The 2005 Nebbiolo Santa Barbara is a reasonably priced introduction to this complex and difficult-to-harness varietal. Loads of acidity balance out a wine with notes of tobacco leaf, licorice, rose petal, and sweet cherry. It is dark ruby and tastes Italian. As I have written in the past, no one in California (and probably in the New World) is doing what Steve Clifton has managed to do working with Italian varietals in selected micro-climates in the Santa Barbara area. From the get-go, his dry, crisp, light to medium-bodied whites were a revelation for California, and he continues to dial up the quality of the Italian varietal reds, even managing to come close to conquering the hardest varietal of all for anyone outside Northern Italy – Nebbiolo.