California is huge!
It's more than a hundred appellations spread across a thousand miles. But even a drive of twenty minutes can take you from a site that ripens Cabernet to one where Pinot Noir struggles to get there at all — and the difference is almost never latitude. It's the Pacific, and whether the fog reaches you.
California's serious vineyards are organized around cold air, not sunshine. The Sta. Rita Hills run east to west, which funnels ocean fog straight inland and makes Santa Barbara County one of the coolest growing regions in the state despite sitting well south of Napa. Sonoma's western edge does the same. Move a ridge inland and the wines change completely.
The old vines
California has something almost nowhere else does: pre-Prohibition vineyards still in production, planted by immigrant growers who put a dozen varieties in the same block and picked them together. Those field blends were farming insurance — if one variety failed, the others carried the harvest — and they turned out to make some of the most interesting wine in the country.
A few of the sites we carry from are genuinely historic. Bedrock Vineyard in Sonoma Valley dates to 1888, on land first planted in the 1850s. Monte Rosso, above the valley floor, goes back to 1886. Evangelho in Contra Costa County grows own-rooted in deep sand that phylloxera could never get through — vines over a century old, still on their original roots.
This acreage is shrinking every year, because old vines yield little and the land is worth more as something else. Buying from it is the only thing that keeps it planted. We wrote about which vineyards are most at risk here.
The other California
For about twenty years the state's reputation was built on ripeness — picked late, high alcohol, plenty of new oak, scored accordingly. Plenty of that wine was very good. Almost all of it tasted like a decision made in the cellar rather than the vineyard.
The generation working now mostly picks earlier, ferments with native yeast, uses older barrels or none, and lets the site do the talking. Sandhi in Sta. Rita Hills, BREA on the Central Coast, Outward in Santa Barbara and Paso, Martha Stoumen and Las Jaras in Mendocino, A Tribute to Grace with Grenache. Lower alcohol, more acid, wines built for a table rather than a scoring sheet. Many of these growers farm organically, which is why they also show up in our organic and natural wine collections.
Cabernet, and what we look for in it
We do stock California Cabernet, and we choose it on the same basis as everything else: does it taste like where it came from. Bedrock's Sonoma County bottling and the Violet's Paradise wines off Monte Rosso are structured and serious without being heavy.For the Napa bottles specifically, those live in their own Napa Valley collection.
Where to start
If you want to understand California quickly, buy three bottles that argue with each other: an old-vine Zinfandel or heritage field blend, a coastal Chardonnay or Pinot from Santa Barbara, and a Cabernet from Sonoma. That's most of the state in one sitting, and it costs less than a single trophy bottle.
If you'd rather not choose, tell us what you already drink and we'll build it. If a bottle isn't right when it lands, we'll replace it or refund it — no return shipping, no explanation required.
Common questions
What does “old vine” actually mean in California?
There's no legal definition, which is why the term gets abused. In practice, serious producers use it for vines of roughly fifty years or more, and the genuinely historic sites run past a century. Old vines yield very little fruit but produce wine with more concentration and more consistency across vintages.
What is a heritage field blend?
A vineyard planted with several varieties interspersed rather than in separate blocks — typically Zinfandel alongside Carignan, Petite Sirah, Mourvèdre, Alicante Bouschet and others. They're picked and fermented together, so the blend happens in the vineyard rather than the cellar. Nearly all of them were planted before Prohibition.
Is all California wine high in alcohol?
It certainly can be! The ripe, high-alcohol style still exists and has its place (we love a big Cab or Petit Sirah in the winter), but a large share of what we carry is picked earlier and finishes between 12 and 13.5% — particularly the coastal Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and the carbonic and lighter reds.
Sonoma or Napa?
Napa is warmer, more focused on Cabernet, and priced accordingly. Sonoma is larger and far more varied, running from cold Pinot country on the coast to old-vine Zinfandel inland. For value, Sonoma. For classic Cabernet, Napa.
What's worth buying under $30?
Family made California wine is genuinely difficult to find under $30 because land and labor cost what they cost — but it is POSSIBLE. Look to the Central Coast, Mendocino, San Benito County, and Contra Costa rather than big name AVA's like Oakville, Napa Valley or Russian River, and even some Santa Barabar spots like St. Rita Hills.
Do you deliver California wine locally?
Yes. We're based in La Mesa and ship across California, plus Oregon, New Mexico, Wyoming, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Nebraska, Florida and Washington D.C. Local pickup is available at checkout, usually ready within 24 hours. Check your state here.
