The Gatehouse at Bien Nacido

We visit this wine country every year with friends, and Bien Nacido was our favorite this trip, fabulous wine, excellent service, great snacks and the live music was an unexpected gift! We had a fabulous afternoon. They had games for the kids and patio is dog friendly. We highly recommend and will definitely be back! Thank you!

WOW! What an absolutely AMAZING visit! We sat on the patio and were able to gaze at the legendary Bien Nacido Vineyard. Brittany & Morrie were the absolute BEST hosts. So knowledgeable, personable & helpful! If you have not visited before, this is a MUST! So beautiful and peaceful. CHEERS!

My wife Julie and I had a wonderful tasting experience at Bien Nacido yesterday. The setting was lovely, the wines superb, and Brittany's service was outstanding. We can't wait to go back!

Visited Bien Nacido in August 2023 and did their Black Label tasting. All of the wines were amazing, especially recommend the Pinot Noir Rose, Chardonnay, and The Captain Pinot Noir was probably the best Pinot Noir I've ever had, anywhere. The patio has a beautiful open view towards the mountainside where the grapes grow. Visit here in the afternoon under a clear blue sky - you'll be glad you visited BN while in Santa Ynez.

What a beautiful addition to the Santa Maria Valley and on one of the most iconic sites in the whole world. The wines from Bien Nacido & Solomon Hills are amazing. I love the Belle of the Ball and the Succession, but you honestly cant get a bad bottle. Try the ATV tour if you have time to book it. Its the best way to experience the whole beauty of the property.

What an awesome first-time visit! En route home from Los Olivos and a planned stop at Bien Nacido... and WE JOINED THE WINE CLUB! Morrie was a great host and we were not disappointed!

TLDR: Good wine, nice place, Napa prices and pretentiousness I’ve tried plenty of wines from this vineyard before, just made by different producers. And I usually like it. But I wanted to try these grapes right from the source, so I visited the new Gatehouse. It’s a nice place. A little smaller than I expected but everything is new and the outside seating is plentiful. The vineyards lining the hills are beautiful. The wine is good. The black label stuff especially. It lives up to its name. I especially liked the Syrah, enough that I was thinking of buying a bottle. But this is where the bad comes in: the ridiculous pricing and manufactured exclusiveness. I felt like I was in Napa with these prices and rules. $60 tasting, $75 for the high end one. No waiving the tasting fee unless you join the wine club, no matter how many bottles you buy. The black label bottles go for $125, the more pedestrian bottles are $50 minimum. I wanted to buy a bottle of the XO Syrah at $125 and they told me “You have to buy at least 3 bottles because of the scarcity of the wine”. Which makes no sense at all, I have to buy more bottles because there aren’t so many bottles? This is very reminiscent of Napa pretentious wine club / allocation nonsense. I’ve never heard such a thing in Santa Barbara / Santa Maria. At other wineries if I want to buy a bottle of wine they are happy to sell it to me. So I’ll be skipping this place from now on and keep getting my Bien Nacido fix from Ojai and other producers. The next day I got a 12 year old bottle of Bien Nacido Syrah for $100 from Ojai which is better than the XO anyways.

We had a wonderfully relaxing afternoon. Beautiful view and cozy fireplace as it became a little chilly. Brittany was great as always. Love her expertise and education.

Beautiful tasting room with a great outdoor area too! The staff is friendly and attentive. The wine is delicious but a bit pricey. No food on site but I usually take my own snack board. This is a great space to bring small or larger groups. Rain or shine this is a great space to kick back and relax.

Bien Nacido was a fantastic experience. Brittany was very knowledgeable and extremely personable. Great wines and incredible views.Highly recommend.

We come to this area for wine tasting every year, and Bien Nacido was our favorite this year. Fabulous wine, excellent service, great snacks, games for kids and dog friendly patio. Live music was a great and unexpected surprise. A dubious afternoon and we will definitely be back!

Great wine and service. Very knowledgeable about the history and the wine production. A must try!

For the first time in my life I didn't join a wine club. Applause, please. But I cleverly coerced my partner into joining his first. And boy what a first choice he made. If you know much about Bien Nacido, well... then you need no explanation. Their reputation clearly precedes itself. And their new tasting room is absolutely the most peaceful wine sanctum you've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Each wine is an estate property masterpiece. Chock full of lively terroir. I'm no sommelier but I do know that this wine will be keeping in my fridge for as long as I can try. We're already salivating at our next opportunity to visit, and hopefully with family members. Bien Nacido is historic, gigantic, and an absolute treasure. Plus they're dog friendly so I'm sure that adds a good five points to Jeb Dunnuck's rating right?

This is a beautiful place to enjoy Santa Maria wines. Born Nacido is quintessential world renowned vineyard and the gatehouse is the best place to experience it.

Wonderful winery with great wines and generous pours on tastings. Conveniently located just east of Santa Maria. Wonderful servers too!

Love this place! The ambiance, wine, and service is exceptional. We joined their Wine Club during our last visit and came back today for our complimentary tasting. Maury was great! He was knowledgeable about every pour and helped us customize our shipment to what we liked from the tasting. Don't pass on this place when you're in Santa Maria, CA.

What an amazing tasting experience! The knowledge, the service, the wines...they were all 10/10!! Highly recommend!!!

TLDR: Good wine, nice place, Napa prices and pretentiousness I've tried plenty of wines from this vineyard before, just made by different producers. And I usually like it. But I wanted to try these grapes right from the source, so I visited the new Gatehouse. It's a nice place. A little smaller than I expected but everything is new and the outside seating is plentiful. The vineyards lining the hills are beautiful. The wine is good. The black label stuff especially. It lives up to its name. I especially liked the Syrah, enough that I was thinking of buying a bottle. But this is where the bad comes in: the ridiculous pricing and manufactured exclusiveness. I felt like I was in Napa with these prices and rules. $60 tasting, $75 for the high end one. No waiving the tasting fee unless you join the wine club, no matter how many bottles you buy. The black label bottles go for $125, the more pedestrian bottles are $50 minimum. I wanted to buy a bottle of the XO Syrah at $125 and they told me "You have to buy at least 3 bottles because of the scarcity of the wine". Which makes no sense at all, I have to buy more bottles because there aren't so many bottles? This is very reminiscent of Napa pretentious wine club / allocation nonsense. I've never heard such a thing in Santa Barbara /Santa Maria. At other wineries if I want to buy a bottle of wine they are happy to sell it to me. So I'll be skipping this place from now on and I'll keep getting my Bien Nacido fix from Ojai and other producers. The next day I got a 12 year old bottle of Bien Nacido Syrah for $100 from Ojai which is better than the XO anyways.

We did the chocolate and wine pairing and they are on the Axxess card. The tasting staff were very professional and fun to talk to. The tasting room is just the cutest! The chocolates were delicious and created by a local SB chocolatier- Jessica Foster. We will be returning.

Friendly service! I got the Groupon for the tasting for 2 plus chocolate truffles. It came with 5 pre-selected wines to go with 8 truffles (2 truffles with 4 wines). The server maintained his distance while still explaining each wine well and being attentive to us. We sat on a bench just in front of the porch, so some people along the sidewalks were walking by, but everybody respected the space and you get to see everybody's cute dogs. We ended up buying 2 bottles of wine, and our server gave us additional tastings of the bottle we wanted to buy, too.

This place is great! Atmosphere is chill and cool but the staff is also really friendly. They know what they're doing and what they're talking about, and you can tell making the customers happy is their main priority. Wines are delightful with some paired salami and cheese. Was so worth coming by while visiting Los Olivos. Thank you Micki and Hector!

Really great small batch wines. They were so good, we became members. Really nice people at the tasting room. Highly recommend going if you are in town.

I've been wanting to check out this tasting room for a while now and it didn't disappoint! The place is comfy and has hues of Bien Nacido's famous Adobe House. There's plenty of lounging space inside, outside and even a bar area for an optimal experience. I recommend you stop by for a few glasses and for the staff's hospitality!

Got the Groupon for the 4 tasting for 4 with truffles. Quaint little tasting room which I wouldn't have known about/ tried of it wasn't for Groupon. Most of the wines were pretty good but the truffles were on the sweeter side. -1 Favourite wine out of all of the tasting was the Pinot Nior which was tasted like a lighter version of a cab. Pours were on the slim.side. -1

This place is excellent on taste of wines and service, Hector is the most amazing friendly host. I typically don't like Whites, but man the Chardonnay is wonderful and the Rose' is fabulous. Highly recommend visiting this place for sure. There also was a Groupon for tastings, such a wonderful find, Oh and the decor is beautiful and very clean!!!! Thank you Hector for above and beyond service.

Okay so this wonderful cozy delicious winery definitely deserves more then five stars! We stumbled upon this wonderful little gem because the sign outside said chocolate truffle and wine pairings and boy do I love that! It was thirty dollars for wine and chocolates! They had Pinot noir and syrahs! My most favorite wines of all! I loved it so much I even became a member! I believe the gentlemen that helped us name was Casey! So thank you Casey for your wonderful knowledge and phenomenal customer service you definitely made our wine tasting experience fantastic! If your in the area I highly recommend stopping by And giving this wonderful little gem a try!

This place decided to stay close on 2nd of January without any advance notice. I had called them earlier confirming their open times before making reservations. I went to the winery and doors were closed. Do not make plans based on them. Its a untrustworthy place.

The 2nd stop on our trip, we made our way over to Bien Nacido. We previously had made an appointment and was quite easy to find off the freeway. It's a cute tasting room on a strip of other intimate tasting room spaces - with pretty limited seating inside and out. We sat up at the bar with Hector who gave us the rundown of the Bien Nacido and Solomon Hills wines. We left with about 4 bottles of Bien Nacido wines after our tasting. I'm excited about the upcoming tasting room space they have in the works and will surely come back to check that out when it's finished.

The best cheese and wine tasting spot in Los Olivos. We had such a great time with great wine. Cheese and bread is really great quality and yummy. Will definitely go back

Fantastic wines. Every pour just seemed to get better and better. I really enjoyed the pinot and grenache wines. We made sure to leave with a bottle. Friendly service, beautiful tasting room...what a nice addition to Los Olivos

Loved the wine and chocolate pairing. Wines were very good and the server was so friendly.

The wine is amazing! I did the Black Label Wines tasting, and my favorite is the "LXXII" Pinot Noir. Hector who served us was awesome. He was very helpful friendly, made great recommendations, and very knowledgeable.

It's hard to review this place in a COVID world as I am sure things will go back to normal post pandemic. The wines are amazing and are a must to taste, but the tasting right now is hard to enjoy. From trying to get a reservation to actual sitting for a tasting it is hard to get into this experience. Don't not call to make your reservation as nobody answers the phone. I called repeatedly and after an hour of "no pick up" I finally got a person to answer the phone. I then waited on the phone hold for over an hour. It's like when you call Dominos and they put you on hold because they just can't handle the phone calls on a football night. Aaarrrgh! As for the actual tasting we were six people at a table for two. Crammed and barely able to be in the same spot. Tasting should be about trying new wines not smashed into a small space. BUT... the wines are some of the best in Santa Ynez. The Pinots are superb and worth the hassle to taste the history. I suggest just buy the wine and skip the tasting. You will have a much better experience.

Hostess was attentive and great wine. We did chocolate pairing and it was amazing!! There is no vineyard to tour, more like tasting.

I'm glad that my SO and I finally went in! Fantastic wines, great company, and just overall good times. When we visited, we were greeted by Jason and Craig, both of whom were very knowledgable about the wine that they're serving. They're also very nice, fun people, and it was nice to be able to chat while enjoying the great wine. In terms of the wine, I really enjoyed everything. The tasting we did has two Chardonnays, two Pinot Noirs, and a Syrah. You really get to taste the difference between the same varietal grown in a different location (Solomon Hills is west of Bien Nacido). The difference between Solomon Hills and Bien Nacido is great, and each location has its clear benefits. I have to say, it's also cool to see wine being produced by the owners of the vineyards. You see SO much wine being made with Bien Nacido grapes (seriously, I bet 1 in 4 wineries with tasting rooms in Los Olivos makes at least one wine from Bien Nacido fruit), so it's nice to see what the production priorities of the owners are. If you're at all curious about wine, especially a vineyard which has become a staple of the area, check out this tasting room!

We had a fun little tasting. The people working there were nice and made lots of conversation. We would go back.

The Wines made from this vineyard are the best that come off of the property. I know the vineyards sells lots of the fruit to other wineries, the ones they keep for themselves are the best. I mean, you would expect them to be when they control every step of the process. I think they also have scores of 97 points, 96 points in every tasting. It is pretty amazing. The tasting room staff is awesome. The tasting room manager Jason is great and Casey behind the bar was really passionate about the wines too. IT seems like they really love the wines. We were happy to taste them and to tell others about the wines.

We did the wine and truffle tasting and it was so amazing! The pairings were amazing, so amazing that we joined the wine club!!! The setting was lovely and we will definitely go back soon!

Such a great find. It's a quaint comfortable tasting room with an incredibly nice staff. We thoroughly enjoyed their wines and we're glad we made the stop. The viognier was delicious and so glad we purchased a bottle. This is a great stop while touring this cute little town.

Casey was a great host. We had a great time outside on their patio tasting their wines and enjoying the area. I highly recommend getting the chocolates to pair with the wine. Excellent box of truffles. Really enjoyed the wine. Thanks for a great experience.

Great tasting room! We really enjoyed the wines and the craft chocolate pairings. Genius! Amanda was terrific and so personable. She made us feel so welcomed!! Thanks so much for a wonderful experience Bien Nacido & Solomon Hills & Amanda!

Hector was very sweet & knowledgeable about the wines & what chocolate to pair with each wine we even got a good suggestion for lunch. Good music, Good ambience and great chocolates with nice wines. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

Hector was wonderful! Great wines by the glass and delicious chocolate! Wonderful experience

First time in and was awesome friendly staff and really good wine. You should try the wine with the chocolate tasting

Bien Nacido is an awesome vineyard and they do a great job with the grapes. It's a don't miss when in Los Olivos.

The service and the wine was on point. Can't wait to come back! The chocolate pairings with the wine made the tasting that much more enjoyable. Hector was awesome and a pleasure to talk to

We came upon this place while taking a stroll downtown. We wanted to love the wine but the experience/wine was mediocre because it wasn't well explained. The person pouring was taking care of 5 parties all seated outside (which was really pretty!). But because they were trying to take care of all of us, the pouring felt rushed and we didn't learn about the wine/winemakers which we were really looking fwd to. The person pouring basically told us the grape and was off to help the next table. We got 6 pours each. The reds were big and bold. That's pretty much all I remember.

Came here with two of my girlfriends and we had a great time! We did the truffle and wine tasting and everything was absolutely delicious, and perfectly paired. Hector was a great host, talking us through each wine and chocolate. Such a huge fan of the Chardonnay with the white chocolate and dark chocolate rose truffles - definitely a must if you're in the area!

Hector gave a great service! Very knowledgeable in wine and it was so good and smooth.

I had the best sunday at Bien Nacido & Solomon tasting delicious wine and to die for truffles. Jason and Casey took great care of us. My husband and I came in to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Casey was our wine pourer and WOW! Everything we tasted was so good. Definitely one of the best wineries in Los Olivos. Thank you guys for making our trip so much fun. We will come back soon. We bought a bottle to enjoy for the holidays. The red pinot was my favorite.

Loving the wines, great customer service I highly recommend these delicious wines. Live music really gets you in a relaxing mood

Very knowledgeable staff and great wine. This is a must stop when you're in Los Olivos.

These two sister vineyards produce amazing grapes and have recently opened this tasting room. The grapes are so good that a big part of their success has been selling grapes to other winemakers. There's a long list of labels in the tasting room of other wine makers who buy their grapes. The wines they make to their own labels are not your typical California fruit bombs. If that's what you like, don't come here. However, if you like wines that evolve in the glass and have great character, structure, and complexity you should love these wines.

Very yummy wines. Most wines from two different vineyards with diverse characteristics. Wine servers Hector and Justin were very knowledgeable. We highly recommend.

I love it here! I visited Bien Nacido while visiting a friend for the weekend. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to go anywhere fancy so, I felt a little underdressed for the elegant vibe but, that was just me because everyone who works there was cool as hell. I had a blast! Great selection of wines, awesome staff, upscale vibe without being pretentious, I cannot think of anything I did not like about this place. I almost want to go back to visit my friend just so I can go here again.

Bien Nacido is without a doubt one of the finest producers of Pinot Noir in California. You will be blown away by the subtlety and complexity of their wines. If you love Pinot do not miss it.

On the way back from Paso we ended up at Los Olivos for last minute wine tasting. Most places were closed due to the regulations the governor had just had in place for Santa Barbara county. We stopped here since this was the last location that was still open. The individual that helped us was very knowledgeable. During our stay he did mention that we would be the last people to help since they had to shutdown after a call from the manager. He did go through each wine and gave us tasting notes for each I didn't like or dislike the wine but I feel like I have had better during that week. My husband on the other hand disagreed and ended up buying one of their more expensive bottles. We had a great time and great conversation with this individual, I wish I can remember his name because he was cool and needs some recognition. A few weeks later we ended up opening this bottle of wine we had purchased, the flavor was rich bold and dry. Were thinking about stopping by soon and hopefully enjoy another tasting experience here