Amber Hogan easily recounts her “a-ha” moment, or epiphany, that led her to making wine.
Hogan was a server at Brigitte’s on State Street in Santa Barbara, owned and managed for decades by chef Norbert Schulz and Brigitte Guehr, when she happened to sample a 2007 Ken Brown pinot noir from Clos Pepe Vineyard.
“That’s when I fell in love with wine,” said Hogan, a native of Santa Barbara County.
Today, she calls Ken Brown — one of Santa Barbara County’s winemaking pioneers — her mentor, and credits him with her decision to switch gears and make wine.
In 2015, Hogan, now mother to son Hunter, 17, and daughters Nyla, 10, and Finley, 8, toured with Brown the vineyards from which he sourced grapes for his label, which includes Sta. Rita Hills pinot noir, chardonnay and syrah.
At the time, “I was very pregnant, so I had a heightened sense of smell and taste,” she recalled.
In the years before launching Amber Rose Wines in 2018, Hogan continued to team with Brown during harvests, and she learned hospitality and sales from his Buellton tasting room.
Hogan calls Brown’s tutelage “instrumental” to her success and describes him as “professional and very centered.”
“He knows his wines are of high quality,” she said.
Hogan’s first vineyard source was Broken Oak Vineyard in the Ballard Canyon AVA. The site is owned by A.C. D’Augustine, who races vintage and sports cars, Hogan said.
When she first met him, D’Augustine insisted that “I just take the grapes,” at no charge, she recalled, laughing. Today, she reimburses him and harvests the fruit herself, and Broken Oak remains an integral part of her label.
The debut release of Amber Rose was in 2021.
When I tasted with Hogan, we tried her 2021, 2022 and 2023 sauvignon blancs. Her tasting space, which she opened in 2023, is cozy and located at the front of Brown’s winery off Buellton’s Industrial Way.
The 2021 was bright with high acid, lots of minerality and offered a long finish with honeysuckle and stone fruit.
The 2022 is more “straw-like” and rich, with tones of honey, citrus and lemon rind. It shows more texture, as it’s aged in both stainless and neutral oak, Hogan noted.
She prefers her sauvignon blancs to have “under one year of turnover” from harvest to bottling, and samples the wines once monthly as they age.
“I love to let time pass between barrel tastings,” she said. “I love the progression of the evolution of the wine … as well as the reflection of the (vineyard) site and vintage.”
With each vintage, Hogan reinforces her belief: “As long as you produce a good wine that you can stand by, then you’re good.”
Hogan’s 2023 sauvignon blanc is entirely barrel fermented and will be her first vineyard designate (from Broken Oak).
When 2022 saw triple-digit heat over Labor Day weekend, Hogan opted out of making pinot noir but returned with a 2023.
“Year 2022 made me love and appreciate vintage 2023,” she said.
In 2022, “my plan was to make a single grenache,” but after tasting some syrah from Nolan Vineyards, that year’s “Patriarch Cuvee” — named for Hogan’s grandfather — ended up as a 70%-30% blend of grenache and syrah.
And it’s fantastic. My notes: “A surprisingly subtle nose turns into bright and juicy fruit flavors that go on for days.”
That cuvee earned a 92-point score and an Editor’s Choice from Matt Kettmann of Wine Enthusiast. The rating “took me my surprise, so much so that I had to immediately list the wine on my website, where it had yet to be included,” Hogan said.
In the winery she shares with Ken Brown Wines, we barrel sampled Hogan’s 2025 grenache, which showed lots of spice, which she favors, a grassy undertone and “textural tannins.” The grenache also hails from Broken Oak Vineyards.
The Amber Rose 2021 Pinot Noir, a Pommard clone from Riverbench Vineyard and Winery in the Santa Maria Valley, is lush and soft and a favorite of Hogan’s, in part for its “long-term ageability and structure,” she noted.
Like many winemakers I know, Hogan loves good beer, and especially IPAs. She’s a big fan of Draughtsmen Aleworks in Solvang: “When I get off work, I will be drinking a beer!”
Amber Rose Wines are available at Black Sheep in Santa Barbara, Lompoc’s Eye on I, New Frontiers Natural Marketplace and Cecco Ristorante, both in Solvang, and at Hook’d Bar & Grill at Lake Cachuma.
The tasting room, at 140 Industrial Way in Buellton, is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Click here for more information.