Partners
After a half-century of growing the most coveted Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah grapes in California, Bien Nacido Vineyards has finally opened its doors the public. The Miller Family Wine Company proudly invites all to The Gatehouse at Bien Nacido, where oenophiles can enjoy hand-crafted wines from its lauded Estate program against a stunning backdrop of the operation’s well-tended vines.
“This is a very meaningful milestone for our family,” said Nicholas Miller, the fifth generation of his family to work in agriculture on California’s Central Coast. “Having always operated as a working vineyard closed to the public, opening The Gatehouse doors feels like my family is welcoming the future—and bringing the rest of the world to Bien Nacido.”
Meaning “well born” in Spanish, Bien Nacido sits within the original Rancho Tepusquet, which Tomás Olivera was granted by the Mexican government in 1837. His family home, built in 1857, is the spiritual heart of the property today, a rare two-story adobe tucked into the mouth of a prominent canyon and surrounded by aromatic wisteria, low-slung walls, and the rolling vines.
Long touted as the “most vineyard-designated vineyard in the world,” meaning that more wineries showcase the name on their labels than any other property, Bien Nacido built its early reputation thanks to pioneering winemakers who purchased grapes and turned them into award-winning wines. Plantings of many different varieties grew to hundreds of acres in this unique pocket of the Santa Maria Valley, and dozens of wineries, from near and far, clamored for the cool-climate grapes that run from the steep, windswept benchlands to the protected canyon floor.
“Bien Nacido has always been a beacon of quality in the Central Coast,” said COO Marshall Miller. “From our family’s initial planting to how we look to the future, it is always with quality-forward decisions. I think this is rare not just in California, but really the globe. There aren’t many other vineyards that you can point to with a size comparable to Bien Nacido and so focused on quality.”
About 15 years ago, the Millers started making their own Bien Nacido Estate wines, putting their own twist on coveted Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah and many others. These are the wines that will be enjoyed at The Gatehouse, alongside their Solomon Hills Estate offerings, all made by winemaker Anthony Avila from grapes meticulously farmed by Vineyard Manager, Chris Hammell, who’s been with the property for more than two decades.
The tasting room offers tremendous views of the vineyard, all set in a design that reflects that historic adobe. Estate tours will even grant visitors the chance to see that structure, and the tasting experiences vary in price and focus, from a showcase of the estate, to specific flights of Burgundian or Rhône styles, to the full tour on an all-terrain vehicle, including a stop at the historic adobe.
“Looking back on these 50 years from when we first planted Bien Nacido in 1973, we have learned so much,” said Stephen Miller, who co-founded the vineyard with his brother, Bob MIller. “In addition to launching our own Bien Nacido Estate wine program, we have been blessed with so many fantastic wineries to partner with such as Au Bon Climat, Foxen, and Fess Parker as well as new rising stars such as La Pelle and Terre Et Sang. Fifty years also means that we have cycled through multiple generations of plantings and re-plantings at Bien Nacido and have that knowledge to look to an even brighter future. With the opening of our new Gatehouse, it’s the perfect time to plan a visit.”
