Wine from California

According to the Wine Institute, there are over are over 200 American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in the United States and over 100 AVAs in California alone.

Each AVA is recognized as having unique growing conditions such as climate (i.e. temperature, humidity), soil (i.e. drainage, acidity) or altitude that results in certain characteristics in the finished wine.

When an AVA is designated on a wine label, 85% of the grapes used to make that wine must have come from that AVA. If a non-AVA, Appellation or region, is designated on a wine label, at least 75% of the grapes must come from that area. It should be noted that the designation of an AVA does not guarantee the quality of the wine, but may sometimes infer a general characteristic of the wine.

In very general terms, California wine grape growing regions can be divided into the following:

Wine Region	Example AVAs
North Coast	Sonoma Valley, Napa Valley, Alexander Valley, Guenoc Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Los Carneros
Central Valley	Anderson Valley, Lodi, Clarksburg
Sierra Foothills	Amador County, Shenandoah Valley, El Dorado, Fiddletown
Central Coast	Livermore Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains, Monterey, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Maria Valley, Santa Ynez Valley
South Coast	Temecula, San Pasqual Valley

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Napa is the most well known growing region and is widely visited year round.

Sonoma has a beautiful coastline with many small, charming towns. This region produces more types of wine than any other due to the great variance of microclimates. Russian River, Mendocino County and Alexander Valley are part of Sonoma.
Carneros is in both southern Napa and Sonoma, near the Delta. This area produces some of the best Pinot Noir in the world and also very good Sparkling Wines.

Central Coast Region is spread out over a wider area and may be hard to cover on a short day trip; it also has some beautiful coastal areas and cities such as Carmel, Monterey and Santa Barbara. This region also includes Santa Cruz and the surrounding mountain vineyards.

Smaller, Less Known Regions include Lake County (near beautiful Clear Lake) and the Sierra Foothills (in Gold Country).

AVAs can themselves contain unique smaller regions called sub-AVAs. For example, the Napa Valley is an AVA that contains the Saint Helena and Oakville AVAs, among others.

Below is a full list of California AVAs -- all approved American Viticultural Areas in alphabetical order.

AVA Name	State	Acreage	Effective Date
Anderson Valley	California	600	9/19/1983
Central Coast	California	1000000	11/25/1985
Diablo Grande	California	30000	8/21/1998
Diamond Mountain District	California	5000	7/31/2001
Dry Creek Valley	California	80000	9/6/1983
Dunnigan Hills	California	89000	6/14/1993
Edna Valley	California	22400	6/11/1987
El Dorado	California	416	11/14/1983
Cucamonga Valley	California	109400	5/1/1995
Fair Play	California	21120	4/27/2001
Fiddletown	California	11500	11/3/1983
Alexander Valley	California	32536	6/13/1988
Arroyo Grande Valley	California	42880	2/5/1990
Arroyo Seco	California	18240	5/16/1983
Atlas Peak	California	11400	2/24/1992
Ben Lomond	California	38400	1/8/1988
Benmore Valley	California	1440	11/18/1991
California Shenandoah Valley	California	10000	2/27/1987
Carmel Valley	California	19200	1/13/1983
Chalk Hill	California	22400	6/13/1988
Chalone	California	8540	7/14/1982
Chiles Valley	California	6000	4/19/1999
Cienega Valley	California	0	9/20/1982
Clarksburg	California	64640	2/22/1984
Clear Lake	California	168960	6/7/1984
Cole Ranch	California	150	5/16/1983
Guenoc Valley	California	4396	12/21/1981
Hames Valley	California	10240	4/25/1994
Howell Mountain	California	14080	1/30/1984
Knights Valley	California	36240	11/21/1983
Livermore Valley	California	259000	10/1/1982
Lodi	California	458000	3/17/1986
Los Carneros	California	0	9/19/1987
Madera	California	230000	1/7/1985
Malibu-Newton Canyon	California	850	6/13/1996
McDowell Valley	California	540	2/27/1987
Mendocino	California	275200	7/16/1984
Mendocino Ridge	California	87466	12/26/1997
Merritt Island	California	5000	2/27/1987
Lime Kiln Valley	California	2300	7/6/1982
Redwood Valley	California	22400	2/21/1997
River Junction	California	1300	7/9/2001
Pacheco Pass	California	3200	4/11/1984
Paicines	California	4500	9/15/1982
Paso Robles	California	666618	11/3/1983
Potter Valley	California	27500	11/14/1983
Sonoma Coast	California	480000	7/13/1987
Green Valley of Russian River Valley	California	32000	12/21/1983
Sonoma Mountain	California	5000	2/22/1985
Sonoma Valley	California	4000	1/24/1982
South Coast	California	115200	12/23/1985
Spring Mountain District	California	8600	6/14/1993
Stags Leap District	California	2700	2/27/1989
Suisun Valley	California	15360	12/27/1982
Temecula Valley	California	33000	2/7/1986
Sierra Foothills	California	2600000	12/18/1987
Solano County Green Valley	California	2560	1/28/1983
Wild Horse Valley	California	3300	12/30/1988
Monterey	California	35758	7/16/1984
Mount Harlan	California	7440	12/17/1990
Mount Veeder	California	15000	3/22/1990
Napa Valley	California	225280	2/27/1981
North Coast	California	3008000	10/21/1983
Northern Sonoma	California	348000	9/25/1986
Oakville	California	5760	8/2/1993
North Yuba	California	22400	8/30/1985
Russian River Valley	California	96000	11/21/1983
Rutherford	California	6650	8/2/1993
Saint Helena	California	9060	10/11/1995
San Benito	California	45000	11/4/1987
San Francisco Bay	California	1566713	3/22/1999
San Lucas	California	33920	3/2/1987
San Pasqual Valley	California	9000	9/16/1981
San Ysidro District	California	2340	12/17/1990
Santa Clara Valley	California	332800	4/27/1989
Santa Cruz Mountains	California	408000	1/4/1982
Santa Lucia Highlands	California	22000	6/15/1992
Santa Maria Valley	California	80000	9/4/1981
Sta. Rita Hills	California	30720	7/30/2001
Santa Ynez Valley	California	76800	5/16/1983
Seiad Valley	California	2160	6/20/1994
York Mountain	California	9360	2/27/1987
Yorkville Highlands	California	40000	6/8/1998
Yountville	California	8260	5/18/1999
Rockpile	California	15400	4/29/2002
Capay Valley	California	102400	2/18/2003
Bennett Valley	California	8140	12/29/2003
Red Hills Lake County	California	0	9/10/2004
Salado Creek	California	2940	8/30/2004
San Bernabe	California	24796	8/30/2004
Willow Creek	California	6000	9/19/1983
Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley	California	8300	4/26/2004
Ramona Valley	California	89000	1/6/2006
Dos Rios	California	15500	11/14/2005
High Valley	California	14000	8/1/2005
Trinity Lakes	California	96000	4/29/2005
Alta Mesa	California	55400	8/16/2006
Borden Ranch	California	70000	8/16/2006
Clement Hills	California	85400	8/16/2006
Cosumnes River	California	54700	8/16/2006
Jahant	California	28000	8/16/2006
Mokelumne River	California	85700	8/16/2006
Sloughhouse	California	78800	8/16/2006
Covelo	California	38000	3/20/2006
Tracy Hills	California	39200	12/8/2006
Saddle Rock Malibu	California	2090	8/16/2006
San Antonio	California	150400	7/10/2006