Santa Maria Valley's Wine and BBQ Imprint Grows

Barbecue comes in all shapes and sizes, focusing on different animals and coming from different origins. The Carolinas and Texas BBQ lovers will fly their flag show their allegiance, but on recent trips to Texas I was very excited to learn the growing interest in tri-tip —a triangular cut of beef from the bottom side of the sirloin on a cow—also known as "California's Cut" or "Santa Maria Steak", which became a local specialty to the Santa Maria area in California's central coast in the 1950s. What began as an unwanted cut of beef, has now become a standard in open-fire barbecue.

This May, the birthplace of the California Central Coast’s iconic cut will celebrate more than 150 years of untamed spice by dishing out all things Santa Maria Style barbecue, including stories of its humble beginnings, authentic techniques and mouthwatering events. In the Santa Maria Valley, barbecue isn’t just a smokeshow—it’s decadently seasoned tri-tip, cooked to perfection over red-oak-fired coals is enhanced by pinquito beans, fresh salsa, garlic bread and a whole lot of flavor. The only way to make the meal more complete is to pair it with a glass of award-winning Santa Maria Valley wine.

The Santa Maria Barbecue Festival attracts hundreds each year to celebrate this delicious pillar of Central Coast culture. Local celebrity judges decide on the Best Barbecue in Santa Maria Valley as businesses and culinary professionals compete for the first-place Branding Iron award. There is also a separate competition for “best backyard cook.” This year, the 2024 Santa Maria Barbecue Festival, taking place May 11th, will be a 21-and-over event, with attendees being able to sample both barbecue and craft beer.

Click here to purchase tickets (attendees must be 21+)

I had the chance to interview Jaime Flores, Organizer of the Santa Maria BBQ Festival & Anthony Avila, Winemaker at Bien Nacido ahead of the Festival:

Jaime Flores, Organizer of the Santa Maria BBQ Festival

MK: How does the technique differ using a Santa Maria Grill versus a Traeger or Big Green Egg?

JF: Santa Maria Style Technique is food cooked over an open pit fire. There is no lid or cover so the meat doesn't bake or steam. Instead a sear happens that locks in all the flavor and juices of the proteins. A grill over the fire has the ability to be raised or lowered to properly cook and for time purposes. A closed smoker sometimes takes up to 15+ hours to cook where a Santa Maria Style BBQ Pit can cook multiple items as fast or as slow as you desire.

MK: What components are most important for you to create the perfect BBQ?

JF: There are a few things that need to happen for a perfect BBQ. Good quality items and properly aged meats will make a huge impact on the quality and taste of your BBQ. Properly season everything, I like to use some olive oil to coat the meat then season it so it creates a bark when properly seared. A hot fire and grill is key to properly cooking to the appropriate temperatures, avoid using things like lighter fluid or paper to start your fire as it could leave a residual flavor on your food. Grab a cold beverage or a nice glass of chilled wine and enjoy being around the pit with friends and family.

MK: What is the typical wood you use, and what is the origin?

JF: Santa Maria Style is cooked with locally harvested Red Oak. The Central Coast is known for its beautiful red oaks and for over several decades has been the key to Santa Maria Style BBQ. Our coastline has a few different species of oaks but the Coastal Red is our most abundant. The wood is harvested from trees that have usually fallen or require abatement to avoid falling or burning in its natural environment.

MK: How do you feel wine and bbq compliment each other?

JF: Wine and BBQ were made for each other. With the various amazing local wines and most of those wines being made in Oak Barrels, the two will always pair well. I enjoy a nice chilled Chardonnay or a Viognier while starting my fire and it pairs well with seafood, vegetables and even proteins like lamb and pork. Our local Pinots and Cabs go well with red meats and poultry plus so many more pairing options can happen by exploring what's available. Honestly there isn't a wine and BBQ pairing that would not work well for all BBQ and wine enthusiasts.

Anthony Avila, Winemaker at Bien Nacido

MK: What excites you most about making wine from Bien Nacido Vineyard, "the most vineyard-designated vineyard in the world”?

AA: The thing that excites me the most about making wine from Bien Nacido is the diversity of the vineyard itself. We have at least four distinct soil types spread across all sorts of different elevations, inclinations and exposures to the sun and wind, which actually makes Bien Nacido more like four or five different vineyards all wrapped into one. A Pinot Noir made from grapes grown on one of the hillsides with lots of shale is going to be very different from a Pinot grown closer to the valley floor in sandy loam but they are both still very much “Bien Nacido”. I think the quality of the fruit combined with that broad range of terroir is what has drawn so many wineries, and Winemakers, over the years to make vineyard designated wines from Bien Nacido .

MK: How does Santa Maria Valley's proximity to the ocean allow for special conditions where you can grow world class Chardonnay & Pinot Noir, but also Syrah at the same time?

AA: The Santa Maria Valley is a transverse valley which means that it runs from East to West and that makes it distinct from most of the valleys in the world. We are open directly to the Pacific Ocean on the West end and directly to the interior valleys of California on the East end, so the grape growing conditions here change dramatically over very short distances. The further you are from the Ocean the warmer and less windy the Valley is. In addition to that, a small portion of the Bien Nacido vineyard is tucked away in a smaller canyon that branches off to the North of the main Santa Maria Valley where it is relatively more protected from the prevailing sea breeze. That slightly warmer pocket of the ranch is where the majority of our Syrah is planted while grapes like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay tend to be found in colder areas of the vineyard.

MK: BBQ culture is inescapable in your area where Tri-Tip originates, how do your wines enhance the fat, smoke, and salt components of a perfectly cooked tri-tip?

AA: Our wines are full of fruit character, acidity and structure and those components pair extremely well with Santa Maria style Tri-Tip and BBQ in general. The fruitiness of our wines balances out the smokey, salty flavors, which elevates both the fruit in the wine and the flavor of the BBQ. The natural acidity in wines from Bien Nacido helps to cut through the fat of a rich cut like Tri-Tip and the tannin structure helps to keep the wines from being overpowered by strong flavors.

In addition to Bien Nacido Estate wines, I also highly recommend looking into visiting these wineries while in the Santa Maria Valley: Presqu'ile , Costa de Oro , Au Bon Climat , BRVGHELLI , Byron , and Native9 .