Palos Verdes Wine Country
Palos Verdes Peninsula established as California’s newest American Viticultural Area
Written by Kristin Borden - Photo by Erik Jay
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has established the approximately 15,900-acre Palos Verdes Peninsula (the Peninsula) viticultural area in the southwestern coastal region of Los Angeles County. The Peninsula becomes just the second AVA in the County — along with Malibu — and joins popular wine destinations like Napa Valley, the Sonoma Coast and Paso Robles to achieve the prestigious designation. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines by printing the AVA on their labels, and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase.
Local landowner and vintner, Jim York of Catalina View Wines, led the group of eight Peninsula winegrowers in the three-year process to establish the AVA. Catalina View is the largest producer of wine on the Peninsula. The property contains approximately five acres of vineyards where thin-skinned grapes are grown for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The cooling ocean breezes and warming sun create a perfect microclimate that encourages the vines to produce fruitful clusters with small berries.
I first met Jim York in January 2020 when we were introduced to his beautiful organic garden, event venue and vineyard. This incredible place is in Rancho Palos Verdes on the east side of Palos Verdes Drive West and less than a mile as the crow flies past Terranea. If you are anything like me you have driven by it a hundred times and had no idea what Catalina View Gardens was about. I was invited up to the property in January of 2020 to meet the owner, Jim York and also get a tour so I could learn more about what was behind the gate and up the road. What I discovered was beyond my expectations. It was like being transported to Tuscany. It was a beautiful clear day. The view of Catalina was spectacular, hence the name of the property.
– Kristin Borden
