The North Coast
This region covers the area north of San Francisco Bay to Mendocino County. This is where you find the famous Napa Valley (the 2nd AVA founded in the United States).
There is an overarching AVA here, called the North Coast AVA.
It takes in 6 counties, including Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Sonoma, and Solano.
The regions, sadly, don’t break down this easily.
Many of these regions overlap, and it can be a bit confusing. I’ll admit I spent a couple of days going through the information and wrapping my head around it, but we will break it down as clearly as possible.
Let’s do a quick breakdown of the Counties
Mendocino County
This county covers the coast, beginning at the north end of Sonoma County and heading north past the city of Mendocino. It takes up the northwest corner of the North Coast AVA and even has a couple of AVAs that sit within the county that are not part of the North Coast AVA.
Lake County
North of Sonoma and East of Mendocino County- is named for California’s largest body of fresh water.
Sonoma County
Spanning an area twice the size of Napa County, Sonoma County sits between the coast and the Mayacamas Mountains. It’s divided broadly into 3 areas: the Sonoma Coast, which sits on the west side, near the coast; Northern Sonoma, that is, to the north, and includes the Russian River Valley; and the Sonoma Valley, which covers the southeast corner.
Napa County
Well, there is a county everyone recognizes! Napa County encompasses the Napa Valley and the many famous AVAs contained within. It sits between the Vaca and Mayacamas Mountains in a valley just 30 miles north to south and just a few miles wide. From here come some of the most acclaimed wines in our country, primarily made from Cabernet Sauvignon.
Solano County
This county sits between Sacramento and San Francisco, immediately east of Napa Valley. While it has only a few AVAs, it is home to one of the most important Universities in the Wine World, UC Davis. The University of California, Davis is world renowned for their department of viticulture and enology.
Marin County
Marin County sits within the overarching North Coast AVA and butts up to Sonoma County to the northeast. The Petaluma Gap AVA spans both Marin and Sonoma Counties, where their borders meet. This runs from Bodega Bay on the Pacific Coast to the west and east to San Pablo Bay and Sonoma Mountain. Grapes were first grown here in the 1830s by General Vallejo.
These counties (or areas), with the exception of Marin, all contain enough information for their own post. Marin will be covered in the Sonoma County section, as its only wine region is the Petaluma Gap that it shares with Sonoma County.
Tomorrow, we will dive into Mendocino County.
Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine and WSET 3 Certified. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.
When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.
Check out our book series, “Tempting Spoonfuls” available through Amazon!
Inspired by the flavors and aromas in wines, these books create “tempting spoonfuls” of flavors to pair with wines.
“Tempting Spoonfuls – Pairing single bites with glorious wines” – Our first book paired wines from boutique wineries on the west coast, in California, Oregon, and Washington, with delicious spoonfuls.
This book is 60 pages, 18 recipes, lots of beautiful photos, and insights into some fantastic small wineries!
“Tempting Spoonfuls – small bites paired with wines from around the Globe” – This book takes us around the globe to explore 12 wine regions, a wine from the region, and then gives you a recipe for a pairing!
A slightly larger book at 104 pages, this time you learn about pairing with a type of wine from a region. Rather than a specific bottle, you can look for a style of wine from a region and feel confident that it will go well with the recipe pairing we provide. We give you 12 recipes, each to pair with a wine.
The goal is to make your mouth water and encourage you to create your own “Tempting Spoonfuls.”
Leave a Reply