here’s a number of fun food and drink events coming up in the next few months, plus one special Stearns Wharf event to plan for this fall.
S.B. CULINARY EXPERIENCE: Tickets to more than 60 events running from May 11 to 18 under the banner of the Santa Barbara Culinary Experience are now on sale here. (I’m on he advisory committee for this event too.) This year’s rather massive lineup includes hands-on workshops, cooking and wine-blending classes, vineyard and farm tours, and numerous meals, both modest and fancy, featuring Santa Barbara’s top chefs, vintners, and farmers. A signature event is the “Grand Wine Tasting” on Saturday, May 17, where you can sips and taste dozens of brands and restaurants at the Presidio. See sbce.events/events for a full rundown.
JUST 8 SUPPER CLUB: We’ve added a few more Just 8 Supper Club dates at Clean Slate on Solvang, where I bring a bunch of wines from my cellar to pair with Chef Melissa Scrymgeour’s scrumptious dishes. Coming off the success of our eighth Just 8 on March 13, we’re hosting three more: April 3, May 1, and June 5. Buy your seats here. Here was George Yatchisin’s feature on the series, which he graciously called “the county’s finest one-off food night.”
KALE DISCO: Rooted Santa Barbara County, which is focused on health equity and resilience in the community, is hosting a fun-loving fundraiser called Kale Disco at CAW on April 5. Rebecca Horrigan wrote this story about the party, which will feature a plant-based dinner by Chef Dalan Moreno of Rascal’s, a dessert auction, and plenty of music and dancing. See rootedsantabarbara.org/events.
OUTSTANDING ON STEARNS WHARF: Following my two Outstanding in the Field (OITF) dinners last year, I wound up on their mailing list, and noticed that they were throwing an event on the Capitola Wharf in Santa Cruz County on May 28. Recently rebuilt after being destroyed by a January 2023 storm, that’s the wharf I grew up on and is now home to a plaque for my late father that somehow survived the storm damage.
And then I saw that OITF is throwing one on Stearns Wharf too on October 30! The $400 dinner, whose details are still being worked out, is being hosted by the Friends of State Street group. They seem like a well-meaning bunch, although many boardmembers appear to be very recent transplants to Santa Barbara.
