In 1964 Uriel Nielson established Santa Barbara’s first commercial vineyard on what is now the Byron estate. Prior to Nielson, the county had been considered too cold and too windy for grapes. Fortunately Uriel didn’t listen. In retrospect he had vision. In the 1980’s Santa Barbara gathered fame as a cluster of serious vintners started producing Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that were praised for their character, depth and honesty. Among the group was Ken Brown who established his Byron Winery on the site of the original, historic Nielsen Vineyard. Brown’s innovative gravity-feed winemaking facility and intensive viticultural experiments helped revolutionize cold-climate grape growing in California. Today, Byron is focused on single vineyard and regional bottlings of Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from the best benchland sites throughout Santa Barbara County.
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