The Santa Clara Valley 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
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 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. The area served an important role in the early history of
California wine
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when
Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted ''Vitis vinifera'' vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. I ...
and was home to the pioneer
winemakers
A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes:
*Cooperating with viticulturists
*Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...
Paul Masson
Paul Masson (1859 – October 22, 1940) was an early pioneer of California viticulture known for his brand of Californian sparkling wine.
Biography
Masson emigrated from the Burgundy region of France in 1878 (at the age of 19) to Californ ...
and Charles Lefranc. The AVA boundary was defined in 1989. It includes the historic winegrowing areas of Santa Clara County which were not already part of the
Santa Cruz Mountains AVA
The Santa Cruz Mountains AVA is an American Viticultural Area centered on the Santa Cruz Mountains. Its territory expands three California counties, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Mateo. Established in 1981 by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and ...
as well as the area near
Mission San José Mission San José may refer to:
*Mission San José (California), a Spanish mission in Fremont, California
* Mission San Jose, Fremont, California, a neighborhood
* Mission San Jose High School, a high school in Fremont, California
*Mission San José ...
in
Alameda County
Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...
and a small part of
San Benito County
San Benito County (; ''San Benito'', Spanish for "St. Benedict"), officially the County of San Benito, is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,209. The coun ...
.
The area served an important role in the early history of
California wine
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when
Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted ''Vitis vinifera'' vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. I ...
and was home to the pioneer
winemakers
A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes:
*Cooperating with viticulturists
*Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...
Paul Masson
Paul Masson (1859 – October 22, 1940) was an early pioneer of California viticulture known for his brand of Californian sparkling wine.
Biography
Masson emigrated from the Burgundy region of France in 1878 (at the age of 19) to Californ ...
and Charles Lefranc. The AVA boundary was defined in 1989. The Santa Clara Valley AVA is home to two smaller AVAs,
Pacheco Pass AVA and
San Ysidro District AVA
The San Ysidro District AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Santa Clara County, California. It is part of the larger Santa Clara Valley AVA and is located in the foothills of the Diablo Range. San Ysidro District is significantly coo ...
.
History
By the 1850s Santa Clara had more acres of vineyards than any other
county in California. By 1883 the county had almost of vines and over 100 wineries, but over-expansion and
phylloxera
Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs ...
took a heavy toll and by 1902 over disappeared, mostly replanted to
fruit tree
A fruit tree is a tree which bears fruit that is consumed or used by animals and humans — all trees that are flowering plants produce fruit, which are the ripened ovaries of flowers containing one or more seeds. In horticultural usage, ...
s such as
prune
A prune is a dried plum, most commonly from the European plum (''Prunus domestica''). Not all plum species or varieties can be dried into prunes. A prune is the firm-fleshed fruit (plum) of ''Prunus domestica'' varieties that have a high solu ...
s and
apricot
An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''.
Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...
s. By 1910 over half the wineries had disappeared.
Prohibition caused another boom in viticulture, with fruit being much in demand for home winemakers. By 1926 around were planted, but since then there has been a gradual decline. By 1997 a little over were planted; since then there has been a gradual resurgence.
The population expanded because of the growth of high-tech businesses, and older Almaden Valley vineyards were uprooted to make way for
urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
. Today the majority of the remaining vineyards are found between the
Diablo Mountains in
Contra Costa and the
Santa Cruz Mountains
The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from ...
south of
San Jose near
Morgan Hill
Morgan Hill is a city in Santa Clara County, California, at the southern tip of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Morgan Hill is an affluent residential community, the seat of several high-tech companies, and a dining, entertainmen ...
and
Gilroy, with some in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains near
Saratoga. As of August 2014, a collaboration between the cities of Gilroy, Morgan Hill, and
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 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...
, along with th
Wineries of Santa Clara Valley formed the "Santa Clara Valley Wine Trail" to connect the many wineries and aid in
agritourism
Agritourism or agrotourism involves any agriculturally based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch.
Types
A 2018 article published in the ''Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development'' classified a ...
.
References
External links
TTB AVA Map
{{coord , 37.11332 , -121.68011, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-CA_dim:27000
American Viticultural Areas
American Viticultural Areas of the San Francisco Bay Area
Geography of Santa Clara County, California
1989 establishments in California