Dos Rios is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in northern

Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza") is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United S ...

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 ...

. It was established on October 13, 2005 by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB),

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 a petition submitted by Ralph Jens Carter of

Sonoma, California Sonoma () is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Sonoma' ...

, proposing a viticultural area in northern Mendocino County named "Dos Rios" which is

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "two rivers." The viticultural area encompasses portions of the canyons containing the confluence of the Eel River and the Middle Fork of the Eel River located approximately north of Ukiah, east of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, and north of the northern boundary of the established

North Coast North Coast or Northcoast may refer to : Antigua and Barbuda * Major Division of North Coast, an urban area and major division in the parish of Saint John * North Coast, Barbuda, an administrative district of Barbuda Australia * New South Wa ...

viticultural area. The Dos Rios viticultural area encompasses portions of the canyons containing the two rivers. Currently, of commercial vineyards are cultivated within the AVA, with the potential for additional plantings. The marine breezes blowing through the canyons of the viticultural area moderate temperatures, making the Dos Rios region cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than regions to the east that have a more continental climate. The frost-free growing season varies from 125 days to 250 days annually. Dos Rios soils are well-drained to excessively well-drained loams, sandy loams, and gravelly loams that are deep to very deep. These soils are categorized as poor, with coarse texture and limited water retention. They are weathered from

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility. Although its permeabil ...

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

and

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

which are rich in mineral nutrients. Only one winery, Vin de Tevis, currently operates within the viticultural area boundaries.

References

External links

Dos Rios - Mendocino Winegrowers

TTB AVA Map
American Viticultural Areas of Mendocino County, California 2005 establishments in California {{wine-region-stub

See also

References

External links