Not far from Santa Barbara is the Sta. Rita Hills appellation, home to some outstanding cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. With Burgundy set to get even more expensive, here’s an alternative.

This white grape takes its name from a village in the Mâconnais region of Burgundy in France. It remains widely grown there today, but the variety became so popular in the 1970s that for a time it ...

This popular red grape originated in Burgundy but has spread across the New World. Like its white Burgundian counterpart Chardonnay, Pinot Noir is early-budding, early-ripening and thin-skinned. The ...

Let’s start with cool-climate wines using the Sta. Rita Hills AVA in Santa Barbara Wine Country to illustrate. This AVA began in 1970 when two friends created the Sanford & Benedict vineyard.