{
 "schema": 1,
 "id": "sanford-and-benedict",
 "type": "vineyard",
 "names": {
  "name": "Sanford & Benedict"
 },
 "region": [
  "sta-rita-hills",
  "santa-barbara",
  "california"
 ],
 "facets": {
  "country": "United States",
  "established": 1971
 },
 "text": {
  "what": "The planting that proved the Santa Ynez river gap: put in during 1971 by Richard Sanford and Michael Benedict on a north-facing slope nobody else wanted, and now inside the Sta. Rita Hills AVA.",
  "story": "*Tradition holds —* Sanford went looking with weather records rather than with a realtor, hunting a valley that ran east-west so the ocean air could reach the vines. The old block still gets picked separately and named on labels made by people who never owned it."
 },
 "kin": [
  {
   "to": "sta-rita-hills",
   "as": "The AVA drawn around this ground thirty years later.",
   "rel": "region"
  },
  {
   "to": "richard-sanford",
   "as": "Who chose the site.",
   "rel": "person"
  }
 ],
 "geo": {
  "lat": 34.62,
  "lon": -120.3,
  "precision": "street"
 },
 "sources": [
  "s:wp-sta-rita-hills-ava",
  "s:haeger-north-american"
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "default": {
   "tier": "tradition"
  }
 },
 "confidence": "medium",
 "needs_verification": true,
 "updated": "2026-09-16",
 "blurb": "The planting that proved the Santa Ynez river gap: put in during 1971 by Richard Sanford and Michael Benedict on a north-facing slope nobody else wanted, and now inside the Sta. Rita Hills AVA.",
 "region_terms": [
  {
   "key": "sta-rita-hills",
   "name": "Sta. Rita Hills",
   "country": "United States",
   "note": "a wind tunnel between Buellton and Lompoc"
  },
  {
   "key": "santa-barbara",
   "name": "Santa Barbara County",
   "country": "United States",
   "note": "the transverse ranges turn the valleys east-west and let the ocean in"
  },
  {
   "key": "california",
   "name": "California",
   "country": "United States",
   "note": "from Anderson Valley to the Santa Maria bench, wherever fog reaches"
  }
 ],
 "kin_out": [
  {
   "to": "sta-rita-hills",
   "type": "region",
   "name": "Sta. Rita Hills",
   "as": "The AVA drawn around this ground thirty years later.",
   "rel": "region"
  },
  {
   "to": "richard-sanford",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Richard Sanford",
   "as": "Who chose the site.",
   "rel": "person"
  }
 ],
 "source_list": [
  {
   "id": "s:wp-sta-rita-hills-ava",
   "kind": "encyclopaedia",
   "title": "Sta. Rita Hills AVA",
   "publisher": "Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?curid=15415082",
   "permalink": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370033962",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "licence": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:haeger-north-american",
   "kind": "book",
   "title": "North American Pinot Noir",
   "author": "John Winthrop Haeger",
   "publisher": "University of California Press",
   "year": 2004
  }
 ],
 "tiers": {
  "text.what": {
   "tier": "tradition"
  },
  "text.story": {
   "tier": "tradition"
  },
  "geo": {
   "tier": "tradition"
  }
 },
 "primary_image": null,
 "tag_facts": [],
 "recognition_facts": [],
 "acclaim": 0,
 "kin_in": [
  {
   "from": "sta-rita-hills",
   "type": "region",
   "name": "Sta. Rita Hills",
   "as": "The 1971 planting that proved the ground.",
   "rel": "vineyard"
  },
  {
   "from": "richard-sanford",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Richard Sanford",
   "as": "The vineyard he planted with Michael Benedict.",
   "rel": "made-by"
  }
 ]
}