This is how you do Santa Barbara.

You can taste wine from all seven of the county's AVAs before you ever see a vineyard. The Funk Zone is ten blocks of former fish-packing warehouses and auto body shops between the freeway and the beach. The Presidio Neighborhood is located near the historic El Paseo District and is home to many tasting rooms. There are plenty of other tasting rooms on State Street and beyond. There are worse ways to spend a Saturday. Alternatively, treat it as an orientation lecture: taste two Pinots from different AVAs back-to-back, ask where the fruit came from, take notes. Then drive up the coast tomorrow and look at the dirt. The tasting rooms sit close enough together that you will walk more than drive, which is convenient if we do say so ourselves.