The 5 Greatest California Wine Areas That Aren’t Napa Valley or Sonoma County

After Prohibition, California was kind of a wine wasteland. Napa Valley and Sonoma County got here again to prominence first and are by far California’s best-known areas. However through the years, bold vintners have revived different areas as sources for nice wines and have planted vineyards in locations nobody prior to now ever thought to discover.

A few of these locations have develop into family (or not less than almost family) names for wine, like Paso Robles or Santa Barbara County. Some are rather more up-and-coming, like Lake County (even when its viticultural historical past does return to the 1870s) or the newly designated SLO Coast appellation (SLO: San Luis Obispo).

Listed here are 5 areas to find, however remember the fact that there are numerous, many extra – the state has greater than 150 appellations in complete, from the far north nearly to the border with Mexico, and east to west from the Pacific Ocean to the Sierra Mountains.

Paso Robles

There have been wineries in Paso Robles previous to Prohibition, however post-Prohibition, issues right here didn’t actually get began till the Nineteen Sixties. One of many key figures was Dr. Stanley Hoffman, whose Hoffman Mountain Ranch vineyard set requirements for each high quality and dimension (1,200 acres). Hoffman enlisted Napa Valley winemaking legend André Tchelistcheff as his adviser and planted Cabernet Sauvignon and different varieties (together with, unusually for the time, Pinot Noir).

Right this moment, Adelaida Vineyard owns many of the former Hoffman Mountain Ranch land, and its brambly, red-fruited 2022 Adelaida Michael’s Property Winery Zinfandel ($45) amply reveals Paso Robles’ strengths.

Santa Barbara County

Right this moment Santa Barbara County produces world-class wines. However the first post-Prohibition industrial winery wasn’t planted right here till the early Nineteen Sixties. Even within the early Nineteen Eighties, there have been nonetheless solely 13 wineries within the county.

An early turning level was when brothers Stephen and Bob Miller planted the Bien Nacido winery in 1973. Over time, its grapes have gone to lots of the area’s most influential wineries, together with Au Bon Climat, Tyler, Foxen, Chanin, and others. Hunt down the tropical-fruited 2021 Optik Bien Nacido Winery Chardonnay ($40), from a vineyard co-owned by the Miller household, for an intro to the area’s type.

Anderson Valley 

Mendocino’s cool, misty Anderson Valley noticed its first post-Prohibition vineyard open in 1971, when Tony and Gretchen Husch’s eponymous vineyard crushed its first Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay grapes. The vineyard is now certainly one of 30 or so; it’s a small quantity, in comparison with Napa or Sonoma, however that contributes to the step-back-into-the-past feeling of tasting right here.

Husch itself stays family-owned (albeit a distinct household), and its 2022 Husch Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($28) captures the cool-climate, cherries-and-spice qualities of Anderson Pinot.

Lake County

Put up-Prohibition, it took many years for Lake County, which lies northwest of Napa Valley, to resurface within the public’s wine consciousness. Little-known reality: Wine big Kendall-Jackson truly bought its begin right here, as Chateau du Lac, in 1982; founder Jess Jackson moved the enterprise to Sonoma in 1993.

The actual progress spurt kicked off within the late Nineties, as vintners began to understand the area’s potential for Cabernet Sauvignon particularly. Amongst them was Clay Shannon, whose black-curranty 2021 Shannon Ridge Excessive Elevation Assortment Cabernet Sauvignon ($25), sourced from sustainably farmed vines, paints a vivid image of Lake County Cabernet character.

SLO Coast

One in every of California’s most up-to-date AVAs (American Viticultural Areas), accepted in 2022, the San Luis Obispo Coast is a slender strip, solely 15 miles throughout at its widest level, that runs north and south of San Luis Obispo.

It’s chilly however sunny; fixed breezes off the Pacific make it perfect for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and likewise less-familiar varieties similar to Albariño and Grüner Veltliner. The thrillingly advanced 2022 Aequorea Seafarer Pinot Noir ($40) is an outstanding instance of what the appellation presents; so is the crisp 2022 Tangent Edna Valley Albariño ($17), from the Edna Valley subregion of the SLO Coast.