Cucamonga Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) straddling the border of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in the

Cucamonga Valley The Cucamonga Valley is a region of southwestern San Bernardino County and northwestern Riverside County, in southern California. It is located below the San Gabriel Mountains in the Inland Empire region. Geography It is a region of the easter ...

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 The earliest inhabitants of Pomo ...

, about west of

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the 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 census, making it the List of ...

. It was established on March 30, 1985 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF),

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

after reviewing the petition submitted from Gino L. Filippi of J. Filippi Vintage Co. on behalf of himself, local grape growers and vintners to propose a viticultural area known as "Cucamonga Valley." The AVA designation enables wineries to use the name "Cucamonga Valley" on their wine labels when utilizing at least 85% Cucamonga Valley grapes. Cucamonga Valley has a warm climate for

viniculture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing 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, ...

, 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 suc ...

has affected vines in the valley.

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 approximately 8,0 ...

cultivation began in the

in 1838 by Tiburcio Tapia on the

Rancho Cucamonga Rancho Cucamonga was a Ranchos of California, Mexican land grant in present-day San Bernardino County, California, given in 1839 to the dedicated soldier, smuggler and politician Tiburcio Tapia by Mexican governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. The gra ...

, a Mexican land grant in

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

. 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 alcoholic b ...

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

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

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 seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

combined. In 1910, the former Mission Vineyard winery, later known as the Virginia Dare Winery, was established in the town of

followed by others including the Thomas Brothers Winery, G. Filippi and Son Winery, and Ellena Bros./Regina Winery. Following Prohibition and its

Repeal A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...

in 1933, the wine industry and other agricultural businesses in the Cucamonga Valley faced increasing pressure from the urban expansion of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and Orange Counties. During the 1970s, agricultural land in Cucamonga Valley underwent massive conversion and loss to

suburbanization Suburbanization (American English), also spelled suburbanisation (British English), is a population shift from historic core cities or rural areas into suburbs. Most suburbs are built in a formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence ...

, 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

*
TTB AVA Map
American Viticultural Areas of California American Viticultural Areas of Southern California Geography of Riverside County, California History of Riverside County, California Geography of San Bernardino County, California History of San Bernardino County, California Inland Empire Pomona Valley 1985 establishments in California {{wine-region-stub

History

Wineries

See also

References

External links