It’s easy to get distracted by the diversity of grape varieties and wine styles while tasting wines and interviewing winemakers in California’s Santa Barbara County. In this beautiful, diverse Pacific Coast region you’ll find peppery, meaty syrah, nervy chardonnay, mouth-watering sauvignon blanc and elegant cabernet sauvignon.
But there’s no getting around the fact that pinot noir is this ocean-adjacent region’s biggest star. Of the 240 wines we tasted for this annual report, 87 were pinot noir. Sixteen of those earned scores of 96 points and higher, which is an amazingly high proportion. Subscribers can view all the scores and tasting notes listed below this article.
Many of the most remarkable, elegant wines came from the vineyard district that’s nearest the surf, Santa Rita Hills. Here, what the locals call “cold sunshine” consists of just the right combination of southern California rays and chilly onshore wind that is pure magic for high quality in the thin-skinned red grape of Burgundy.