Dreamin' about Californian wine?

20 January 2022 - Justin Sims

If you’re a fan of Californian wines, you might be interested in entering your bar or restaurant into a cool promotion that’s taking place in June this year

But don’t dither, entries have to be in before the 1^st April and places are limited.

More About the Promotion

In a nutshell, all you need to do is create a single-page insert into your wine list featuring at least two Californian wines and offer them by the bottle and by the glass during the promotional period. Order at least 60 bottles mixed prior to the promotional period and run the promotion for at least a fortnight. Make sure you include the California Wines logo and the title ‘California Wine Weeks’.

How easy is that?

For exact details on how to enter and the support being offered, click here.

Why are Californian Wines Cool?

Well for a start, California has a broad range of different climatic zones as well as a vast array of soil types. This partly explains why there are so many AVA’s (American Viticultural Areas) and different grape varieties planted (over 110).

Along the coastal areas, (North Coast, Central Coast and South Coast sub-regions), especially where the cooling Pacific influences are felt most prominently, there’s a tendency towards a more cool-climate, European profile. Move within the mountainous zones like parts of Napa and Sonoma and even further inland from the coast, into the vast area known as the Central Valley, and the wines become bigger, broader and more sun-kissed. The Central Valley is primarily home to giant branded producers whereas Napa and Sonoma houses most of the boutique wineries.

You could say California has it all.

California’s a New World Producer, Right?

It’s true, the sunshine state’s modern era of commercial table wine production didn’t really kick off until the 1970s. Particularly following the outcome of the now infamous ‘Judgement of Paris’ Tasting in 1976 when Californian wines beat the best of Bordeaux and Burgundy in a blind tasting.

However, the first vines for making wine were planted as far back as 1680 by Spanish missionaries, just as they were in Chile and Argentina, while the first true commercial wineries were established in tandem with the California Gold Rush in the 1850s.

Is There Value in California?

Californian wines have a reputation for being on the premium side, or on the super-premium side; think Screaming Eagle, Opus One and Dominus which have each made Californian folklore.

At the other end of the spectrum you’ve got the huge brand names more associated with the supermarkets, but is there anything in between?

The short answer is ‘yes’. Basically, you have to look outside the established appellations of Napa and Sonoma, where land prices are significantly lower. So either look further south towards Paso Robles or Monterey or head further inland to areas like Lodi in San Joaquin County.

Boutinot’s Burlesque range draws on fruit from Lodi to make their White Zinfandel rosé and red ‘Old Vine’ Zinfandel and fashion them in a fruit-forward but well-balanced style.