Made famous in the movie Sideways, the Santa Barbara region is home to some of the finest pinot noir, syrah and chardonnary in the world.
By Matthew DeBord
HQ 129 Spring 2025
It’s hard to avoid California once you become a wine enthusiast. Nor should you, because the Golden State produces by far the most of America’s best bottlings and boasts the widest variety of wine styles in the world. California gives you everything from Riesling to Pinot Noir and most of what’s in between.
The state is dominated, of course, by the Napa Valley and its surrounding wine regions in Northern California, all of which are arrayed around the San Francisco Bay Area. Drive south from San Fran and you’ll encounter the vast Central Coast, from which many “bulk” wines hail (these are typically cheaper wines, though still relatively high quality). And then, north of Los Angeles, you’ll find Santa Barbara.
The Santa Ynez American Viticultural Area (AVA) dates to the early 1980s, a time when the U.S. wine industry was truly coming into its own and starting to challenge Europe on the global stage. It encompasses the entire Santa Barbara area, north of the city itself. This is a fairly huge geography, with close to 300 wineries and a unique climate. The coast, like much of Southern California, is significantly cooler than the interior. But this cool air can be funneled inland, creating numerous “microclimates” that are highly favorable to growing even finicky grapes, including Pinot Noir, perhaps the most finicky grape of them all. Hot days and cool nights — that’s often the ideal recipe for superb wines.
The grapevines bask in sunshine and dry California heat, but when the sun sets, a rapid cooling causes the vines to “shut down,” ultimately intensifying the flavor of the grapes. Santa Barbara and its Pinot Noirs were made famous in the movie Sideways, which chronicles a madcap visit to the region by a couple of aging, wine-loving buddies. But, before I list some good wines to check out from SB, let me explain why the Pinots are so notable.
Pinot Noir is a French grape that produces the legendary red wines of Burgundy. However, it’s a notoriously difficult grape to get right, even in Burgundy. For decades prior to the advent of modern viticultural practices, the bad vintages were often quite bad. As such, the thinking was that Pinot was pointless outside of France. But the Santa Barbara region — and, to a lesser extent, Oregon — changed all that.
Today, Santa Barbara Pinots are justifiably famous. They are different from red Burgundies — richer and heavier than their French counterparts — but they share some of the mother country’s complexities, especially the hypnotic aromas. This is what Pinot is all about. If you’re accustomed to Cabernet Sauvignon’s more slam-bang flavors, then the more delicate Pinots can require a real shift of gears.
And if a shift of gears is what you’re after, then Santa Barbara’s Pinots are a terrific place to start, as the wines are more accessible and less expensive than comparable Burgundies from France. The best place to start is with the definitive wine from the movie Sideways: Hartley Ostini’s Hitching Post Bien Nacido Pinot Noir ($55). This is a deep, rich and nuanced Pinot that showcases the beauty of the regional style, and it’s perhaps the best Pinot to accompany steaks that I’ve ever tried.
Next up is Fess Parker Winery’s Parker West Pinot Noir ($64). Yes, the same Fess Parker who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on TV! After Hollywood, he started this winery, which is still family owned and produces wines that source grapes from all over the Santa Barbara area. This Pinot is, like the Hitching Post above, a robust and flavorful Pinot in the local style.
Moving on to some whites, Cambria’s Katherine’s Vineyard Chardonnay ($22) is a wine that could change your mind about the oft-criticized varietal. In my book, Santa Barbara Chards — the Santa Maria Valley specifically — are California’s best. Here we have all the rich fruit and creamy texture the varietal is known for, but balanced with crisp acidity and a medium-wattage vanilla undercurrent. This wine is widely available and an amazingly affordable entry point.
Another Chard worth seeking out is Qupe’s Y Block ($20), a lovely, inexpensive bottling from a well-known SB producer. Qupe’s entire lineup is still easy to find at stores and online.
Finally, from the Los Olivos area, I suggest seeking out Refugio Ranch’s Syrah ($50). While Napa has Merlot to back up its Cabernet dominance, the Santa Barbara region — and Los Olivos in particular — has Syrah to follow Pinot. Syrahs are of course much more powerful wines, and this one is no exception. But for my money, Syrahs from this part of California are the world’s best. The oomph is tempered by fine acidic structure, and the wallop of fruit is wrapped in oak and spice. This is your autumn barbecue wine.
As a former Los Angeleno, I’ve always been a big supporter of the Santa Barbara wine scene. After Sideways, the secret was out, but the overall region is so large that the crowds haven’t gotten to every corner. The movie also promoted American Pinot Noir in ways that a marketer never could, and as a result you can find many of the region’s wines far from home. A visit isn’t required. But I’m betting that after you try a few of the wines, you’ll want to plan a trip
