Oak dominates this Chardonnay, with buttered toast and butterscotch flavors engulfing underlying tropical and citrus fruits. It’s easy drinking and accessible, but without a lot of complexity.

2011 Byron Chardonnay, “Nielson vineyard,” Santa Maria Valley: creamy and rich, aromas and flavors of ripe peaches and minerals.

The Santa Maria Valley is located in Santa Barbara County and is one of California's coolest AVAs, with fog and cool winds coming in from the Pacific Ocean. The long growing season and sandy soils are perfect for allowing Chardonnay to develop intense flavors. Byron's Chardonnay is 100% barrel fermented, offering initial aromas of citrus and spice that yield to notes of mineral and light vanilla. On the palate, flavors of stone fruits, fig and honey are followed by a finish of vanilla and sur lie character.

Rock ‘n’ roll baby: Such a nice combination of great fruit fermented in stainless steel — to preserve the fresh fruit character — and in French oak barrels to add more dimension and complexity. It’s crisp and minerally with apple, pear, melon and stone-fruit tones. The Byron Estate vineyard is located at the site of the first commercial vineyard in Santa Barbara County, planted in 1964. Byron is owned by Jackson Family Wines

It may be counterintuitive to discuss the aging process of an entry-level chardonnay, but then this is Santa Barbara County chardonnay we're talking about. At 4 years old, the nose has plenty of citrus, clover honey and brown baking spices. The palate features more citrus, pear and baked apple pie with the appropriate spices. A creamy streak is also woven through the fabric of the wine, something that comes with bottle age. It's still alive, kicking and delivering pleasure because of its good structure that holds it all together and the fine cut of acidity that has also mellowed over time, creating a softer and lusher palate sensation.

More pear than apple on the nose, the wine also shows facet of citrus, mango and honeycomb. Once again, it has a rich and full mouth entry with the primary driving force flavor of lemony citrus along with honey, mineral, salted caramel and treble notes of spicy oak. This wine is very well put together with nothing out of place, as thorough a tour de force Santa Maria chard as you'll ever taste, all without unnecessarily drawing attention to itself. If it said Sonoma Coast or Russian River Valley on the label, this bottle would cost $50 or $60. That's how good it is.

Drawing grapes from a special vineyard in Santa Barbara County, Byron offers an unctuous, creamy chardonnay with citrus and pear notes, a touch of honey and a soft mouthfeel.

With its silken plenitude and fruity, creamy voluptuousness this Chardonnay fills the senses with luxurious pleasure. It weaves together peach, citrus and apple flavors shot through with subtle notes of vanilla oak. This is a delicious, excellent example of ripe, mellow, sunny California Chardonnay.

With its silken plenitude and fruity, creamy voluptuousness this Chardonnay fills the senses with luxurious pleasure. It weaves together peach, citrus and apple flavors shot through with subtle notes of vanilla oak. This is a delicious, excellent example of ripe, mellow, sunny California Chardonnay

...mineral rich with a platter of mango, guava and spicy orange zest. Winemaker Jonathan Nagy has a light touch, but it's all there, not covered in oak.

Beat the heat with summer whites...the Byron is creamy and decadently lush.

Lemon curd comes through on the nose with a whiff of pineapple plus cinnamon, clove and high-toned grated vanilla bean. It's lush and creamy on mouth entry and then exponentially expands, flavor- and texture-wise, as it moves across the palate. Flavors of lemon-lime, along with peach and nectarine, are supported by fresh slightly burnt toast, clove and vanilla. Full-bodied and rich, it stays within its flavor and density profile and does not become fatiguing. Sitting with it for a while, ripe fig, honey and brown baking spices also emerge. It's richly endowed but stays perfectly in line with the other elements, all the way to the finish.

Again, a new Byron chardonnay sourced from county fruit. It's not as big or rich as the regular chardonnay, but that works in favor if the Thanksgiving table. Crisp and minerally, with aromas and flavors of stone fruit, fig, red apple and brown baking spices, it finishes with a good cut of acidity to cleanse the palate.

Santa Barbara Chardonnay And Pinot Noir Are Made By The Ocean 2016 Brewer-Clifton Pinot Noir Sta Rita Hills: floral, tea, spice, slate, pepper, contemplative.

From a single vineyard adjacent to Clos Pepe, this bottling has great aromatics of cherry, rhubarb, mint, cinnamon, florals and a panoply of exotic spices. You will need to decant the wine to get the full effect. On the palate, blackberry, dark cherry and boysenberry augmented with sage, underbrush, mint and green herbs. Admittedly more full-bodied and concentrated than the entry-level wine above. The purity of the fruit flavors are paramount but all the other spice and herb components are perfectly integrated. Perhaps whole cluster fermentation (with the stems) adds a lot of nuance.

There is slightly more tannin grip in this equally high toned, bright, flowery scented yet finesseful single-vineyard, estate grown bottling. When asked to define the Sta. Rita Hills distinctions so apparent in the glass, winemaker/partner Greg Brewer shared: “I agree that Sta. Rita Hills exhibits a uniform element that differentiates the area from many others... On a collective level, I find something very carnal, authentic, pure and raw to the fruit profile... this is where I really see the spiced fruit characteristic that you reference.” The root, adds Brewer, is in “cool environment.” Then again, there are a number of equally cool climate regions on the West Coast. Brewer contends, “We rely on fruit generous clones such as 37, 459 and 667, which harmonize our objective with whole cluster fermentation,” achieving “a lush curvature of flavor which is corseted by the role played by stem inclusion... For us, this gives a brambly component reminiscent of running through wild berry bushes... Frequently when I work in Japan, clients mention components like umeboshi and other salted raspberry and plum preparations.”

National Wine Day!

Root beer, sassafras, cola and wet autumn leaves on the nose. On the palate, red cherry, red raspberry and cranberry plus a certain Santa Rita Hills earthiness coupled with wild herbs. Drawn from three vineyards, this blend is big-boned but not overtly heavy. It's refreshing with its lovely concentration of fruit and herbs but firm on the finish with a good backbone of tannins and acidity. This entry-level pinot is quite a bargain.

What to Drink Next: Trust These Names in Wine It’s a safe bet that most of the millions of fans of Kendall-Jackson’s Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay don’t realize exactly how many wineries this Sonoma-based family (now headed by the late Jess Jackson’s wife, Barbara Banke) owns. The answer is 40, making wines from $13 a bottle to almost $400. The secret to their sustained quality? The family’s seemingly unerring eye for winemaking talent.
 Upgrade: 2015 Brewer-Clifton Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir
 $40 Co-founder and winemaker Greg Brewer’s deft touch is a huge asset, as shown in this spicy, fragrant Pinot.

10 Great Pinot Noirs From New Winemaking Talent and Visionary Risk-Takers California’s Sta. Rita Hills West of Santa Barbara, cool winds off the Pacific help create some of California’s best Pinots...Others to look for include the peppery 2015 Brewer-Clifton Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir...

I love the consistency in which this winery has been able to harness the ultra-fragrant perfume, blasting off from the glass, found in the best of Sta. Rita Hills grown Pinots. The strawberry/cherry fruit is pure, zesty, and electric with acidity, feeling light and lacy despite generous alcohol (14%) and savory tannin.

Thanksgiving wine on the mind The 2015 Brewer-Clifton Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir is blended from three sites and stuns throughout with fresh strawberry, slate, pepper and anise cookies on the nose, while in the mouth its palate is bright with tart cherries, ripe cranberries and pomegranate. The confident feel leads to an enduring finish of juniper berry, pine and menthol. Couldn’t sound more Thanksgiving-like.