Exploring California’s Anderson Valley Wine Region
Photo by Kathleen Willcox
Do you really get what you pay for?
Price and quality are highly correlated in most of our minds, for everything from jeans and real estate to Pinot Noir. But as anyone who has shelled out big bucks for designer jeans that make your adorable and pert butt look flat or Pinot Noir that turns out to be insipid and lifeless knows, perception isn’t destiny.
Happily, the opposite is frequently true as well. One of the best examples of an American wine region that consistently delivers world-class wines at humble prices is the Anderson Valley—especially when it comes to Pinot Noir and sparkling wine.
“The Anderson Valley offers some of the best values for wine on the West Coast,” said Melissa Smith, a sommelier, wine educator and the founder of Enotrias. “It is comparable in terms of approachability and style to the Loire Valley and Alsace. These wines are generally low in alcohol, food friendly and grown organically without a lot of manipulation in the cellar.”
Read on for insight into the Anderson Valley’s humble roots and its transformation into the world-class growing region it is today.
History and Overview
European immigrants brought vines to the Anderson Valley after the 1849 Gold Rush. But for decades, the region’s mountainous landscape, cool climate and geographic isolation made it a better fit for sheep ranches and orchards than vineyards.
Slowly, post-World War II, as roads and infrastructure emerged in the Valley, vintners began experimenting more. In 1964, Dr. Donald Edmeades planted 24 acres of Gewürztraminer, French Colombard, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, with input from University of California at Davis. Other pioneers soon followed, including Tony and Gretchen Husch of Husch Vineyards, who crushed their first fruit in 1971 and became the region’s first commercial winery since Prohibition.
The incredible, dramatic terroir has served as both a draw—it’s a recipe for delicious wine—and a deterrent—it’s tough to farm, and isolated—for would-be wine-growers. The Anderson Valley is one mile wide and 15 miles long, with a diverse range of microclimates and 16 to 18 different soil types. The location straddles the border between the northwestern rainforest and California’s more southerly Mediterranean climate. This produces crisp, bright, fruit-forward wines—think a sweet spot between the opulence found in sunnier regions and the restraint and earthiness found in classic cool climate terroirs.
Notably, the Anderson Valley has a 55-degree diurnal range, one of the widest of any wine region worldwide. A large diurnal range means there’s a big difference between the high temps during the day and the lows at night during the growing season. That daytime heat allows grapes to ripen to their full potential and develop incredibly opulent aromas and flavors, while the nighttime drop in temperature locks in freshness and acidity, so the wines are lively and lithe, never overblown or flabby.
The Anderson Valley is also notoriously remote. Until the 1960s, dirt roads dominated the countryside, and even today, seeing speed limits of 5 or 10 mph on winding mountain passes is common. Small towns and villages (often with a few hundred residents) pepper the landscape, without a city in sight.
In 1983, the Anderson Valley earned official appellation status, encompassing 57,600 acres, with elevations ranging from around 400 to just over 2,000 feet. At founding, there were 582 acres under vine, 16 vineyards and eight wineries in operation. Today, there are 2,457 acres under vine, 90 vineyards and 30 wineries in operation—and between those two bookends, an incredible transformation has taken place.