York Mountain is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in San Luis Obispo (SLO) 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 ...

. It lies within the larger Central Coast AVA located on the eastern side of the Santa Lucia Mountains and west of Paso Robles viticultural area. The mountainous terrain features

vineyards A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

that are mostly cultivated at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

around . York Mountain climate is cooler and wetter than Paso Robles being just from 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 ...

. York Mountain was established as SLO county’s second AVA 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 ...

on August 24, 1983 after reviewing the petition submitted by Stephen and Max Goldman, owners of York Mountain Winery, to designate a viticultural area named "York Mountain." Historically, Andrew York, a British immigrant, planted the first vineyard on York Mountain in the 1870s and established Ascension Winery, the first bonded winery in the Central Coast. It survived through Prohibtion and later renamed York Mountain Winery, staying in the York family until 1970 when it was purchased by Max Goldman.

Terroir

York Mountain viticultural area is distinguished from surrounding areas by being from the Pacific Ocean and the influence of the cool maritime fog. The area is situated on the eastern slopes of the

Santa Lucia Range The Santa Lucia Range (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Mountains is a rugged mountain range in coastal Central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than fro ...

where elevations range from and rainfall averages annually compared to the in the neighboring inland Paso Robles areas and a classification of Region I as compared to Regions III and IV in the adjacent areas. The area is " dry farmed." The low supply of ground water is inadequate for irrigation, providing only a small amount in potting water to establish the grape vines during the first two years of root formation and growth. Dry farming results in low grape yields and wines with concentrated flavor characteristics.

Industry

After subsequent ownerships, York Mountain Winery was renamed “Epoch Estate Wines” that restored the historic York Mountain Winery building as their Tasting Room. Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc are commercially grown in the AVA.

References

External links

Epoch Estate Wines
formerly York Mountain Winery.
TTB AVA Map
Santa Lucia Range American Viticultural Areas of San Luis Obispo County, California 1983 establishments in California {{wine-region-stub