A sidebar
to WiVi attendance was the ability to speak with many representatives of
various winery promotion & marketing groups. This allows me to update
information previously provided, so I can help readers link to sources of
information on places they might want to visit. One such, the Creston Wine
Trail, was mentioned in a prior post re: upcoming events.
Of significance, the Santa Barbara area has added the Happy
Canyon AVA (American Viticultural Area) designation to those (four) already in
place. The area NW of lake Cachuma on the
east side of Santa Ynez Valley is a warm climate area that has seen
recent vineyard development. It is likely to provide a region for growing
Cabernet Sauvignon and other heat loving or late ripening varieties. This adds
to the range of offerings, currently the cooler clime happy Chardonnay and
Pinot Noir, for which the area is best known. This will also strengthen the
"Diversity Perfected" tag line of the Santa Barbara County Vintner's
Association (sbcountywines.com). That group now boasts 107 members from
Alexander & Wayne to Zotovich Cellars and most letters in between.
Paso Robles AVA, currently the largest in California, may
also see as many as eleven subsets in the future. Since the original formation
of the existing AVA, there have been some minor adjustments (adding west side
plantings) but it became evident that both soil and climate variations were too
great to consider the entire region as one similar or specific growing area.
The necessary paperwork is in the government pipeline. Stay tuned for more.
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