The Central Coast AVA is a large American Viticultural Area in the U.S. state of California that spans from

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

in the south to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

in the north. The boundaries of the Central Coast include portions of six

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. With around planted to wine grapes, Chardonnay accounts for more than half of the total. Within this larger AVA are several smaller

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

s that share the same cooling influence from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

Counties

Because U.S. county names automatically qualify as legal appellations of origin for wine, the following appellations do not require registration with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau: * Contra Costa County *

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Montere ...

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Miss ...

Santa Clara County Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together f ...

References

External links

California Central Coast AVA Wine Map

TTB AVA Map
{{Coord, 36, -121.2, region:US-CA_type:adm2nd_dim:500km, display=title * Geography of Contra Costa County, California Geography of Monterey County, California Geography of San Luis Obispo County, California Geography of Santa Barbara County, California Geography of Santa Clara County, California Geography of Santa Cruz County, California American Viticultural Areas of the San Francisco Bay Area American Viticultural Areas 1985 establishments in California