Jaffurs Wine Cellars Central Coast Winery Santa Barbara

Who Are We?
Jaffurs Wine Cellars is dedicated to producing great Rhone varietal wines with a new-world independence. Our wines -Syrah, Grenache, Petite Sirah, Viognier, and Roussanne - are among the best in the county. Owner/winemaker Craig Jaffurs, produced his first professional wines during the 1994 harvest. All our wines are carefully made in small lots. Only about 3500 cases are produced each year - production is limited. We work closely with our growers in the Santa Ynez, Santa Rita, Los Alamos, and the Santa Maria growing regions. We limit vineyard yields and require that optimal farming practices are observed. All our wines are crushed, pressed, cellared and bottled in our Santa Barbara facility. Visit us for a glimpse of world class winemaking in the heart of the city. 2013 is our 20th harvest!

In September of 2001 we completed construction of our new winery facility in the city of Santa Barbara. This modern, climate controlled facility allows us to make wine at a natural and careful pace. (Plus, it is only seven minutes from home!) We process all the fruit for our harvest here and the resulting wines show the benefits of this improved process. Come visit us at 819 E. Montecito Street (four blocks north of highway 101 off of Milpas Street).

We are open for tasting Fridays, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from 11 am to 5 pm. During the summer months, we are open everyday from 11 am to 5 pm. Appointments are not necessary if your group is 6 people or less, and you plan to visit during our regular tasting hours. Tasting fee is $10 per person. If you have a group larger than 6 people, please call for an appointment. Tasting fee for large groups is $15 per person. Call 805-962-7003 or e-mail if you have questions.

Jaffurs Wine Cellars owns no vineyards. We purchase premium wine grapes only from Santa Barbara County vineyards: Thompson (Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache), Bien Nacido (Viognier, Syrah), Larner (Syrah), Melville/Verna's (Syrah), Westerly (Roussanne), Paradise (Viognier), and Stolpman (Grenache, Viognier, and Roussanne) vineyards. The Ampelos Vineyard, located west of Buelton is our newest site. This is a cool vineyard which produces excellent syrah. Also new is the Melville Family's second vineyard, Verna's, located on Cat Canyon Road in Los Alamos. This cool, windy site provides us with four clones of Syrah.

Meet Craig Jaffurs - Owner & Winemaker
Craig has been making wines since 1989. He is a refugee from the aerospace industry where he spent 17 years as a cost analyst. He worked as a cellar rat at Santa Barbara Winery for five harvests where Bruce McGuire, their winemaker, began prodding Craig toward a career in wine. Several home winemaking vintages and a few classes at U. C. Davis later, the winery was born. When his first wine, the 1994 Santa Barbara County Syrah got rave reviews in Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate, the future was set. Craig is not looking back. Away from the winery, Craig loves surfing, fly fishing, and bonsai.

Meet The Family

Lee Wardlaw (Jaffurs) is co-owner of Jaffurs Wine Cellars and an award-winning author of more than two dozen books for young readers. Lee's newest book, Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku (Holt, ages 4 and up), which received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist and School Library Journal, tells the beguiling story of a wary shelter cat and the boy who takes him home. Won Ton recently won the prestigious Bennett Lee Hopkins National Poetry award. Look for Lee's latest picture book Red, White, and Boom in the book stores today. To learn more about Lee and her books, visit her website or e-mail her .

Patterson Wardlaw Jaffurs (aka P.J.) is Craig and Lee's teenaged son. He graduated from Santa Barbara Montessori School in 2010 and now attends Lee's alma mater, Santa Barbara High. PJ is a voracious reader and terrific student. His other loves include: pc gaming, boogie boarding in Hawaii, hapkido (he recently earned his 2nd degreee black belt), chemistry, math, helping at the winery, and the family's three cats: Mai Tai, Papaya and Poipu. Patterson is now in the process of selecting colleges - and exciting and scary experience. Can anyone help him get into Cal Tech?

Meet Dave Yates
In 2003, Craig hired his long time friend Dave Yates as General Manager and the winery's first real employee. Dave is another refugee from aerospace and the wireless communications industries. He has helped Craig make wine since the garage and Central Coast Wine Services days. Now he offers his many talents to keep our cellar, business, and marketing efforts creative and professional. In 2005, Dave also assumed the role of Assistant Winemaker.

Meet Matt Brady
Matt is now our Co-Winemaker and shares the winemaking duties with Craig. If you have ever visited our winery, you've probably met Matt. He came to our winery in mid 2005 after his graduation from UCSB. With a great deal of passion, but no winery experience, Matt immersed himself into everything we do. He's now an indispensable part of our operation. With several vintages under his belt, including a vintage in Australia’s Barossa Valley, Matt is our all-around go-to guy. We expect great things from him.