Administrative area · United States
California
The source of roughly four-fifths of American wine, and a state long enough that its coolest vineyards and its hottest are 900 km apart.
Riper, fuller and higher in alcohol than European equivalents of the same variety, with more overt fruit and often more oak. The cool coastal AVAs are the exception and can be as fresh as anywhere.
About California
California produces around 80% of United States wine, and about as much as Australia and Chile combined.
Its geography defeats generalisation. The controlling factor is marine influence: cold Pacific water produces fog that reaches inland through gaps in the coastal mountains, so a site sixty miles from the sea can be cooler than one six miles from it, depending entirely on whether it lies in the path of that air.
That is why Carneros and Anderson Valley grow Pinot Noir at latitudes that on paper should be far too warm, while inland valleys at the same latitude are hot enough for bulk production.
The Judgement of Paris in 1976 — a blind tasting in which Californian wines beat French ones — is the event conventionally credited with establishing the state internationally. Its practical effect was less on quality than on confidence and on price.
Water is the binding constraint. Most viticulture here depends on irrigation, and drought years have become the planning assumption rather than the exception.
No authority delimits this name or attaches rules to it. A political unit — an Italian region, an English county, a US county — used as a wine area because that is how the industry and its readers talk about it, not because a wine authority delimited it. That does not make it less real or less useful — it means nothing legal follows from it, and you will not generally find it on a label as a controlled designation.
Grapes
Wines from here
white
California Chardonnay
The style that defined "buttery Chardonnay" — ripe stone fruit, vanilla and cream — though the best modern examples are far more restrained.
red
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
The New World Cabernet benchmark: ripe cassis and cocoa, plush tannin, generous new oak and high alcohol.
red
California Pinot Noir
Riper and fuller than Burgundy, with dark cherry, cola and baking spice — but retaining real acidity in the coolest sites.
red
Zinfandel
California’s brambly, high-alcohol red, at its best from field-blend vineyards over a century old.
red
Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet from Sonoma’s warmer inland valleys — a little softer and more red-fruited than Napa.
Climate
- Temperature
- Warm
- Rainfall
- Falls mostly in winter
- Drought risk
- High
The controlling variable is not latitude but the Pacific. Cold water offshore generates fog that is drawn inland through gaps in the coastal range, and a vineyard’s temperature depends far more on whether it sits in the path of that air than on how far north it is.
California has a warm climate with mediterranean, fog-cooled and maritime influences. Rainfall falls mostly in winter, leaving a dry growing season. Drought is a serious constraint. The controlling variable is not latitude but the Pacific. Cold water offshore generates fog that is drawn inland through gaps in the coastal range, and a vineyard’s temperature depends far more on whether it sits in the path of that air than on how far north it is.
Vintage variation
Vintage matters little
Reliable sunshine, low disease pressure and — often — irrigation to smooth out what rainfall does not deliver. The grapes ripen every year.
- Rainfall timing. The rain arrives outside the growing season, so harvest is usually dry. This removes the largest single source of vintage variation.
- Maritime influence. Nearby water lengthens the growing season and brings cloud and rain with it. Ripening is slower and less certain, and the spread between years is wider.
- Mediterranean influence. Hot dry summers and reliable sunshine. Ripeness is rarely the question.
Derived from the climate above, not from anyone’s view of particular years. Why there are no vintage scores here.
These are influences on how a wine turns out, not determinants of it. Picking date, yield, vine age and every winemaking decision sit between the climate and the glass.
Places within it
- Carneros — The cool, windy flatland at the southern end of Napa and Sonoma, straddling both counties, and California’s best-established site for Pinot Noir and sparkling wine.
- Mendocino County — California’s northernmost significant wine county, with an unusually high proportion of organic vineyard.
- Napa Valley — California’s most prestigious AVA, and the reference point for New World Cabernet Sauvignon.
- Paso Robles — A warm Central Coast AVA with a very large diurnal swing, known for Zinfandel and Rhône varieties.
- Santa Barbara County — Central Coast California, with transverse valleys that channel ocean air directly inland — including the Sta. Rita Hills.
- Santa Cruz Mountains — A scattered, high-elevation AVA above Silicon Valley, defined by altitude rather than by valley, and home to Ridge Monte Bello.
- Sonoma County — A large, climatically varied county west of Napa, covering everything from cool Pinot Noir sites to warm Zinfandel country.
What to eat, and how to serve it
Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Serve at 16–18°C (cool room temperature).
Try with steak, ribeye steak or roast chicken.
California Chardonnay
Serve at 10–13°C (lightly chilled).
Try with fillet steak, grilled chicken or asparagus.
California Pinot Noir
Serve at 14–16°C (cellar cool).
Try with fillet steak, grilled chicken or turkey.
Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon
Serve at 16–18°C (cool room temperature).
Try with roast chicken, fillet steak or grilled chicken.
Where to go next
Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.
- Oregon — A cool, wet, marginal state that bet on Pinot Noir in the 1960s when the conventional wisdom said it could not be done.
- Washington State — A desert on the dry side of the Cascades, where almost every vine depends on irrigation and the sun shines for two hours a day longer than in Napa.
Approximate centroid: 38.50°, -122.40°. WineHQ stores coordinates only where it has them, and does not estimate boundaries it has not sourced.
Sources
Sources consulted
- American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) — Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), US Department of the Treasury
- Napa Valley Vintners — Napa Valley Vintners