Creston District AVA is an

American Viticultural Area An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States, providing an official appellation for the mutual benefit of winery, wineries and consumers. Winemakers frequently want their consumers to know abo ...

located in the south east portion of the

Paso Robles AVA Paso Robles Wine Country is an American Viticultural Area located in the San Luis Obispo County, California. It has approximately 33,000 vineyard acres planted with wine grapes, and is well known for its heritage varietal Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauv ...

San Luis Obispo County, California San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a County (United States), county on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 282, ...

. It is located in the vicinity of the small community of

Creston, California Creston is a census-designated place in San Luis Obispo County, California, about 10 miles east of Atascadero. History Creston (named after Calvin J. Cressy) was founded in 1884 on the Rancho Huerhuero Mexican land grant. Creston was home to ...

. It was established by the

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, statutorily named the Tax and Trade Bureau and frequently shortened to TTB, is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, which regulates and collects taxes on trade and imports of alcoho ...

in 2014.

History

The Creston District AVA was created in 2014 by the division of the

into 11 distinct areas. Notable vineyards in the new AVA include Chateau Margene, Parrish Vineyard, Creston Vineyard 85 and B & E Vineyard.

Geography and climate

The Creston District AVA covers 46,794 acres with 1,365 planted in vineyards. It lies on an old erosional plateau at the base of the La Panza Range with alluvial terraces and fans of Huerhuero Creek. The area is in elevation. Average annual rainfall is .

Viticulture

The district's soils consist of old, well developed terrace and hillside soils; mix of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

and

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

Grape varieties and wine

The most widely planted varieties in the Creston District AVA are

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

Syrah Syrah (), also known as Shiraz, is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. In 1999, Syrah was found to be the offspring of two obscure grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse B ...

Zinfandel Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is grown in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA analysis has revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kaštel ...

Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...

, Petite Sirah.

References

{{Coord missing, San Luis Obispo County, California American Viticultural Areas American Viticultural Areas of California Wine regions San Luis Obispo County, California Wineries in California Paso Robles, California 2014 establishments in California