Administrative area · United States
Santa Barbara County
Central Coast California, with transverse valleys that channel ocean air directly inland — including the Sta. Rita Hills.
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with real acidity from the cool western valleys, Syrah with a peppery, savoury edge from the middle, and Bordeaux varieties from the warm inland end.
About Santa Barbara County
The Sta. Rita Hills AVA is the coolest and most celebrated sub-region, producing taut, high-acid Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Further inland, Ballard Canyon and Happy Canyon are warm enough for Syrah and Bordeaux varieties respectively.
The coastal mountains here run east to west rather than north to south — one of very few places on the Pacific coast where they do — so cold ocean air funnels directly inland instead of being blocked. The result is that the county gets cooler the closer you get to the sea, which is the reverse of the usual pattern in California.
That geography produces an unusually wide range within a small area. The Sta. Rita Hills at the western end are among the coolest vineyard sites in California despite sitting at the latitude of North Africa; Happy Canyon, thirty miles inland, is warm enough for Cabernet Sauvignon.
No authority delimits this name or attaches rules to it. A political unit — an Italian region, an English county, a US county — used as a wine area because that is how the industry and its readers talk about it, not because a wine authority delimited it. That does not make it less real or less useful — it means nothing legal follows from it, and you will not generally find it on a label as a controlled designation.
Grapes
Wines from here
white
California Chardonnay
The style that defined "buttery Chardonnay" — ripe stone fruit, vanilla and cream — though the best modern examples are far more restrained.
red
California Pinot Noir
Riper and fuller than Burgundy, with dark cherry, cola and baking spice — but retaining real acidity in the coolest sites.
Climate
- Latitude
- 34.6° N
- Temperature
- Moderate
- Day–night swing
- Wide
- Rainfall
- Falls mostly in winter
- Drought risk
- High
Transverse valleys running east–west channel Pacific air straight inland, so the region cools as it approaches the coast rather than warming.
The coastal mountains here run east–west rather than north–south, so cold Pacific air travels straight into the valleys. It produces some of the coolest growing conditions in California despite the southerly latitude.
Vintage variation
Vintage matters little
Reliable sunshine, low disease pressure and — often — irrigation to smooth out what rainfall does not deliver. The grapes ripen every year.
- Latitude. At around 35°, there is more heat available than the vine needs in most years.
- Rainfall timing. The rain arrives outside the growing season, so harvest is usually dry. This removes the largest single source of vintage variation.
- Maritime influence. Nearby water lengthens the growing season and brings cloud and rain with it. Ripening is slower and less certain, and the spread between years is wider.
- Mediterranean influence. Hot dry summers and reliable sunshine. Ripeness is rarely the question.
Derived from the climate above, not from anyone’s view of particular years. Why there are no vintage scores here.
These are influences on how a wine turns out, not determinants of it. Picking date, yield, vine age and every winemaking decision sit between the climate and the glass.
Places within it
- Sta. Rita Hills — A cold pocket in a transverse valley that opens directly to the Pacific — one of the coolest sites in California, at one of its most southerly latitudes.
What to eat, and how to serve it
Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.
California Pinot Noir
Serve at 14–16°C (cellar cool).
Try with fillet steak, grilled chicken or turkey.
California Chardonnay
Serve at 10–13°C (lightly chilled).
Try with fillet steak, grilled chicken or asparagus.
Sources
Sources consulted
- American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) — Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), US Department of the Treasury