Sierra Foothills AVA

Question 1

About Sierra Foothills

Answer 1

• One of the largest AVAs in the USA 1.05 million hectares.
• Warm, high-altitude terroir here is well suited to the production of big, ripe, red wines.
• Awarded AVA status in 1987
• Huge array of terroirs.
• The rocky soils vary, with low fertility commonplace – making grape growing difficult but producing high-quality wines.
• The vines are forced to dig their roots deep into the ground to find water and nutrients, and the end result is often small yields of grapes with intense, concentrated flavours.

Question 2

Grapes grown here

Answer 2

Zinfandel, Syrah and Italian varieties such as Barbera.

Question 3

Sierra Foothills Geography

Answer 3

• An inland AVA
• The region lies along the north-western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range that separates California from the state of Nevada in the east.
• Vineyards run all the way along this 260 km stretch of mountains, usually at 300–900m above sea level.
• Warm, sunny days are followed by much cooler nights as a result of alpine winds that blow down the slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the evenings. This diurnal temperature variation, experienced across the whole region, allows grapes to ripen more slowly, leading to the development of rich, complex flavors and aromas that do not come at the expense of acidity.

Question 4

Sierra Foothills history.

Answer 4

• Following the 1848 led to the California Gold Rush, vineyards were quickly established by enterprising individuals to supply the diggers with wine.
• By the 1860s, the Sierra Foothills wine industry was booming. This dropped off in the depression that followed the end of the Gold Rush, and the beginning of Prohibition in 1920 killed off whatever was left.
• Happily, many of the vineyards throughout the region were simply abandoned rather than ripped out, and vignerons exploring the viticultural potential of the Sierra Foothills in the 1970s were rewarded with the discovery of many old vines producing extremely low yields of high-quality Zinfandel grapes. The 140-year-old Grandpere vineyard in California Shenandoah Valley is said to be the oldest still in production in the state.
• Grape growers have been drawn to the Sierra Foothills in the past 25 years by land prices that are considerably lower than in other grape-growing areas of California,
• Consumers, too, have been attracted by the bargains, as wines from the Sierra Foothills are often half the price of those produced in coastal regions.