Presqu’ile Winery debuts the first Ana Inciardi art vending machine at a U.S. winery. Collectible linocut prints meet cool-climate Pinot Noir in Santa Barbara.
Some wineries give you a tasting note card and send you on your way. Presqu’ile gives you a glass of cool-climate Pinot Noir, a view of the Santa Maria Valley, and now, a coin-operated vending machine stocked with original works of art.
The Presqu’ile Winery art vending machine is a genuinely inventive addition to one of California’s most thoughtfully designed tasting room experiences, and it makes an already compelling reason to visit Santa Barbara wine country feel completely irresistible. Whether you collect art, collect wine, or simply collect memories worth talking about, this one lands differently.
The Presqu’ile Winery Art Vending Machine Has a Serious Creative Pedigree
The machine itself comes from artist Ana Inciardi, who launched her vending machine project in 2020 with a very specific vision: place original linocut prints in culturally resonant spaces, make them accessible, and let a little randomness drive the fun.
It worked.
Inciardi machines now live at the New York Botanical Garden, LACMA, and Grand Central Terminal. That is a short list of destinations that take both design and public experience seriously. Presqu’ile is now the first and only winery in the United States to join that group.
Each print is dispensed at random, which is half the appeal. You drop your coins, hear that satisfying mechanical thunk, and what you get is what you get. The designs draw from food, wine, and small everyday pleasures rendered in the warm, handmade quality of linocut printing. Think of it as a blind tasting, but for art. Both involve a certain willingness to be surprised and delighted.
Why This Fits Presqu’ile So Naturally
Presqu’ile, pronounced press-keel, has never been a straightforward wine destination. The Murphy family founded the estate in 2007 in the Santa Maria Valley, and from the beginning the winery integrated art, food, and landscape into the experience alongside the wine itself.
The name comes from French Creole, meaning “almost an island,” a nod to the family’s Gulf Coast heritage and a reflection of how the estate sits within its surroundings. That sense of place runs through everything here, from the sustainably farmed vineyard to the architecture to the hospitality philosophy.
“Art, food, and wine have always been deeply connected at Presqu’ile,”
Matt Murphy
co-founder of Presqu’ile Winery
“We’re excited to offer our guests another tactile, creative way to engage with the estate. The Inciardi machine is playful, thoughtful, and very much aligned with how we think about hospitality.”
Tactile is the right word. In a wine culture that can sometimes tip toward the overly serious, there is something genuinely refreshing about pulling a small original print from a vending machine while you still have a glass in hand. If you have ever caught yourself pretending to understand a winery’s avant-garde art installation while quietly wishing someone would just explain it to you, this is the opposite experience entirely.
Collecting Art Alongside Your Wine, One Print at a Time
What makes this more than a novelty is the commissioning piece. Presqu’ile will work with Inciardi Prints to develop exclusive designs tied specifically to the estate’s landscape, culture, and seasonal rhythms. That means the vending machine evolves over time, giving returning visitors something new to discover and collect.
For wine collectors who already think in terms of vintages, library releases, and cellar depth, the logic translates perfectly. A print from your first visit to Presqu’ile becomes part of a longer story. Come back in the fall, pull a different design, and suddenly you have the beginning of a small collection with genuine meaning attached.
The flavor of the experience mirrors the wine itself: layered, approachable, with more complexity than the surface suggests. Presqu’ile’s cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Santa Maria Valley are known for their precision and elegance, the kind of wines that Wine Spectator consistently recognizes as benchmarks for California’s Central Coast. Pairing that with handmade art dispensed at random feels like a very deliberate form of joy.
FAQ: Everything You Need to Know Before You Visit
Q: Where is the Inciardi Mini Print Vending Machine located at Presqu’ile? A: The machine is installed inside the tasting room at Presqu’ile Winery in the Santa Maria Valley on California’s Central Coast. It is available during regular tasting room hours. Visit presquilewine.com to plan your visit.
Q: What kind of art does the vending machine dispense? A: The machine offers original linocut prints created by artist Ana Inciardi. Each print is dispensed randomly and features designs inspired by food, wine, and everyday moments of pleasure. Presqu’ile will also commission exclusive designs tied to the estate’s landscape and seasons.
Q: Is Presqu’ile really the first winery in the U.S. to have one of these machines? A: Yes. Presqu’ile is currently the only winery in the United States to host an Inciardi Mini Print Vending Machine. Previous placements have included LACMA, the New York Botanical Garden, and Grand Central Terminal.
One More Reason to Book That Santa Barbara Trip
The Presqu’ile Winery art vending machine is a small thing that signals something larger: a winery that genuinely cares about the full experience of a visit, not just what is in the glass. That care shows up in the wine, the food program, the landscape, and now in a coin-operated machine that hands you a piece of original art with no guarantees and all the charm. Plan a visit, pull a print, pour a Pinot. Some afternoons deserve to be that good.
