Favorite California Wine Region

Richard_Jennings · December 3, 2009, 11:26pm

Where’s Sonoma Coast, source of many of my favorite Pinot Noirs? Sonoma “Valley” isn’t the same thing.

Frank_Deis · December 3, 2009, 11:46pm

Where’s Oregon? Where’s the Yakima Valley?

davetong · December 3, 2009, 11:50pm

Yeah, Oregon is my favourite California wine region too.

Sheesh. Don’t they teach Reading and Geography in schools?

Frank_Deis · December 3, 2009, 11:53pm

meditate on the true meaning of this Dave

kidding, and a comment on the origin of this thread…

and also on the fact that there is no particular geographical significance to where the lines were drawn out on the left coast. According to the East Coast way of doing things California ought to be 8 or 9 states…

Joe_Hauck · December 4, 2009, 12:02am

I went SCM and am pretty surprised at the amount of votes it got already.

gary_hatley · December 4, 2009, 12:10am

I chose Central Coast. I like the wines. I like the food. I like the club parties and it’s only a 2 hour drive from my home.

ekovitch · December 4, 2009, 12:48am

The True.

Ian_Dorin · December 4, 2009, 2:57am

Santa Cruz was easy for me. Since Mt. Harlan isn’t on the list, Santa Cruz was my next pick.

Anywhere in Cali with limestone has my vote!

Yoni_O_v_a_d_i_a · December 4, 2009, 3:14am

Napa for me. Followed by Paso. Dude, you gotta send me that pic. It took me 10 minutes to even remember where/when it was taken.

Milos_Cam-Robb · December 4, 2009, 4:23am

as a local boy, I gotta choose Paso

Tim_Corliss · December 4, 2009, 6:40am

Santa Cruz Mountains. Not just for their Pinot and Chardonnay, but the cabs are pretty darned good too.

Close second is Paso for the rhone rangers.

Anderson Valley/Mendocino comes in a tie for third with SC

Tom_Gutting · December 4, 2009, 2:30pm

I chose other – to say specifically Russian River Valley. Sonoma County, for me, encompasses so much stylistically that I couldn’t just vote for it alone. RRV to me has consistently produced fine wines in a range of styles. The expression of terroir has a common thread but also finds so many variations. Delightful. I like this poll.

andy_velebil · December 4, 2009, 3:44pm

If I can only chose one area then it has to be the Santa Cruz Mountains for me. IMO they consistently produce more balanced wines overall. But thats coming from someone who isn’t a fan of ultra ripe Cali wines.

Cris_Whetstone · December 4, 2009, 9:28pm

Wow…completely unexpected to me to see SC Mountains on top.

So follow up question, since we have so many votes for it and it’s beating Napa why did all of you who did vote for SC Mountains?

john_holdredge · December 4, 2009, 10:07pm

Chris- lumping the Sonoma Valley (an appellation best known for bigger reds and a warmer climate) in with the Russian River Valley (which is a distinct appellation with a much cooler climate -typically 10 or more degress in the summer, and which is known for brugndian varieties) is pretty woeful. They may be in the same county, but they are completely different places. You know that, and I expect better of you. Please write 40 times: “I will not post flawed polls”. That is all.

Cris_Whetstone · December 4, 2009, 10:15pm

I thought about it but when most people think of Sonoma they think of Chard and Pinot with occasional Zins and Cabs in the mix. So I could have bisected it into RRV, Sonoma Coast and the ‘rest’ of Sonoma. But Then I could have done the same with the Central coast…and Napa…and Mendocino…ad infinitum. I drew the line in the sand and left myself a bunch of outs within the poll for the more anal among us.

Pau1_M3nk3s · December 4, 2009, 11:27pm

Tough poll! I love old Napa Cabs. Paso, Sonoma and Mendocino fill the bulk of my California holdings, along with my poll choice Sierra Foothills
I chose the foothills cuz some of my most anticipated wines come from there - ESJ and Donkey & Goat syrahs. I can’t wait to start in on my '01 Wylie-Fenaughtys in 2011 or so.

Sean_Devaney · December 5, 2009, 1:53am

I chose SCM because I’m a homer

OK really because I love the diversity and elegance of the wines. From Ridges, Ahlgren, Mount Eden and Katheryn Kennedy Cabs to Storrs, Mount Edens and Vaner’s Chards to Pinots from Windy Oaks, Mount Eden, Rhys and Varner and countless others I find most of what I like in my back yard.

Sonoma is a real close second…

Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m · December 5, 2009, 10:53am

Paso

How 'bout a poll that isn’t so easy next time, eh?

ChrisBeacham · December 5, 2009, 2:40pm

Okay I’m entering a danger zone here but I think SCM as favorite CA wine region is an odd choice. (Not a wrong choice, just an odd one.)

To start, I love the SCM wines I can get. Monte Bello rocks (white and red) as does the Ridge SCM red, and Mount Eden Char, CS and PN ditto. I’ve had some great old wines from Ken Burnap at SCM Vineyard. There have even been some Martin Ray’s (though Mr. Ray would roll over in his grave over today’s Martin Ray) that have been good. The occasional David Bruce has pleased me but he’s pretty hit and miss. But the reality is that of the 70 or so wineries listed on the SCM Winegrowers Association page, the ones I’ve listed are about the only ones that show up in most non-major markets, particularly on the East Coast.

To put wines in SCM in perspective, grape production in SC County is not in the top 10 in value of county ag production: strawberries are 1st at $200m, apples are 10th at $8m, meaning the county produces less than $8m work of grapes in a year (it was less than $4m annually in early 2000s). Napa is at $500m. http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/statistics/files/CDFA_Sec3.pdf

If I lived in NOCAL or in major markets perhaps I’d feel differently (see Sean’s comment about “finding them in my backyard” and his excellent list). But look at grape types. As good as Monte Bello is, it is one great SCM cab (throw in a handful of others) compared to probably 30-50 world class cabs in Napa and nowhere near all of those are over-oaked vanilla shakes. SCM produces great Pinots, but again the number of top producers is dwarfed compared to, say, the RRV, Sonoma Coast, or the sub-appelations of the Central Coast. Chardonnays? They produce the best of the long-lived, cooler style. But does that really compare to the choices found in the Sonoma Coast, Carneros, RRV, SRH (or other areas in the Central Coast)?

“Favorite region” is totally subjective of course and I’m not criticizing those who put it first. Hell, I think the Beach Boys were better than the Beatles, I’d put Brian Eno at the top of the best music makers of the last 30 years, and I’ll take Captain Beefheart over Frank Zappa any day so who am I to criticize obscure choices?

Still, I wonder…