Alexander Valley AVA
Alexander Valley is an American Viticultural Area within a valley landform located in northeastern Sonoma County, California just north of Healdsburg. The wine appellation was established as the nation's 70th, the state's 43rd and the county's eighth AVA on October 24, 1984 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Treasury after reviewing two petitions submitted by the Appellation Committee, on behalf of eighteen vintners, vineyard owners, winery operators, and another fifteen members of the local grape/wine industry representing Alexander Valley Vineyards, Robert Young Vineyards, Redwood Ranch and Vineyards, Murphy-Goode Vineyards, Jordon Winery and Vineyards, Garden Creek Ranch, Chateau St. Jean, Simi Winery, Cuneo and Saini Farm, Franeiscan Winery, River Oaks Winery, Hoot Owl Creek Ranch and Vineyard, proposing a viticultural area in Sonoma County, known as "Alexander Valley."
The proposals of Group A and Group B represented, respectively, the viewpoints of grape and wine industry members in the southern and northern portions of this area concerning establishment of the Alexander Valley viticultural area. Group A proposed an area extending northwest from the peak known as Chalk Hill to just south of the town of Asti. Approximately 11,000 of the 35,000 acres encompassed by this proposal are used for viticulture. Group B proposed an area encompassing the area proposed by Group A and an adjoining area extending northward to the Sonoma-Mendocmo County line. Approximately 1,700 of the additional 31,000 acres encompassed by this proposal are used for viticulture.
After extensive consideration of the evidence and comments presented regarding establishment of an Alexander Valley viticultural area, ATF found that the general area encompassed within the boundaries proposed by Group B merited establishment as the Alexander Valley viticultural area. Although they recognized there is evidence which would support both groups of petitioners in this matter, ATF found that the greater weight of-evidence supports the Group B proposal and that the general area encompassed within the boundaries proposed by Group B is locally and nationally referred to as Alexander Valley.
The boundaries of the appellation extends from the banks of the Russian River eastward to the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains. It is resident to over one hundred wineries and vineyards, as well as the city of Cloverdale. It is the largest and most fully cultivated wine region in Sonoma County. Highway 101 passes through, and the Russian River flows through the valley flanked on both sides by vineyards. The view from the higher elevations of the valley rim extends far south to Taylor and Sonoma Mountains.
In 1986, the boundaries were expanded to include overlapping regions of the Russian River Valley AVA. Further acreage was realigned in 1988 from Chalk Hill AVA to accommodate existing vineyards that long labeled their wines as Alexander Valley but existed across the southeastern boundary. A third amendment occurred in 1990 to include vineyards owned by Sir Peter Michael and Ellis Alden in the foothills east of Geyserville. In 2001, the Gill Creek watershed was realigned from the Dry Creek AVA reclassifying the Alexander Valley boundary. In 2008, the appellation was expanded to include three existing vineyards along Hiatt Road and Icaria Creek, a drainage basis to the Russian River. The expansion increased Alexander Valley's total area to. The plant hardiness zone ranges from 9a to 10a.
History
The valley was first settled by the Wappo and Pomo tribes. The valley was named in Wappo as Unutsawaholmanoma meaning "Toyon Bush Berry Place." Since its early history, the territory referred to as the "Alexander Valley" denoted the benchlands east of the Russian River leading up to the Mayacamas Mountains. The area west of the Russian River was known as "the plaines" or "the ranchos".Viticulture in Alexander Valley dates back to 1843, when Cyrus Alexander, owner of a portion of the Rancho Sotoyome Mexican land grant, used vine cuttings collected from Fort Ross on the Pacific coast, to establish his vineyards. For most of its history the region was predominately associated with mass-produced bulk and jug wines made from indiscriminately planted field blends of red grape varieties.
The modern viticulture era of quality wine production began in the late 1960s when a new owner of Simi Winery sought to revive the area's long winemaking history. In 1963, one of Alexander Valley's most prestigious vineyards, the Robert Young Vineyard, was planted.
In the 1970s, a new wave of vintners, such as Chateau Souverain and Jordan Vineyard & Winery, descended upon the area and started making wines that received critical and consumer acclaim. Wine pioneer, Rodney Strong, whose namesake wineries are located in Chalk Hill, Russian River Valley and Alexander Valley, was also among the first to recognize the valley's potential, producing and releasing Sonoma County's first single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from the 1974 vintage. The vineyard designated was Strong's Alexander's Crown vineyard located near Jimtown. At the time, vineyards sourced most of their fruit to wineries outside the valley. One of these wineries, Chateau St. Jean, was so impressed with the quality of fruit that with the 1975 vintage of their Chardonnay they put the name of the Alexander Valley vineyard on the wine label. This "vineyard designated wine" would be one of the first premium wines in California wine history to have the name of the vineyard appear on the label. In 1988, E & J Gallo Winery purchased substantial tracts of land in the Alexander Valley to establish the fine wine brand of the company.
Terroir
Geography and climate
The Alexander Valley covers a broad expanse of land east of the Russian River consisting of the watershed that runs southeast from the Mendocino County line down to the boundaries of the Chalk Hill AVA. The area is sheltered from the influence of the nearby Pacific Ocean by the low-lying hills northeast of Healdsburg. The dominant vineyard soil of the region is alluvial. During the day, the Alexander Valley is one of the warmest areas in Northern California but at night experiences a wide diurnal temperature variation that offers cool climate conditions. The region's proximity to the Russian River serves a source for early morning fog that covers the lower vineyard areas until it is burned off by the morning sun.In addition, the Group B area has an average annual rainfall of, temperature of, and a frost-free season of 240-270 days. The Russian-River viticultural area to the south has an average annual rainfall of, temperature of, and a frost-free season of 240-260 days. Moreover, the surrounding uplands have an average annual rainfall of, temperature of, and a frost-free season of 230-270 days. Further, temperature comparison data indicate the area is warmer than the Russian River Valley viticultural area and cooler thin the Guenoc viticultural area to the north. Under the climatic region concept developed by Amerine and Winkler, the Group B area is classified as Region 3 and the Russian River Valley viticultural area as Region 2.