In the Santa Ynez Valley, a restored historic inn and tavern will join the area’s thriving food and wine scene.
By Sallie Lewis – Wall Street Journal
In the 2004 Oscar-winning film Sideways, the landscape and terroir of California’s Santa Ynez Valley played a key role. In one scene, the protagonist’s love interest says she thinks of wine as a “living thing,” changing with time.
Much like the Central Coast vintages, local landmarks, such as Mattei’s Tavern in the Santa Ynez town of Los Olivos, have evolved with age. After a multiyear hiatus, the 19th-century property reopens this fall as the Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, Auberge Resorts Collection.
The venue’s origins date back to 1886, when a Swiss immigrant named Felix Mattei built the tavern as the primary stagecoach stop between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Since its earliest days, Mattei’s has been a community hub; the 19th-century water tower still serves as a landmark for locals and visitors alike.
“There’s so many generational memories that are deeply important to people in the valley,” says Dave Elcon, the resort’s general manager. The owners, Brian R. Strange and Shamra Strange, of Malibu, California, know this firsthand. “My daughter’s rehearsal dinner was at Mattei’s,” Brian says. “Everybody we meet in the valley, they’ve either been married there, had their first drink there, their first kiss there…. There’s all this history, and history for our family, too.”
The couple, who also own Strange Family Vineyards in the nearby Santa Rita Hills, purchased the property at auction in 2017 and then closed it for renovation the next year. (Venture capitalist Deepak Kamra also came in as a co-owner.) “We wanted to save it from getting into the wrong hands,” says Brian. “The interesting thing is Felix Mattei, who developed this in 1886, his dream was to build cottages and have it as a hotel, so that’s what we’re doing.”
A guest room at the Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, a forthcoming Auberge Resorts Collection property that started life as a stagecoach stop.
PHOTO: AUBERGE RESORTS COLLECTION
In its new incarnation, the 67-room property stretches over 6.5 acres, surrounded by organic farms, horse ranches and more than 170 wineries and tasting rooms. Historical architecture meets modern comfort thanks to a restoration of the tavern and its original cabins, plus the careful addition of new cottages and guesthouses.
Mattei’s rebirth and partnership with Auberge Resorts Collection is a testament to the region’s growth in recent years. Santa Barbara County, which was named the 2021 wine region of the year by Wine Enthusiast magazine, is an acclaimed food and wine destination that still feels like a well-kept secret.
A roomy bathroom.
PHOTO: AUBERGE RESORTS COLLECTION
“It’s really wine country in its purest form,” says Elcon of the area. “You have a lot of farmer winemakers here, people that walk the vineyards, grow their own grapes, make their own wine; it’s a real, authentic point of view.” According to a study by Santa Clara University, the area is one of the top regions in California for women winemakers per capita.
Clustered among the valley’s vine-strewn hills are six communities, like Solvang, known as the Danish capital of America, and Los Alamos, with its respected culinary scene.
In 2021, Greg and Daisy Ryan’s Los Alamos bistro, Bell’s, was awarded the valley’s only Michelin star. The couple, who once worked at Per Se in New York, relocated after the birth of their son. “There’s a vibrancy that we felt almost immediately,” says Greg. Today, they get 90 percent of their ingredients from local farms and providers like Stephanie Mutz, a sea urchin diver. “It feels like Mesopotamia,” says Greg. “The level of produce that is grown and presented here is bar none.”
The Ryans’ other restaurant, a seafood spot called Bar Le Côte, is a five-minute walk from the inn. “We’re excited to see something like this,” Greg says of the new inn. “I think this is the next evolution of this area.”
Minimalist tilework in the shower.
PHOTO: AUBERGE RESORTS COLLECTION
Throughout the pandemic, Spencer Turnbull and Pearson McGee, of the high-end homewares store Santa Ynez General, have witnessed many first-time visitors fall for the area, which is just over two hours from Los Angeles. “People would be saying, ‘How do we not know about this place?’ ” McGee recalls. “It’s always gone through waves, but to us it seems highly accentuated right now,” adds Turnbull, a native of Santa Ynez. “I think the opening of the Inn at Mattei’s Tavern reflects that.”
This summer, Turnbull and McGee will open an outpost of their shop at Mattei’s, with a changing selection of homewares and accessories, like alpaca blankets and leather goods. They’re also developing exclusive products, including a candle with perfumer Carlos Huber evoking the valley’s chaparral.
The inn’s food and beverage offerings include a coffee shop and poolside restaurant. At Gin’s Tap Bar, named for a chef of Chinese descent who lived on the property for 45 years, Chinese influences meld with ranch smoking techniques. The Tavern, the resort’s main eatery, will highlight ingredients from area ranchers, winemakers, farmers, olive oil producers and, above all, the on-site garden. “Lettuce that was pulled from the earth in the morning,” Elcon says, “is on your plate in the evening.
