Solid Santa Barbara County pinot noir does not come at any better price than this: from estate-grown fruit in Cambria's Julia's Vineyard on the Santa Maria Bench, just down the road from Bien Nacido Vineyard. This vintage shows the classic Santa Maria pinot nose of black plum, mulberry, root beer, cola, tree bark and forest floor. It's complicated on the palate as well with dark fruit, like black plum, mulberry and olallieberry, happily mixed in with strawberry and red raspberry. That's plenty of fruit for the barrel spices, like vanilla and cinnamon, to conveniently envelop and support. The dark fruit, as well as root beer, cola and forest floor, expand on mid palate and extend to the lengthy and luxurious finish.

To get a sense of why people fall in love with Pinot Noir, it's worth spending a little more money. The following wines, made by some of the top winemakers in the state, are all great examples of regional terroir—the distinctive character that comes from a specific soil type and climate. Plus, taken together, they essentially amount to a five-bottle master class in some of California's most significant Pinot Noir regions.

To get a sense of why people fall in love with Pinot Noir, it's worth spending a little more money. The following wines, made by some of the top winemakers in the state, are all great examples of regional terroir - the distinctive character that comes from a specific soil type and climate. Plus, taken together, they essentially amount to a five-bottle master class in some of California's most significant Pinot Noir regions.

Clean and subdued but never less than specific in its relatively pert, red-cherry fruit and showing a light touch of sweet oak in support, Cambria’s mild-mannered Pinot may be a bit smaller in scale, but it is a nicely balanced, well-defined, very user-friendly wine all the same, and it invites unceremonious drinking in the comparatively near-term.

You have to love this pinot noir purely for its generous, forward flavors. It's simply delicious -- but not subtle in the classic sense of Burgundy. At $25, it is one of the best pinot noir values on the market. Black cherries and strawberries dominate the flavor profile.

Moderately dark reddish-purple hue in the glass. A complex and alluring nose offers scents of black cherries, spice, wood shop, mushroom and sandalwood. Polished and very appealing with impeccable balance, offering flavors of fresh, spicy black cherries, with a hint of toasty oak in the background. Lavish, seductive and satiny, this is pure pleasure.

Medium reddish-purple color in the glass. Subdued, but likable aromas of dark cherries, berries and spice. An appealing rush of dark red fruits saturates the entry, expands in the mouth, and finishes extremely long and powerful. Hints of herbs and edible flowers add interest. Lithe, with supple tannins and appealing crispness. Very good.

Dark reddish-purple color in the glass. Very subdued aromas of black raspberries, aged wine cellar and oak. Rich, dense and deeply flavored with copious amounts of black raspberry and blackberry fruit and a riff of complimentary oak spice in the background. The lush fruit extract is somewhat buried in the structural tannins and the wine will need more time in the bottle to correct this. The finish is of special note with the dark fruited aromatics returning for several extended encores. This is a Cabernet drinker’s Pinot that is bit over the top for me, but is very well made in its style. Solid now, but may deserve more accolades in a few years. Good.

This is a rich and powerful Pinot showing aromas of black berry, black cherry, tobacco and citrus. The palate offers flavors of cherry cola, blackberry and barrel spice and finishes with floral and vanilla notes.

Moderately dark reddish-purple color in the glass. Beautifully perfumed with aromas of boysenberry pie glaze, dark cherries, black grapes, spice and just a hint of mocha. Very tasty core of moderately dark red, blue and black berries with an earthy undertone, well-integrated oak and a polished mouth feel. A quintessential Santa Maria Valley wine that has respectable power, good finishing length and enough spirit to be thoroughly satisfying. Very good.

...rich and dry, with black cherry and bitter chocolate flavors

A great drink for the price, this Santa Barbara pinot offers fresh cherry and strawberry notes with a nice earthiness that reminded us of burgundy. Silky mouthfeel and a mineral thread make it a show stopper at a very reasonable price. We loved it.

This easy-drinking pinot noir is a winner year after year. It is characterized by oodles of forward fruit ranging from cherries to blueberries. There is a dash of spice and pure vanilla extract. This is not a delicate flower in the world of pinot noir, but it is a good drink for the money.

Hop in your private jet and head down the California coast 250 miles to the Santa Maria benchlands in Santa Barbara County. The same Pacific Coast influence of morning fogs and ocean breezes affect grape growing in this fast-growing California region as well. Sourced from the oldest Pinot Noir vineyard in Santa Barbara County, this wine offers the complexity that comes from fruit grown on mature vines. Earthy and floral aromas mingle with cherry, plum and barrel spice leading to a rich palate that adds toffee, toast and mineral to the fruity base defined by the nose.

This deep-colored beauty from the Santa Maria Valley in Santa Barbara County is grown off the estate vineyard named for Barbara Banke and Jess Jackson’s youngest daughter, Julia. This is prize Pinot territory with the vineyard’s many clones, the age of the vines, the cool climate and the passion of Barbara Banke, who bought this property in 1986. The 2009 vintage — fairly priced at $25, and only released in mid-summer – is widely available. It sings with dark cherry, strawberry and pomegranate aromas and flavors. Texture is silken, tannins supple, and acidity gives nice structure. It has striking herbal/minerality tones on the finish. The winery is 17 miles inland from the Pacific ocean and a three-hour drive north of Los Angeles.

The flagship pinot noir offering from the winery has a smoky nose of red cherry, plum and cranberry with hints of cola, nutmeg, rose petal and sassafras. Initially, the flavors are taut and tightly wound but you can sense the intensity and complexity just under the surface. With some time in the glass, the flavors of cherry, rhubarb and strawberry become accessible along with hints of vanilla, cinnamon and toffee. But there's obviously more to come and time in the bottle will bring it to the forefront. If you must drink this pinot now, decant it for an hour or two before dinner. After an airing, I paired it up with an applewood-smoked brat slathered with mustard on a bun as well as a mustard-based potato salad. The wine really started singing to me then.

Enriched with a big dose of sweet oak and leaning to ripeness as its principal theme, this wine shows a bit of tactile fat on the palate and a bit of heat later on...

All 115, for its dark purple-garnet hue, dark berry and blueberry aromas and flavors, stiff tannin and snap-to acidity and black pepper finish; have with eggplant lasagna or similar dish.

Winemaker Denise Shurtleff crafted this rich and toasty Pinot Noir from grapes grown at Bench Break Vineyard on the Cambria Estate in the Santa Maria Valley three hours north of Los Angeles. Aromas of dark fruits, spicy cedar, cola and brown spices lead to a rich palate of smoky black cherry, caramel, vanilla and earthy berry. Your grilled salmon will find a friend in the toasty nuances of this wine.

Soft and a bit sweet, with pronounced attractive floral aromas, this popular pinot from Santa Barbara County has long been a thoroughbred in the Jackson Family stable of wines.

Has nice smoky, cherry fruit with good minerality and acidity. It walks the line between New and Old World styles with a bit of earthiness, too. Drinks well above its price.

Medium-bodied, cherry-rich Pinot Noir: 2008 Cambria Julia's Vineyard.

An inky wine full of warm spices, cedar, earth and some fruit. A lovely nose; incense, berry and earth.

If you want to experience what California can do for pinot noir at a reasonable price, try this beauty. Spicy lead pencil nose and spicy, black cherry and cedar flavors in the mouth. Great length. Pleasing now, but should evolve well over the next two to three years.