PREFACE

SUSAN KEEVIL

California has an extraordinary wine story to tell. No other region has come so far, so fast, with quite so many dramas played out along the way. The villains of the piece tend to reach in from the physical environment – namely fire, fog, phylloxera and seismic disruption – while its heroes undoubtedly take human form: Agoston Haraszthy, Robert Mondavi, Warren Winiarski and Steven Spurrier have starring roles. As in the films, the good in California always triumph.

At first sight, California’s stage players – the grapes themselves – make wine identification easy: we’ve met most of them already; they’re as clearly signed as any roll call of Hollywood actors. But California wine is far more complex. The interplay of ocean, sky, geology and man make knowing this outwardly modern winescape more difficult than its early adventurers – even those kick-starting its wine scene after Prohibition – ever supposed. The factors of terroir seem to be writ larger here than anywhere else, and to manifest themselves more fiercely, paving a way for wines that are equally bold – in tune with the American landscape and character – but not always.

This book sets out to explain the human part in the California wine adventure. It is a history of sorts (though not chronological), and a portrait of the pioneers and philosophers who made it happen. But more importantly, it is a description of the challenges thrown by this rugged Pacific hotzone and the way winemakers work with them to create wines that fascinate those of us who live far beyond the state boundary – and awake pride in the wine lovers within it.

The first step in knowing any wine region, of course, is to identify what happens where. The map opposite shows California’s four most important regions for quality wine: the North Coast, Central Coast, Central Valley and South Coast. It also shows the state’s 58 counties – 49 of which produce wine grapes. While California’s counties are often used to explain a location, it is its 139 AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) that receive special attention here: these are delimited geographical areas selected for the distinctive quality of the wine they produce. California’s most distinguished AVAs are numbered 1–43 on the map.

The North Coast (red) is dominated by the Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Napa, at just 48 kilometres (30 miles) long, and sandwiched between the Mayacamas and Vaca mountain ranges, has a jumbled mixture of volcanic and quake-prone terroirs that yield some of the most complex, expensive wines on the planet,