Ventura County

Ventura County pours wine country two ways — Ojai’s oak-shaded valley and the Santa Monica Mountains’ coastal ridges. Ojai sits in a pocket at 750 feet, hot days and cool nights, and a handful of producers hold vineyards on the valley floor and the hills west of the 33. Tasting rooms pour from farmhouses and downtown storefronts, most with leashed patios and a bowl at the door. Los Padres National Forest holds leashed canyon trails; Point Mugu State Park opens leashed coastal bluffs. Pair an Ojai syrah with an afternoon at Mugu. The county pours wine that most Los Angeles drivers never find.