The Santa Ynez Valley is perhaps California’s last great wine region where you can make premium wine without a pot of gold. Few winemakers have embraced the role of scrappy underdog as eagerly as Matt McKinney and Justice Massara of McKinney Family Vineyards, two men whose starts in wine began, respectively, in the back of a truck in Puerto Rico and in a tent on Mt. Veeder.
In January 2010, Matt and his teammates rode in the bed of a Ford F-150 along a closed freeway in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with seemingly the whole volleyball-crazed city parading behind. His team had just triumphed in the Puerto Rico Superior League Championship, the Super Bowl of volleyball on that island, rallying to take the final 3 sets after going down 0-2. But there was more at stake in that game for Matt than a trophy.
McKinney, who grew up on a 10-acre ranch on Edison Street, had made an arrangement with his dad before the season: “I had been asking him for years if we could plant a vineyard on our property in Santa Ynez, but he kept saying no,” McKinney laments. “But I got him to agree to a bet: if we win the championship, then I can plant a half-acre of vines in the back horse pasture.” His dad kept his promise. In the spring of 2010, Matt planted 8 rows of Syrah and 8 rows of Viognier, and McKinney Family Vineyards (MFV) was born.
For the next five years, the labor of MFV was an individual sport. Matt farmed his 600 vines, negotiated fruit contracts from other local vineyards, made the wine, ran the wine club, hosted guests on his back patio, and cut through the bewildering tangle of the California wine trade all on his own. Then, one evening at Figueroa Mountain Brew Co in Los Olivos, he struck up a conversation with Justice Massara, who was the manager for the Carhartt tasting room at the time.
Justice was intrigued by Matt’s backyard vineyard, so Matt invited him and his friends to take a tour of the property the next week. “We were blown away by how incredible the wine was,” exudes Justice. “I knew I wanted to get involved and learn from Matt.”
Born in San Francisco and graduating from UC Davis’ winemaking program, Justice began his wine career working for Bill Hawley at Random Ridge Vineyards on Mt. Veeder.
“I applied to be a harvest intern at Random Ridge, and after a few conversations, Bill said, ‘Justice, we’d love to have you, but as you can see, we are on the top of the mountain, and we have nowhere for you to stay.”
“I have a tent,” he replied. So, for his first harvest on the mountain, Justice slept in his tent.
In the evenings, before he retired to the tent, he and the other interns would cook dinner in the Hawley’s mountain home, listening to vinyl and drinking wine. “Bill would bring up amazing old bottles from his cellar, and we would all share them. I didn’t realize what a special, communal thing wine could be until that summer.”
After 4 years at Random Ridge, Justice headed south to Santa Barbara. “My dad grew up in SB, and my grandparents live in Goleta, so the family connection is strong for me here. Plus, I knew the quality of wine coming out of this region.”
Following a harvest at Gainey, Justice took the tasting room manager position at Carhartt, where he learned the hospitality and sales side of the wine business for the next two years. “But I didn’t want to work in tasting rooms forever,” he acknowledges. “My eye was always on production and winemaking. I knew I needed a mentor. I met Matt at the perfect time.”
McKinney’s focus on organic farming and minimal intervention winemaking was a major draw for Justice, who was an environmental studies major in college. “The connection of growing your own product and making something from that was really enticing to me,” says Justice. “Organic and biodynamic farming and a cleaner process for making wine - seeing those things as important was something Matt and I have always shared.”
With Justice on board, MFV was now a team, albeit the smallest possible one. And like every young winemaker, Justice quickly discovered that the unromantic parts of the process are most of the process. Matt’s first assignment for him was to foot-stomp a tank of ice-cold Grenache berries, after which his legs ached and trembled with cold. Their second project together was to plant an acre of Grenache next to the original Syrah and Viognier vines. For weeks, they sweated in the unrelenting Santa Ynez sun and wind to dig irrigation trenches, pound end posts into the ground, install overhead sprinklers and trellis wires, and make holes for the new saplings.
For several years, Matt and Justice made wine either in the old horse stable on the family property that Matt repurposed into a production room or in rented space in nearby wineries. Then, in 2019, they converted a warehouse on Industrial Way into the first official McKinney Family Vineyards winery, which they did in a mad dash before harvest. “We ordered a de-stemmer that showed up the same morning as our first pick of the season,” laughs Matt. “The electrician I hired was setting up power to the de-stemmer pretty much right as the fruit rolled in. It was insane.”
Now, sitting in the tasting lounge to the side of the production room, Matt and Justice have the look of brothers-in-arms who have charged up a few hills together. “We’ve seen this company change and grow so much because of our sacrifices,” says Justice. The winery has grown from 3 barrels in the first vintage to 2,300 cases annually, offering as many as 20 different wines each year. They have planted Bordeaux varietals and Sangiovese on the property to complement the Rhone varietals, though most of their fruit is sourced from other organic vineyards in Santa Barbara County. They are now a team of five, and Justice was promoted to Head Winemaker in 2023.
“Matt has taught me about delayed gratification, patience, and hard work,” reflects Justice.
“Instead of chasing quick highs and short-term gains, there is honor in things that are hard.”
Matt nods. “I’ve had to be hard on Justice at times. In the beginning, I pushed him, worked him overtime, and asked him to do stuff he didn’t necessarily sign up to do. There was no one else to do it. You’ve just got to hold tight and work your tail off.”
After working side-by-side for the last six years, their bond cuts deep. “Matt has been my mentor but also my best friend in the area,” says Justice. “Yes, he taught me about making wine but also has taught me about being more vulnerable and sharing the hardships in life I used to try and hide.”
When asked whether he had anything else to add, Matt looked over at Justice and said, “That’s my brother right there.”
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“We were blown away by how incredible the wine was,” exudes Justice. “I knew I wanted to get involved and learn from Matt.”
“Organic and biodynamic farming and a cleaner process for making wine - seeing those things as important was something Matt and I have always shared.”