The Greenough Family

Bill is a Central Coast native who grew up in Montecito, and who first made wine in the fabled communal neighborhood of Santa Barbara’s Mountain Drive. In 1974, he discovered an abandoned century-old Zinfandel vineyard in a remote canyon in the upper Arroyo Grande Valley. He felt called to restore the overgrown vineyard, and soon he was producing one of California’s most notable Zinfandels. While he finally turned the winemaking reins over to his son Tom in 2009, Bill still remains wholly invested in “the Saucelito way.” His winemaking journey was chronicled in the acclaimed book, The Mad Crush: A Memoir of Mythic Vines and Improbable Winemaking.

After graduating from UCLA, Nancy moved to Montecito and, like Bill, participated in the communal winemaking adventures on Mountain Drive. After Bill bought the vineyard at Saucelito Canyon in 1974, she and others from the old Mountain Drive gang would drive up on weekends, helping plant vines during the day and sharing Hearty Burgundy by night. The rest is history, and she and Bill were married in 1980. Ever since, Nancy has led the winery’s sales and marketing efforts, establishing Saucelito Canyon as one of California’s stalwart small wineries.

Tom was destined for this. He spent much of his childhood in the canyon, playing among the gnarled old vines and absorbing the craft of winemaking. There came a time when he was tempted by other vocations, but the calling of the canyon ultimately proved too strong. In 2009, he accepted the winemaking reins from his father Bill, and never looked back. Like his father, he prefers to quietly toil in the vineyard without fanfare. At the same time, he brings his own signature to our wines, imbuing them with relevance from one generation to the next.