We love our Sonoma wines, now we can be even more specific when purchasing micro-climate wines from specific regions in our county. Wineries located in the cool coastal reaches of Sonoma County are now able to feature “West Sonoma Coast” on their labels, with the addition of a new American Viticultural Area (AVA) to the wine industry landscape. West Sonoma Coast is the 19th AVA in Sonoma County. Some background: AVAs are grape-growing areas with boundaries designated by the federal government. A wine's AVA is often listed on its label and can be a marketing tool for wineries. For a new AVA to be approved, petitioners must prove their region is a territory worthy of distinction in terms of its soil, climate, and topography.
With grapes first planted in West Sonoma Coast in 1817, wine growers contended that their region is unique because of the fog that rolls in from the nearby Pacific Ocean. The result, they said, are wines that deliver elegance equivalent to their Burgundian counterparts in Europe, wines that are both lower in alcohol and higher in acidity.
The West Sonoma Coast AVA is a subset of the already-existing Sonoma Coast AVA and covers 141,800 acres, including 1,000 planted grapevines. It encompasses land east of the Pacific Ocean, south of the Mendocino County border, north of the Petaluma Gap AVA, and west of the Russian River AVA.
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