The Gleason Family Vineyards Santa Ynez Valley Group of Hospitality Brands Refreshes Historical Building, Adds Outdoor Entertaining Areas
August 22, 2023 – Los Olivos, CA – The Gleason Family Vineyards Santa Ynez Valley portfolio of brands (Refugio Ranch Vineyards, Roblar Winery and Vineyards, Roblar Farm, Royal Oaks Winery) has unveiled the expansion and enhancement of its Refugio Ranch Los Olivos tasting room, which has been joined with the hospitality group’s neighboring cabin via new outdoor entertaining areas. The c.1912 main building, once a filling station for Pacific Coast Railway tank cars, now sports a more contemporary, wine country color palette, and a larger outdoor footprint due to its new, alfresco tasting and seating areas. A bountiful farm stand stocked with produce from the portfolio’s organic farm, now fronts the building which stands at the northern entrance to the Victorian-era village. Indoors, the historical structure now boasts a tasting bar-adjacent marketplace displaying locally sourced items such as honey, coffee, tea, pickles, olive oils, lavender products, and bath goods, plus other farm-inspired merchandise and wares from local crafters.
The miniscule cabin next door, fabled to have originally been a Pacific Coast Railway train ticketing booth, has received an external expansion effectively linking the structure’s property with that of its larger sibling. Guests entering the newly-refined cabin are greeted by a long tasting bar which leads to a 900-square-foot open-air, flagstone patio featuring tables for wine tasting.
The Refugio Ranch story began in 2004, when Niki and Kevin Gleason purchased a Santa Ynez Valley cattle ranch that had been used for grazing for hundreds of years. The 415-acre site, now Refugio Ranch, sits along the northern face of the Santa Ynez Mountains with the Santa Ynez River serving as its northern property border. The Gleasons planted 26 acres of vines in 2006, and produced their first Refugio Ranch Vineyards wines in 2008.
In 2017, the Gleasons acquired Santa Ynez Valley’s Roblar Winery and Vineyards, Royal Oaks Winery, and what was then-Royal Oaks Ranch which, in 2018, became the planting site for the family’s now-three-acre organic Roblar Farm. The proprietary farm sparked the introduction of new Roblar Winery food menus and in the summer of 2021, the Gleason Family Vineyards portfolio announced executive chef and head of culinary operations, Peter Cham, as part of the brands’ concerted expansion of Santa Barbara wine country hospitality experiences.
Summer of 2022, Gleason Family Vineyards detailed the rollout of new sustainability initiatives and regenerative agriculture programming, now overseen by Clay Garland, Gleason Family Vineyards’ Director of Farming, who handles farming and sustainability efforts for all of the group’s properties. As part of these initiatives, the previously-one-acre, organic Roblar produce farm received a two-acre addition, which is planted as a “market garden” – a seasonal field bearing 40+ varieties of vegetables and herbs to supply the Gleason Family Vineyards kitchens, the Roblar Farm stand located at the entrance to Roblar Winery and Vineyards, and now, the new farm stand located at the Refugio Ranch Los Olivos tasting facility. Additional acreage is currently under development at Roblar Farm for the production of autumn squashes, as well as a stone fruit orchard.
The two Gleason Family Vineyards farm stands will regularly carry eggs, flowers, and produce pulled directly from Roblar Farm, for purchase by locals and visitors. The addition of the farm stand amenity to Refugio Ranch makes what was already one of the largest tasting rooms in Los Olivos, now the only in-town location of a robust market stand.
“Roblar Farm is a working model of regenerative agriculture, using limited tillage, rotational grazing, and the reincorporation of waste streams from vineyard production and animal waste,” explained Garland. “The farm production is an incredibly diverse system of over fifty varieties of fruits and vegetables. We plant insectary flowers at the ends of our rows to ensure beneficial insects have habitat in order to eliminate sprays. All of our seed selections are heirloom, if not organic. Roblar farm produce is sold within less than one hundred miles, reducing the carbon footprint the food needs to travel. Nothing goes to waste, as we accept compost from some of our local chefs and put it back into the soil.”
In addition to appearing on the Roblar Winery food menus, Roblar Farm produce is also found on the menus of local, Santa Ynez Valley restaurants such as Bell’s and Full of Life Flatbread in Los Alamos, and Ramen Kotori and peasants FEAST in Solvang. Roblar Farm’s cut flowers may be found at Forage Florals, Renae’s Bouquet, and Santa Ynez Valley Florist in the town of Santa Ynez.
“We seek to nurture the whole ecosystem at each of our estate properties. From vine to bottle, from farm to fork, we celebrate the bounty that this land offers, always mindful that we are merely stewards of this beautiful corner of the Earth,” said Max Gleason, Gleason Family Vineyards Creative Director, who led the design and expansion efforts for the Refugio Ranch Vineyards Los Olivos tasting room.
The enhancements to the Refugio Ranch Vineyards Los Olivos tasting room enable the company to introduce visitors to the variety that the portfolio offers, namely, wine from the family’s suite of brands, including Refugio Ranch wines, Roblar wines, and their “GFV” label, all made by Gleason Family Vineyards head winemaker Max Marshak, as well as the organic produce from the family’s local farm.
Max Gleason, also the artist behind the Gleason Family Vineyards wine label artwork, has brightened the Refugio Ranch tasting room exteriors with a clean patina of white, replacing heavier dark woods with marble tabletops and streamlined, black fixtures and trim.
“We want this, what was our first Santa Ynez Valley tasting location, to act almost as a concierge and introduction to all that the Gleason Family Vineyards group offers,” explained Max Gleason. “It was time to lighten things up a bit, to better reflect the freshness coming from our farm and our winery. And to showcase the rich variety that the Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Barbara County, as a whole, have to offer, we have curated a select group of local food purveyors and artisans whose hand-crafted, small production products we sell in our marketplace.”
The expanded entertaining areas at the Refugio Ranch Los Olivos tasting location have opened the door for internal food pop-ups, the first of which will launch Saturday, September 9, 2023. Running Saturdays and Sundays only, the evolving pop-up menus will feature signature food items from Gleason Family Vineyards chefs Peter Cham and Lee Gottheimer, such as the duo’s swankier version of “Chips & Onion Dip” (crème fraiche, chive oil, pickled red onion, charred onion powder), a Little Gem wedge salad with proprietary Roblar Farm produce, cider- and BBQ spice-braised pulled pork tacos, and a return of the locally-loved “Cham Burger,” a double Wagyu beef smash burger loaded with onions, pickles, American cheese, and secret sauce.
Refugio Ranch Vineyards Los Olivos tasting room, located at 2990 Grand Avenue, Los Olivos, CA, is currently open daily for wine tasting experiences and bottle purchases, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Sunday through Thursday, and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Friday and Saturday. Advance tasting reservations are recommended. More information will be available soon, about expanded food service options and menus at the Refugio Ranch Vineyards Los Olivos tasting room.
Roblar Winery and Vineyards, located at 3010 Roblar Avenue (at the intersection of Roblar Avenue and Highway 154), Santa Ynez, CA, is open daily for wine tasting experiences and bottle purchases, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Advance tasting reservations are requested. Chef Cham’s lunch menu is offered Monday through Thursday, as well as “Supper” Tuesday through Thursday, a “Bites” menu Friday and Saturday, and a brunch menu served on Sunday. Current menus and food service options are available at this link.
