Mountaintop vines unfurl and stretch skywards in the soft morning breeze, saluting the sun as it gilds each leaf and grape. Surrounding vineyards plunge into valleys and race down hillsides like surfers taking an early morning drop on a glassy, Pacific wave. Others appear to have skipped and hopscotched through the landscape, striping every other field to create a pretty patchwork that spans multiple climates, communities and cultures – a reflection of California at large.
There’s more to California than wine, but it’s impossible to avoid, even if you wanted to. It’s etched into the land, visible in the architecture and takes centre-stage in restaurants from San Diego all the way up to Crescent City. Sun-ripened grapes scent the air with heady, floral berry notes, hinting at their true potential; at times, you can almost taste the terroir on the breeze.
This vast state’s many microclimates can produce a wide array of wine grapes, with more than 100 varieties known to be grown here, and more springing up in small, experimental plots throughout the land. That land, too, plays a key role, from Lodi’s lauded gravels to the mix of clay, gravel, sand and silt that helps to produce Napa’s world-class wines.
“In 20 minutes, you can go from raw desert with lunar rock formations to towering pines and alpine streams, from fog-covered coastline to bright sunshine reflected off rolling hills studded with oak trees,” says Melanie Webber, a wine expert who teaches classes via the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. “California has it all.”
Varied microclimates – from deserts to alpine hills – make it possible to grow a wide range of grapes
It’s this diversity – of climate, topography and culture – that makes each of California’s wine regions so special. But it’s the shared values, and an overarching spirit of determination and dynamism, that truly makes California’s wine landscape unique.
Because, at the heart of it all, are the people – from the 18th-century Spanish missionaries, who planted some of the state’s first vineyards with mission grapes for communion wine, to the growers and winemakers challenging norms today.
Region by region, barrels full of stories ferment and blend together to create a rich, complex, deeply delicious and endlessly drinkable whole.
The story of California wine tells the story of California itself: so travel with me and explore why this golden corner of the world is a wine-lover’s paradise …
Napa Valley, a rich history of winemaking
You needn’t be a wine snob, or even a wine drinker, to know Napa Valley, nor to fall for its heady charms. Ever since two of its wines – Chateau Montelena’s chardonnay and a 1973 cabernet sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Cellars – triumphed over French vintages in a blind tasting at the 1976 Judgment of Paris, Napa has been a byword for wine excellence.
Its rich, complex soils and powerful red wines are just a small part of what has made this area, which sprawls north of San Francisco, world famous. This is a landscape combed with row upon row of vines overlooked by hilltop, honey-hued chateaux, with historic wineries and newer, edgier tasting rooms.
Napa Valley and the rest of the North Coast wine region – encompassing Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino and Marin counties – could look very different were it not for the many people throughout history who make up its story.
While California’s first known wine grapes were planted farther south, the very foundations of winemaking in the North Coast region were laid by European immigrants from the 19th century onwards.
“California was shaped not only by its pioneers, but by its Indigenous people, by its Spanish invaders and waves of migration, its massive cultural diversity and all its sins and successes – melded together into a melting pot of extraordinary winemaking and wines,” says Webber.
Buena Vista Winery, the oldest in the region
Sprawling on the slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains as they meander to the valley floor, the champagne-hued volcanic stone buildings of Buena Vista Winery would be right at home in Tuscany. This is the oldest winery in the region and, it’s believed, the earliest commercial winery in California.
The old-world feeling continues inside, from the long tasting bar to labyrinthine cellars with buttery lighting and ruby-stained oak barrels.
Its Hungarian founder, Count Agoston Haraszthy, brought cuttings from Europe to establish the vineyards in 1857, recognising the extraordinary terroir of this Sonoma idyll, which noses right up against Napa: sheltered by the mountains, cooled by breezes from San Pablo Bay and the Pacific Ocean and blessed with well-drained soils.
Buena Vista stands as testament to the skills of the peoples from around the world who saw the area’s potential
“Immigration is foundational to the Buena Vista story,” says Brian Maloney, the winery’s vice-president of winemaking. “There is also the layered history of the area, with influences from around the world – the often thought of Italians and French but also Germans, Spanish, Russians, Japanese, Hungarians (of course), the Chinese immigrants who built much of the infrastructure, and the native Miwok and Pomo tribes who not only lend their names to our home, but also identified and established many of the most sacred spaces within our region.
“All of this lends an authenticity that pervades through the region and is reflected in the exceptional wines of diverse styles,” he says.
Once the unique potential of the area was uncorked, diverse influences continued to flow in. Charles Krug (a friend of the Count) opened Napa Valley’s first commercial winery in 1861. The St Helena site is still considered a must-visit (and its vintage cabernet sauvignon wines, made for ageing, a must-taste).
The Charles Krug winery, established in 1861, is a must-visit destination for fans of cabernet sauvignon
The early 20th century saw the arrival of Italian families, some of whom established landmark wineries such as Battuello Vineyards, also in St Helena, founded in 1909 by Matteo Battuello and today operated by his grandson and great-grandson, Craig and Dave.
More recently, several Mexican-American winemakers – having honed their craft in vineyards, tasting rooms and cellars across the region – have opened their own successful wineries, inspiring the creation of the nationwide Mexican-American Vintners Association in 2011.
Central Valley, the workhorse of California winemaking
The North Coast might be California’s most famous wine region, but it’s neither the biggest nor the most prolific. In fact, just 4% of the state’s wines are produced in Napa Valley. The vast majority – some 75% – are made with grapes grown in the Inland Valleys and Delta region, encompassing Lodi, Madera County, Sacramento Valley and San Joaquin Valley.
One of the major reasons this area is so abundant is the climate: warm, sunny days help a wide variety of grapes to ripen while cooler nights – with brisk breezes off the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta – maintain freshness and acidity; and relatively low humidity helps to create balance and prevent disease.
For Doug Minnick, who co-founded the Garagiste wine festival, a celebration of small-production, independent winemakers, these climactic features are key to the Central Valley’s prolific production and to the diversity of grapes grown, and wines produced, throughout the Golden State.
The Garagiste wine festival, co-founded by Doug Minnick (left), showcases the region’s huge range of styles
“The huge range of microclimates and soils throughout the state make it possible to grow any kind of grape and make wine in any style imaginable,” he says. “And there are growers and winemakers – especially small winemakers – who are doing exactly that.”
Among the most lauded wines from the Central Valley are Lodi’s old-vine zinfandels, whose grapes are harvested from vines more than half a century old. They burst with flavours of freshly picked blackberry and plum, with notes of spice and black pepper – balanced, elegant, concentrated and delicious.
The roots of those vines run deep, both physically and historically. While many vineyards were razed or fell to rot and ruin during prohibition in the 1920s, lots of Lodi’s growers took full advantage of a “home winemaking” loophole, preserving their precious plantings until the alcohol ban was lifted.
In the nearby Sierra Foothills, Amador and El Dorado counties are also known for old vines, heavy with red grapes from merlot to zinfandel, and some vineyards here date back to the 19th century. This was prime gold rush territory, with gold prospecting eventually supplanted by grape growing as landowners sought “purple gold” instead.
Central Coast, the rebels (with a cause)
Zinfandel is also popular in the Central Coast region, which sprawls roughly halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. But this area, including San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara Valley (widely known as Silicon Valley), has a lot more going on besides this heritage grape.
For example, Wente Family Vineyards, in Livermore Valley, was behind the importation of chardonnay cuttings from France in 1912, grafting a clone that nowadays makes up some 75% of all chardonnay planted in California. The winery, dating back to 1883, is now in the hands of fourth and fifth-generation winegrowers, including Niki Wente, director of vineyard operations. Today, it creates four styles of chardonnay in a large portfolio of wines and has a focus on environmental stewardship and regenerative farming.
It’s impossible to overstate the Central Coast’s diversity, with influences from north and south, investment from those tech companies, and terroir from mountain plateaux to salt-spritzed hillsides and valleys.
Top: Niki Wente, director of vineyard operations at Wente Family Vineyards. Below: Paso Robles sits in the heart of the Central Coast region, where experimental micro-wineries operate alongside larger, more traditional producers
At its heart is Paso Robles, with 300-odd wineries in a landscape studded with centuries-old oak trees. They were used to map out routes by 18th-century Franciscan missionaries and Spanish conquistadors, inspiring its name (the pass of the oaks in Spanish). Their etchings can still be traced on ancient trunks, while the wine grapes they planted grew into something truly special.
Today, a fiercely independent spirit and a tendency to read the rulebook, then rip it to shreds, pervades. For Webber, Paso is the centre of a Venn diagram, with the north and south California wine regions at either side. It is, she says, “both renegade and establishment, stunning in its beauty and wines alike”.
A blend of Tuscan-style tasting rooms and sleek, modern operations exist happily alongside the tiniest of set-ups, some with no vines or tasting rooms.
Vailia From (left), owner of the all-female winery Desparada, which has a tasting room at the Tin City wine hub
Take Tin City, a wine hub just off Highway 101, which has 20-odd tasting rooms with wines of the region. For Vailia From, owner of the all-female winery Desparada, Tin City represents the area’s rebellious spirit – and, she argues, the essence of winemaking. “If you can’t have fun experimenting, why own a winery? Everyone here is doing cutting-edge things.”
Garagiste festival’s co-founder Minnick believes it’s the micro-wineries that truly drive change and innovation in California’s wine industry. “Because we sell almost exclusively direct to the consumer, we’re free to pursue our wine passions, resulting in a crazy range of wines and grape varieties from anywhere in the world.”
In the tiny Sta Rita Hills American Viticultural Area, in the Santa Ynez Valley just outside Santa Barbara, one local winemaker challenges the relatively cool climate by purely focusing on Rhône grapes that traditionally thrive in the south of France.
“On paper, very few people would agree to plant mourvèdre or picpoul blanc here,” says Sonja Magdevski, adding that the results have defied the odds and expectations. “I believe it is our freedom of expression that makes California wine country enduringly popular. That never gets old.”
Here, mindful drinking isn’t just about savouring the moment; it’s about respect. “The efforts of hundreds of people brought this wine to the table,” says Magdevski. “The only way to appreciate that is to honour them by enjoying the fruits of their labour and passing on the joy.”
SoCal – a Mediterranean climate and laid-back attitude
This relaxed yet respectful approach is perhaps best exemplified by wineries in southern California – where it all began. Wine historians believe the state’s first winery was built at Mission San Juan Capistrano, between Los Angeles and San Diego, in 1783, nearly two centuries before that triumphant blind tasting in Paris.
Back then, it was all about the mission grape, grown on vines transported across the Atlantic from Spain and used to make a rudimentary communion wine.
Today, wines produced here are rather more complex and labour intensive, though SoCal wineries are also famed for their easygoing attitude.
The Temecula Valley, with 40-odd wineries dotted between coast and desert, is often described as one of the state’s most approachable wine areas.
The Temecula Valley’s landscape has been shaped by winemaking
Perhaps it comes from a strong connection to the landscape. There’s no need for buttoned-up formality or pretension when the passion for the place, and its wines, run so deep and true. Welcoming visitors to taste and enjoy the fruits of their labour comes naturally.
And the tasting room, where staff await with easy smiles and bottles at the ready, is the best place to sample the area’s small-batch vintages, most of which aren’t distributed outside of the region.
“Many of the region’s wineries are family owned, multigenerational, and deeply tied to the land,” says Alfonso Hernandez, who offers wine tours from San Diego. These small-group trips take in the Temecula Valley, Santa Barbara County and across the border to Baja California, Mexico.
“Winemaking has actively shaped the landscape, transforming rolling ranch land into vineyards that now define the region’s identity. Temecula may not position itself as old world or overly formal, but that is precisely its strength – it’s inclusive, welcoming and evolving,” he says.
The region is especially suited to French, Italian and Spanish grapes, with varieties such as sangiovese, montepulciano and viognier thriving in the Mediterranean climate and granite soils.
Here, the wines are living, breathing entities, bursting with character and, often, challenging the status quo. They burst with sunshine and whisper of soft coastal breezes.
Above all else, California’s wines encapsulate the stories of the people who made them, from the first growers to burrow their hands deep into the fertile soils to those keeping the California dream alive today.
As Minnick says: “California’s phenomenal range of microclimates and the resulting array of available grapes makes the journey of discovery almost infinite. There’s no other place like it.”
To learn more about sharing California wine with friends, visit wineconnects.us
Photographs: Unsplash; Alamy
