Learn about California wine | with Tanya Morning Star at Rising Wines Collective

Описание: Hello, this is Tanya Morning Star Darling, and I'd like to share with Rising Wines Collective a little bit about the largest wine producing state in the U.S., California.

California actually produces over eighty percent of all American wine. And in fact, if California were a country, it would be the fourth largest wine producing country in the world. So if we think of California in these terms,
it's understandable, that it's difficult to generalize about California and wine or wine regions. Overall, however, California contains a multitude of nuanced but extremely favorable conditions for viticulture with ample sunshine and mild winters.

There are nearly 150 unique American viticultural areas in California, or AVAs. And so obviously, I can't go into great detail about each and every one, or even the majority of the most important ones, in the few minutes we have here together today. Rather, I'd like to give you a big picture of Californian wine and paint a few regions with broad strokes. The state can be broken down into four main, large regional AVAs, which contain most of the smaller ones.

The North Coast, which contains Mendocino County, Lake County, Napa Valley, and Sonoma County.

The Central Coast, which can be further subdivided into North Central, where we find Monterey and South Central, which contains Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

The inland Sierra Foothills AVA, which is famous for Old Vine Zinfandel.

And the Central Valley, which in addition to producing the majority of America's produce, also churns out a vast amount of bulk wine. However, the Central Valley also puts out some really interesting Old Vine Zinfandel
and Petite Syrah from the sub- AVA of Lodi, which frankly can be amazingly complex, and is usually dirt cheap. Napa Valley is arguably the most important wine-growing area in California and certainly from a price per bottle perspective that is true.

Undeniably, Napa produces some exquisite wines and contains a very high concentration of America's most iconic wineries. Napa Valley is sandwiched between the Mayacamas Mountains to the west and the Vaca Mountains to the east. This creates a topography which funnels cool air into the valley, from the San Pablo Bay to the south. Therefore, and interestingly, the coolest AVAs in Napa are located in the south, such as Carneros or elegant Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are produced.

As we move up the valley, we find some of Napa's most prestigious Cabernet Sauvignon wines coming from the valley floor AVA's like Saint Helena and Rutherford where heat accumulates in the day and the temperature can drop as much as 40 degrees at night.

In addition to these plush and powerful wines, structured but elegant wines are produced from mountainside AVAs as well, like Mount Veeder in the southern Mayacamas and Spring Mountain in the northern Mayacamas.

Although there is a lot of wealth concentration and there are many cult wines and Napa which are out of reach for most, there's no reason to be intimidated.There are many great producers and wines to be discovered and Napa Valley's hospitality is legendary.

Sonoma County is the notorious contrast to the glitter and gold dust of Napa. Here the topography is more diverse and we find a wider array of grapes and wine styles.

It's true that tasting room fees are lower and life vibrates at a bit of a more gentle frequency, but honestly, the contrast between the two regions, gets a lot of hype.

Sonoma is the most famous for Old Vine Zinfandel in the northern AVA of Dry Creek, bold Cabernet’s from Knights and Alexander Valleys, also inland and North, plush Merlot from Sonoma Valley AVA, extraordinary Pinot Noir from cooler AVAs with more coastal influence like Carneros, which is shared with Napa, Sonoma Coast, and the Russian River Valley AVA.

California is amazingly diverse and there is so much to discover, but I'll close by pointing out that in addition to the elegant, traditional, and cult wines of California's most famous regions of the north, there are exciting things happening in regions like Paso Robles and the South Central Coast,
where maverick winemakers are crafting a plethora of grapes ranging from Pinot Noir to Mourvèdre in this AVA with big diversity in elevation,
coastal influence, and soils.

I hope that this little taste of California has piqued your curiosity to discover at least some of what California has to offer. But before we go, let's taste a wine.

This is a Cabernet Sauvignon from Moon Mountain AVA, nestled in the Mayacamas Mountains on the border of Napa and Sonoma. It's dense and opaque, kind of garnet color. On the nose, we have cassis and plum.
There's also kind of a savory olive and also a floral, maybe even lavender.
It’s muscular and structured, but surprisingly elegant and really inviting.
The finish is still lingering.

I love this wine. I've actually fallen in love with California wines, and I hope that you fall in love with them, too.