Pence Ranch & Winery

Pence has great wine, service and is beautiful. We always wish we would have bought more when we get home after our visit. They also recently brought on a new Manager that helped fix one of my ordering issues. Thank you Dani, well done!

The only reason why I am posting is to give fair warning to anyone else who might want to bring their dog wine tasting with them.
We heard great things about this place and it was on my list of places to try so the wife and I took our little dog up to check out the local wineries. We parked and I saw the open tasting room and everything looked like it was going to be great. We took our dog out on her leash and began walking towards the tasting room when it all happened, so fast.
A pack of Rhodesian ridge backs came and immediately started to harass my dog, so much so that my wife panicked and lifted our dog by the leash into the air and snatched her before the dogs did any real damage. We immediately looked for any bites, cuts, scrapes on our poor dog and found nothing (she was trembling with fear) and immediately started walking back to the car. The lead dog aggressively pursued after my wife who was holding our dog, so much so that she had to aggressively yell to the dog to stop, stay, no! Before she finally got into the car.
I know Rhodesian ridge backs, they are beautiful dogs and if one really wanted to do harm to my dog, it would have done it in that brief moment, but what concerned me the most are a few things that didn’t quite process until later.
A customer who was driving in and saw the whole thing said, you should get out of here because those dogs didn’t looked like they were playing with her.
Next one of the workers explained that if you have a dog you need to park outside of the gate and keep the dog in the car for its safety and lastly, when we were in our car about to leave someone came by and explained that each of the dogs has one of those electric fence collars that will keep them from crossing the gate and go outside. She also then explained that we should also move our car outside of the gate because if we left it there with our dog inside, the dogs will jump on our car.
It took me some time to process this as I did not expect this to happen in my wildest dreams. (we have taken our dog to numerous wineries and tasting rooms and had nothing close to this happen). These comments from the customer and the workers lead me to believe that this pack can be aggressive towards other dogs, have a history of doing so and that this is not the first time that something like this happened. I do appreciate the tone of the person who came to speak to us but after the adrenaline settled down, this incident left us quite rattled.
Since there was no damage and just some rattled nerves I tried not to let it ruin things, but sadly, this incident ruined our whole trip and resulted in a long drive home.
I will never go back to this place and it is truly unfortunate that something like this can happen in such a lovely looking place. ALL ON Unilocal. BE WARNED! YOUR DOG MAY GET HURT!

Outstanding service from the moment we arrived. Ambiance is great and the wine … Fantastic! Thank you Pence for a wonderful time. Team Alliance!

The best Pinot Noirs we tasted on our wine tour!
Pence is beautiful winery with gorgeous grounds. Laurel was such an amazing host, who took the time to drive us around the entire ranch. We got to feed chickens, have lunch by the lake, and just enjoy the beauty that is Pence. The owner really took his time and knew what he was doing with this place! Wine club members have free rain of the grounds for events. How amazing is that?! You absolutely positively have to make a stop here if you’re touring in the area.

Pence Ranch offers delicious wines in a lovely environment with an awesome small staff. I take people Santa Barbara wine country often and Pence is a favorite spot and a hidden gem. Stephen, Laurel and Anabell are charming and friendly hosts as they obviously enjoy the family atmosphere working at Pence. They genuinely enjoy sharing their passion for the Pence wines. Blair Pence occasionally makes an appearance in his cowboy hat and boots. Blair is friendly and down to earth and eager to share his eponymous wine. The winemaker, Sashi Moorman, bakes bread with the organic rye grown on the property which very often available to taste along with the wine. The offering is mostly red and Pinot Noir fitting the Santa Rita Hills flavor profile, however they also make an awesome Syrah and beautiful Chardonnay.
As soon as you go through the gates of the property you know you have found something special when you see the open tasting room and inviting deck. A perfect stop to have lunch as their wines are higher in acid an excellent with food. Committed to organic farming practices, a tour of the property by foot or ATV reveals a lake and pond, gazebo, surrounded by relatively new organic vineyards. Pence has been under construction as they are adding an equestrian center and extra spaces for their club members to enjoy the property. The ranch is complete with all sorts of animals including horses, long horn steer, heirloom chickens, peacocks and four friendly Rhodesian Ridgebacks that sometimes tag along on ATV tour.

We spent a delightful afternoon at Pence Winery. Blair was a wonderful host and we had the chance to drive around the property and see this beautiful vineyard.
Tasting the wines in a comfortably rustic and handsomely appointed room just added to the whole experience.
Defintely should be on people’s to do list while out wine tasting!