Red Hills Lake County is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in Lake County,

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 ...

and was established by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) on September 10, 2004. Part of the Mayacamas Range, the region lies along the southeastern shores of Clear Lake, separating Excelsior Valley to the east from Big Valley to the west. The hills lie at the foot of

Mount Konocti Mount Konocti is a volcano in Lake County, California, Lake County, California on the south shore of Clear Lake (California), Clear Lake. At , it is the second highest peak in the Clear Lake Volcanic Field, which consists of numerous volcanic d ...

, a

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

which last erupted 11,000 years ago, but which is still regarded as active. The terrain is rolling hills with elevations between and

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. Red Hills receives an average of of

rainfall Rain is a form of precipitation where water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. ...

annually. The petition submitted to the TTB in 2002 was on behalf of several winegrowers, notably Beckstoffer Vineyards, Beringer Blass Wine Estate and

Kendall-Jackson Kendall-Jackson Vineyard Estates is a vineyard and winery, under the Kendall-Jackson brand, located in Santa Rosa, California in the Sonoma Valley wine country. As of 2010 Kendall-Jackson was the highest-selling brand of "super-premium" wine (reta ...

. At the time, there were reportedly of planted vineyards in the area. By the time of the AVA establishment in 2004, there were 3,100 planted acres (1,300 ha). In order to raise the profile of the appellation, David and

Andy Beckstoffer William Andrew "Andy" Beckstoffer is a California vineyard owner, with holdings in Napa, Lake, and Mendocino counties. Biography Beckstoffer was a resident of Richmond, Virginia, and went to Virginia Tech on a football scholarship. He gradua ...

launched in 2016 a program to incentivize reputed winemakers to use their Red Hills fruit (Beckstoffer acquired the Amber Knolls vineyard in 1997). Each participant would receive 1 ton of

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebano ...

for free on the condition the resulting wines use the AVA and their Amber Knolls or Crimson Ridge vineyards on their labels, and be marketed in the luxury wine segment. Participating winemakers included

Spoto Wines Spoto Family Wines is a boutique winery in Sacramento, California, owned and operated by the Spoto family. The winemaker, Stuart Spoto, makes Bordeaux wine, Bordeaux-style blends with grapes from the Oakville Station (part of the historic To Ka ...

's Stuart Spoto and Lake County

Brassfield Estate Winery Brassfield Estate Winery is a Certified California Sustainable vineyard and winery operation in the High Valley American Viticultural Area in Lake County, California. The 100% estate-grown, produced, and bottled winery was established by Jerr ...

's Matt Hugues. The boundaries of the AVA were modified with the establishment of the Kelsey Bench-Lake County AVA in 2013, expanding it to the northwest by 7 acres. In March 2024, following a petition on behalf of local vineyard owners, the AVA was officially expanded again, this time by 679 acres. The most planted (and lucrative) variety in the Red Hills is by far

, but

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux (wine), Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire (wine), Loire's C ...

Malbec Malbec () is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The grapes tend to have an inky dark color and robust tannins, and are known as one of the six grapes allowed in the blend of red Bordeaux wine. In France, plantations of Malbec are ...

Petit Verdot Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen it adds tannin, ...

Petite Sirah Durif is a variety of red wine grape mainly grown in Australia, California, France, and Israel. Since the end of the 20th century, wineries located in Washington (state), Washington's Yakima River Valley, Maryland, Arizona, Texas, West Virgini ...

are also represented, as well as

Sauvignon blanc Sauvignon blanc () is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the city of Bordeaux in France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an ind ...

Grenache Grenache (; ) or Garnacha () is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' p. 25, JP Bøger – JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. . It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry condi ...

Mourvèdre Mourvèdre (; also known as Mataro or Monastrell) is a red wine grape variety grown in many regions around the world. It is found in the Rhône and Provence regions of France, the Valencia and Jumilla, Bullas and Yecla '' denominaciones de or ...

Syrah Syrah (), also known as Shiraz, is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. In 1999, Syrah was found to be the offspring of two obscure grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse ...

and

Zinfandel Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is grown in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA analysis has revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kašt ...

. Major vineyard holders in the Red Hills include Beckstoffer Vineyards, which own partially planted with principally

(as well as some

and

); E&J Gallo, which in 2014 acquired the Snows Lake Vineyard;

Shannon Family of Wines Shannon Family of Wines is a family-owned and operated vineyard, winery and ranching operation in Lake County, California. It produces wine under various labels, notably Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Sauvignon blanc and red blends made from Lak ...

with their Vigilance vineyard; and Obsidian Wine Company with their Obsidian Ridge vineyard. As of May 2024, the Red Hills AVA contains three bonded wineries: Gregory Graham Wines, Laujor Estate, and Boatique Winery.

References

{{coord, 38.9173, -122.7559 , display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-CA_dim:27000 American Viticultural Areas of Lake County, California 2004 establishments in California Mayacamas Mountains