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Region	California
Country	United States of America
Climate and soil	The very particular climate of California depends on the fact that the mountain ranges, in a remote geological epoch, have been formed in a north-south direction, creating long and narrow valleys that run parallel to the coast. In the evening, the cold mists of the Pacific slowly rise in the valleys giving a cooler climate to the belt closest to the coast. This phenomenon is evident above all in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Santa Barbara, where it involves variations in the temperatures within the valleys. The variations of the land are very large and often there is the most fertile ground, but also the heaviest and clayier soil, which is carried over into the valleys. Higher up, on the slopes, the soils become more calcareous and mixed to breach and therefore also more draining. However, not all California winemakers agree, with their French colleagues, that the vine must fight in harsh environments, such as poor soils and without irrigation, to develop a high quality. On the contrary, there are those who think that it can be set with the help of fertigation even on rich soils.
History	When the Spaniards landed on the coast of the North American continent, in the mid-1500s, they found, almost everywhere, the wild vine of different kinds. Unfortunately, not one of these was vitis vinifera, the European vine, and none of the American species seemed apt to give good wines. The history of Californian viticulture began in 1782, in the mission of San Juan Capistrano to the south of today's California. The first wines, produced with the Mission vine, were not, however, of high quality and were used above all as mass wine. Only with the age of gold fever, in the mid-800, the interest in the best wines was reawakened. One of the pioneers of viticulture in northern California was a political refugee from Hungary, Agoston Haraszthy, an enterprising adventurer who during his time became a millionaire, scattering his fortune on several occasions. In 1857 he began to take an interest in viticulture and bought a vineyard in Sonoma, which he named Buona Vista. In 1861 he began to travel to Europe on behalf of the Californian governor, visiting the most important European viticultural countries, buying cuttings and drawing up a report on the various viticultural districts. Upon returning to California, he brought with him not less than a hundred thousand cuttings of three hundred different vines. The account of this trip was a little too expensive for the Californian state and, in the end, it was Agoston who planted the surviving cuttings in Buena Vista.
Typical products	Zinfandel is often called the California grape variety. Its origins are somewhat ambiguous, but it is probably a relative very close to the South Italy vine, the Pirmitivo and the Plavac Mali of Croatia. The number two among the black vines is the Cabernet Sauvignon, which gives splendid results, especially in the Napa and Sonoma. Merlot is a vine that has doubled the cultivated area in the last decades of the 20th century, and it seems that the Merlot wines of the southern parts of Napa and Sonoma are particularly aromatic and rich in velvety tannins. The cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, a slightly lesser-known Bordeaux variety, are also found in the Californian vineyards. In recent times, some growers have tried to grow Pinot Noir. The best results so far have been achieved in the southern part of Napa and Sonoma, Los Carneros and Santa Barbara, the valley of the mists. Here, Pinot Noir has found a sufficiently fresh climate to grow and ripen slowly, reaching full aroma and flavor.