Stretching almost 280 miles, from San Franscisco Bay to Santa Barbara County, California's Central Coast AVA is one of the most varied and kaleidoscopic regions in the U.S. Highlights include the powerful Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Rhône-style wines from the warm Paso Robles AVA, as well as the neighboring, fog-bound Edna Valley and Arroyo Grande Valley AVAs, two of the coolest wine-growing areas in the Golden State.
Not to be outdone, the increasingly stunning Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA are beginning to rival the best from among the rest of California, and the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA in Monterey County certainly holds its own in the realm of cool-climate varietals, as well. Further south, the vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Maria Valley, and Sta. Rita Hills AVAs have established themselves as some of the finest sources of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the U.S., while the Syrah and Grenache wines from the newly-enshrined Ballard Canyon AVA demonstrate an Old World elegance in contrast to their counterparts from the Paso hills. The region as a whole has seen a rapid influx of investment dollars in recent years, a testament to the potential of these vineyards that once played a distant second fiddle to Napa and Sonoma.
