Sierra Vintners is part of the Sierra Foothills AVA (American Viticultural Area), which was established in 1987 on the western edge of the Sierra Nevada. The Sierra Foothills AVA is roughly 160 miles long, stretching from Yuba County in the north to Mariposa County in the south.
Wine grapes were first planted here during the California Gold Rush, but like in so many California regions rich in wine history, serious winemaking reemerged and flourished only within the past thirty years or so.
Like much of Northern California, the area has a classic Mediterranean climate, with warm summers and rainy winters that often include snow in higher elevations. Nevada County's four distinct seasons, and its range of elevations and landscapes, makes it a fertile home for more than forty varieties of wine grapes, ranging from Chardonnay, Merlot, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon to Cabernet Franc, Barbera, Sangiovese and Tempranillo. Grape growers and winemakers here have learned to use that variety that nature gives them, and to combine it with premiere winemaking techniques and styles to create some of California's most surprising award-winning wines.
The Sierra Foothill wine region of the central California valley is generally east of San Francisco and includes the El Dorado, Placer, Nevada and Amador County wine growing regions. Find award winning Zinfandels, delicate Rieslings, Sauvignons and dark Cabernets.
The California Gold Country is also a wine region. Originating back to the gold rush days, the first grapes were planted in the 1850s, as a lot of wine was needed to quench the thirst of the Forty-Niner population that migrated to the state at this time. The Sierra Foothills AVA stretches from Yuba County in the north to Mariposa County in the south, along the western portion of the Sierra Nevada, with Amador, El Dorado and Calaveras counties in the center. Within the entire Sierra Foothills AVA, which totals 2,600,000 acres, there are five other AVAs: California Shenandoah Valley, El Dorado, Fair Play, Fiddletown, and North Yuba. The total winegrape vineyard acreage in the Sierra Foothills AVA is 5,700 acres. Zinfandel has the largest amount of plantings with 2,400 acres, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon with 625 acres, Syrah, 559 acres, Chardonnay, 297 acres, Merlot, 283 acres, and Barbera, 244 acres. The region crushes about 0.6 percent of the state’s total winegrape production. More than 100 wineries are nestled throughout the nooks and crannies of the foothills, with vineyards generally located between 1,500 to 3,000 feet where elevation creates a four-season climate. The shallow, mountainside soils create moderate stress on the vines, producing low to moderate yields and high quality.
The Sierra Foothills could be described as an interior AVA, but its climate and soil conditions starkly contrast all aspects of those viticultural areas on the extensive valley floor below.
