The Cucamonga Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area in

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It is in the Cucamonga Valley region of the

Pomona Valley The Pomona Valley is located in the Greater Los Angeles Area between the San Gabriel Valley and San Bernardino Valley in Southern California. The valley is approximately east of downtown Los Angeles. History On March 1, 1893 the California ...

, about west of

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

. Cucamonga Valley is a warm climate for

viniculture Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ra ...

, with summer temperatures often exceeding . The valley floor is sandy, alluvial soils.

Pierce's disease ''Xylella fastidiosa'' is an aerobic, Gram-negative bacterium of the genus ''Xylella''. It is a plant pathogen, that grows in the water transport tissues of plants ( xylem vessels) and is transmitted exclusively by xylem sap-feeding insects such ...

has affected vines in the valley. The Cucamonga Valley AVA was officially approved as an AVA in 1995 by the United States Department of Treasury as a result of a petition, written and filed in 1993 by Gino L. Filippi on behalf of area growers and vintners. The designation enables wineries to use the words Cucamonga Valley on their wine labels when utilizing at least 85% Cucamonga grapes. Inside The Inland Empire: "The Wineries of Rancho Cucamonga are back."
9 May 2007.

History

Grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

cultivation began in the Cucamonga Valley in 1838 by Tiburcio Tapia on the Rancho Cucamonga, a Mexican land grant in Alta California. In 1859 rancher John Rains began large vine plantings in Cucamonga, introducing agriculture on a large scale to replace traditional cattle and sheep raising in the region. By 1917 the Cucamonga-Guasti vineyards spanned over 20,000 acres, and Secondo Guasti was advertising his vineyard as "The Largest in the World." When

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

began in 1920, the Cucamonga Valley produced more wine grapes than

Napa County Napa County () is a county north of San Pablo Bay located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 138,019. The county seat is the City of Napa. Napa County was one of the original c ...

and

Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino ...

combined. The former Mission Vineyard winery, later known as the Virginia Dare Winery, was established in 1910 in Rancho Cucamonga (town). Others included the Thomas Brothers Winery, G. Filippi and Son Winery, and Ellena Bros./Regina Winery. Following Prohibition (1919-1933) and its end, the wine industry and other agricultural businesses in the Cucamonga Valley faced increasing pressure from the urban expansion of Los Angeles and

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

. During the 1970s agricultural land in the AVA underwent massive conversion and loss to

suburbanization Suburbanization is a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in the formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence of the movement of households and businesses out of the city centers, low-density, peripheral urba ...

, for families from those counties seeking affordable housing. The Joseph Filippi Winery & Vineyards and other vintners and growers in the area worked to attain the AVA designation, and have been bringing back winemaking to the Cucamonga Valley.

Wineries

References

External links

*
Federal Ruling, Establishment of Cucamonga Valley AVA
* http://articles.latimes.com/1994-05-19/food/fo-59395_1_cucamonga-valley American Viticultural Areas American Viticultural Areas of Southern California Geography of San Bernardino County, California History of San Bernardino County, California Inland Empire Pomona Valley American Viticultural Areas of California 1985 establishments in California {{wine-region-stub

History

Wineries

See also

References

External links