LAKE COUNTY TRAVEL ITINERARY

LAKE COUNTY: A Growing Wine Country Scene Under Cultivation

Lake County enjoys a favored winegrowing climate.  While the lake itself sits at about 1300 feet, ridge tops in the Red Hills area and up-and-coming High Valley extend as high as 2500 feet.  While summer days can be very hot, the nights cool down greatly, a relief to both people and grape vines.  Volcanic debris from Mt. St. Helena, which also enriched the character of Napa soils, is present in Lake County along with rich, red soil that came from other ancient volcanoes such as lakeside landmark Mt. Konocti.

Unlike other major California wine appellations, vineyard replanting was slow to occur after Prohibition in Lake County.  Pear trees, along with walnuts, were favored replacement crops for wine grapes and had gained tremendous momentum.  Significant vineyard planting finally began again in the 1960’s, and in 1982, the famed Kendall-Jackson Winery was started here.  A new reputation for quality, value-focused wines finally started to gain critical mass.

Lake County today is also a favored location for the viticulture of Sauvignon Blanc grapes.  A perfect combination of well-drained soils, medium altitude and cool evenings arguably produces the most flavorful grapes in all of California.  The recent International Symposium on Sauvignon Blanc reinforced the area’s reputation for this rising star varietal wine, which is benefiting from its suitability in matching the relentless confluence of worldwide cuisine.

In the High Valley area, whose approval as a new AVA is imminent, new wines are starting to flow and have been widely anticipated and embraced.  High Valley is a rare transverse (East-West) valley, further enabling cool ventilating airflows at night.  In fact, the entire Lake area is under the influence of distant marine on-shore flows, and the lake is at times quite breezy.  The result is at least 30 degrees difference between day and night temperatures, long hang-time and all the positives associated with such a climate for viticulture.

Growers and winemakers are exerting an ever-wider influence out of the area, concurrent to local efforts, and projecting the identity of Lake County as one of California’s premier up-and-coming wine producing regions.