California 5 products.

California combines a diversity of climates, soils, and viticultural traditions that would be difficult to find gathered together in any other region of comparable size. The influence of the Pacific—the cold California Current and morning fogs—is the decisive moderating factor: coastal valleys such as Sonoma Coast, Santa Bárbara, or Carneros receive this oceanic coolness; the inland zones lie beyond its reach and produce wines of a very different profile.

Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa Valley, Pinot Noir in Russian River Valley and Santa Bárbara, Zinfandel in Lodi and Dry Creek Valley, and Chardonnay in Sonoma Coast and Carneros are the great drivers of Californian viticulture. Wines labelled with a specific AVA must contain at least 85% grapes from that zone; a varietal label requires 75% of the stated variety, although benchmark producers typically make 100% varietal wines.