Showing the house style with its silky, polished, already approachable feel, the 2014 Pinot Noir Julia's Vineyard offers impressive notes of black cherries, dark raspberry, dried flowers and spice. All from the sandy soils of Julia's Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley and vines planted in the 1970s, it was completely destemmed and aged in 40% new French oak, with a good portion of the blend seeing fermentation in barrel. It's already hard to resist and I see no need to delay gratification.

More black cherries, leafy herbs, licorice and dried earth notes emerge from the 2014 Pinot Noir Julia's Vineyard, and it's medium-bodied, concentrated and textured, with present tannin. It's a touch more angular than the Sierra Madre Vineyard, yet is also impeccably balanced, lengthy and long. This wine is all from vines planted in the 1970s (all Pommard clones), was completely destemmed and aged 16 months in 40% new French oak. Originally founded in 1984, Byron is now owned by Jackson Family Wines with the wines made by Jonathan Nagy. The oak treatment sticks out slightly in a number of these wines, but as I hope the scores show, there’s tons to love here. These are ripe, classic Santa Barbara wines.

Moderately light reddish purple color in the glass. The nose is primary, offering little even with vigorous swirling, except notes of oak-driven coffee and spice. Much more giving on the mid weight palate, offering fresh flavors of black raspberry and black cherry fruits. The satiny texture is very seductive and the wine is impeccably balanced with oak delicately augmenting the fruit flavors.

Aromatic nose; silky, spicy and savory with ripe berry fruit and lovely balance; deep, toasty and long.

Sultry cooked red plum and mulberry fruit meld with rust, mace, sarsaparilla and a touch of wood smoke on the nose of this bottling from the oldest commercial vineyard in Santa Barbara County. Smoked pork loin aromas meet with deep red fruit and the sweet tang of cherry skins on the sip.

Spice, wild strawberry, sappy flowers and black raspberry notes all emerge from the 2014 Pinot Noir Nielson Vineyard. It comes from a site in the Santa Maria Valley AVA and the same vineyard where the Pinot Noir Monument is sourced. This medium-bodied, supple, very polished, elegant and seamless beauty has no hard edges, very fine tannin and a great finish. Destemmed and aged 16 months in 41% new French oak, it's another example of the quality coming from this cool, ocean-influenced AVA.

I'm loving the trend toward lower alcohol levels in California Pinot Noir, especially in wines like this one that manage a plush texture and rich flavors with lively acidity and freshness all together in one glass. Black cherry, leaf, fall spice and a faint citric note are bright in aroma and flavor, and the finish is very long with a focus on the oak spice. It can be done.

Moderately light reddish purple hue in the glass. Elevating aromas of cherry and spice cake that hold up over time in the glass. Very satisfying attack and mid palate presence of mid weight cherry, raspberry and brown spice flavors. Very charming personality, offering delicate fine-grain tannins, buried oak, and a highly approachable demeanor. Still engaging the following day from a previously opened and recorked bottle. Tres Pinot.

This earthy beauty from Byron's Nielson Vineyard shows notes of forest floor and cola, with dark fruits and spice and enough grip on the back end to suggest it will benefit from additional cellaring.

Highly distinctive, deliciously rich and focused, with flavors of anise, blackberry, cedar, pencil lead, graphite and black licorice. Deftly balanced, this maintains a tight focus and emphasis on pure flavors.

Highly distinctive, deliciously rich and focused, with flavors of anise, blackberry, cedar, pencil lead, graphite and black licorice. Deftly balanced, this maintains a tight focus and emphasis on pure flavors.

The 2012 Pinot Noir Monument is a blend of the best barrels, with 80% being barrel-fermented, following by 15 months in 100% new French oak. Beautiful stuff, it offers awesome cassis, toasted spice, licorice and sweet oak to go with a medium to full-bodied, rich, concentrated and textured profile that keeps you coming back to the glass. While you can see the oak here, it’s high class and perfectly integrated into the wine. I’d drink bottles over the coming 3-5 years, but I suspect it will evolve for longer.

Lush and ripe with black cherry and meaty notes; savory, spicy and dense with racy fruit; layered and long.

A muskiness is present on the nose of this wine from Santa Barbara County’s first commercial vineyard, along with fruitier aspects of strawberry-boysenberry tart. It’s fruit-forward on the palate, yet cinnamon toast and cedar give it a more serious edge as well.

More focused and energetic than the straight Santa Maria Valley, the 2012 Pinot Noir Nielson (aged 15 months in 40% new French oak) offers beautiful black cherry, sappy herbs, flower blossom and rose petal-like qualities in its seamless, silky profile. It’s the tension and energetic feel that sets this apart and it’s a knockout Pinot Noir to drink over the coming 4-5 years.

Medium ruby color; deep, stewed cherry and plum aromas with earthy notes; deep, stewed plum flavors with earth and spice notes; silky texture; good structure and balance; long finish. Rich, ripe Pinot with just enough toasty complexity.

Brilliant ruby-red. A heady, exotically perfumed bouquet evokes dark berry liqueur, vanilla, mocha and potpourri, with a hint of licorice emerging with aeration. Sappy, penetrating and appealingly sweet, offering vibrant black raspberry and rose pastille flavors and a touch of smoky oak spices. Fine-grained tannins come on late and add grip to the long and floral-dominated finish.

Medium-deep ruby color; ripe, plum and cherry aromas with herb and clove notes; rich, deep, ripe plum and cherry flavors; deep clove and herbal notes; silky texture, some toasty oak; good structure and balance; long finish. Deep, silky and full of interesting flavors in this Pinot—needs some air to open up.

Medium-deep ruby color; complex, layered aromas of plum and cherry; deep, complex plum and cherry flavors with earthy notes; silky texture; good structure and balance; long finish. Complex, deep Pinot with a lot of layered flavors. Needs some time, but definitely worth the wait.

Beautiful. With crisp, tart coastal acidity, it offers lush waves of black cherries, anise, Asian spices and smoky vanilla, in a silky, elegant mouthfeel. Great value for the quality.

Very rich, very complicated, a young dense, grapey wine that clearly needs time to come around. Dry and balanced in acids and tannins, it shows brilliantly ripe blackberry, black cherry and cola flavors, with an earthy note the Brits used to call beetroot. Give it until after 2009 to begin to mellow.

The Nielson Vineyard, Santa Barbara's first commercial vineyard, is an excellent locale for Pinot Noir. This Pinot Noir has unusual complexity-old vines speaking-with both sweet, ripe cherry-like fruit notes and savory elements, even a hint of black pepper. Good acidity means it's vibrant, not heavy. A touch of heat-no doubt from the 14.4% stated alcohol-in the finish detracts from an otherwise outstanding Pinot Noir,

A lovely, complex Pinot that shows much of the flair of Byron's more expensive bottlings. The wine is dry and crisp and elegant, with long, deep flavors of currants, cola, sweet leather and dusty Asian spices. Good now, and will develop for at least six years.

Medium-deep ruby color;deep, spicy, earthy red cherry aromas; rich ripe, tasty red cherry fruit; silky mouth feel, spicy, sweet oak; good structure and balance; long finish. This is a delicious, middle of the road Pinot that will really work with a lot of different meal choices.

What a track record Byron has achieved with this single-vineyard wine, despite the hassles of ownership change. The '03 continues the tradition. It's rich and complex in cola, black cherry, coffee, cocoa and cinnamon spice flavors, with the silky elegance you want in a Pinot Noir. Drink now.