This California wine paradise all but vanished. Now there's a quest to revive it

Eventually she found an approximate location on a California history website. In the spring of 2014, with a not-quite-1-year-old baby in the backseat, Osborne drove south from Santa Barbara.

When she found herself on a five-lane thoroughfare sandwiched between UPS' regional air hub and the Ontario Airport, she was sure she was lost. Then she saw the old stone wall and a plaque announcing "ESTABLISHED 1882." Passing through the ranch's wrought-iron gates, she was mesmerized by the oasis: a lush jungle of old-grove eucalyptus, palm trees, cacti and creeping bougainvillea. The Hofer Ranch Grenache was like nothing Osborne had seen before, the vines so hulking that they resembled trees, throwing asymmetrical shadows over the sandy loam soil.

"We took the grapes that year, and it was quite evident that we'd found something really magical," says Osborne.

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