A Tribute To Grace Santa Barbara County Grenache 2024

Angela Osborne has made exactly one thing since founding A Tribute to Grace in 2007: Grenache. Not as a blending component, not as an afterthought — pure, single-varietal Grenache from carefully selected California sites, bottled with the transparency to show exactly where it came from. The Santa Barbara County bottling draws from two sites with dramatically different microclimates, and the contrast between them produces a wine that is both lifted and grounded, approachable now and worth keeping.

Quick Facts

• Appellation: Santa Barbara County, California
• Varietal: 100% Grenache
• Winemaker: Angela Osborne
• Vineyards: Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard + Curtis Vineyard, Foxen Canyon
• Farming: Sustainable, biodynamic-leaning
• ABV: 13.8%

Tasting Profile

• Aroma: Fresh strawberry, dried rose petal, white pepper, cool earth
• Body: Light to medium
• Fruit: Lifted red fruit; fresh, transparent, and precise
• Oak: Neutral oak aging — no oak flavor imparted
• Texture: Silky and fine-grained with quietly present tannins
• Finish: Long and building; gains complexity as the glass opens

Why We Love It

Grenache is one of the world's great varieties, but California has been slow to treat it that way. Most producers use it to add weight and fruit to blends. Angela Osborne has spent nearly twenty years proving it doesn't need help. The Santa Barbara County bottling is the most accessible entry point into her work — broader in sourcing than her single-vineyard wines, but no less intentional. It is the kind of red wine that works at the dinner table and in conversation equally well. We carry it because it is one of the best Grenaches being made in California right now, and because the story behind it is worth knowing.

Winemaking

The Santa Barbara County Grenache draws from two sites with contrasting characters. The Highlands Vineyard sits at 3,200 feet elevation in the high desert above Santa Barbara, where intense daytime heat and cold nights produce Grenache with concentrated fruit, firm structure, and a distinctive mineral quality. Curtis Vineyard in Foxen Canyon is lower and more sheltered, producing fruit with softer aromatics and more generous texture. Together they create a more complete wine than either site produces alone. Fermentation is with native yeast. The wine is aged in neutral oak to allow the fruit and site character to develop without oak influence. Bottled with minimal sulfur, unfined, and unfiltered.

Women of Wine: Angela Osborne

Angela Osborne was born in New Zealand and moved to California in 2006 with a specific purpose: to make Grenache. Her homeland's cool climate made serious Grenache production nearly impossible, and so she spent years searching — through northern Spain, southern France, and southern Australia — before California's sunshine and entrepreneurial culture drew her in for good.

In 2007 she sourced her first fruit from the Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard and released her first vintage under the A Tribute to Grace label. She has not wavered from the original premise since. Every wine she makes is 100% Grenache, sourced from a small number of carefully selected sites, made with native yeast and minimal intervention, and bottled with the transparency to show exactly where it came from.

The discipline required to build an entire winemaking career around a single variety — to deepen rather than broaden, to stay with one grape across nearly twenty vintages — is rare in any context and uncommon in California. The result is one of the most coherent bodies of work in the state. The label is named for Angela's grandmother Grace, and for the personal attribute she values most. The Queen Anne's Lace motif, inspired by a dried flower she found in a Dublin vintage market, has appeared on every bottle since 2007.

Estate Overview

A Tribute to Grace Wine Company was founded in 2007 and is based in Los Alamos, California, in the heart of Santa Barbara wine country. The label sources fruit exclusively from California vineyards, with a focus on sites that offer the heat and light Grenache requires to ripen fully while maintaining the acidity and structure that define the wines. All bottlings are 100% Grenache, made with minimal intervention, and available through a select number of specialty retailers and direct allocation. The single-vineyard tier — which includes dedicated bottlings from the Highlands and other sites — represents the label's deepest expressions of individual terroir.

Serving & Pairing

Serve at 55–60°F, slightly cooler than a full-bodied red to allow the floral aromatics to express fully. Decant for 20 to 30 minutes if opening immediately. Excellent with roasted lamb, duck confit, mushroom-forward pastas, grilled salmon, and dishes with significant herb or spice components. For a California pairing, try it with a Santa Maria-style barbecue or roasted chicken with herbes de Provence.