Suisun Valley AVA
Suisun Valley is an American Viticultural Area located in western Solano County, California, located east of the Napa Valley in the Coast Range and directly west of the city and county seat of Fairfield. The wine appellation was established as the nation's 21st, the state's fourteenth and the county's initial AVA on November 24, 1982 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, United [States Department of the Treasury|Treasury] after reviewing the petition submitted by Mr. Ben A. Volkhardt, president of the West Solano County Grape Growers Association, proposing a viticultural area in Solano County, known as "Suisun Valley."
The Suisun Valley landform is approximately wide and long encompassing about with approximately cultivating more than twenty varieties of wine grapes including Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, French Colombard, Napa Gamay, Grenache, Merlot, Mouvedre, Muscat Canelli, Petite Sirah, Petite Verdot, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Primitivo, Rousanne, Sauvignon Blanc, Sangiovese, Shiraz, Syrah, Viognier, Riesling, and Zinfandel. The plant hardiness zone ranges from 9a to 9b.
History
Suisun Valley is named after the local indigenous people, a distinct tribe known as the Suisuns, who spoke a dialect of the Patwin language. Francisco Solano, a Suisun chief and protégé of Mexican General Mariano Vallejo, applied in 1837 to the Mexican government for a land grant covering his ancestral homeland. However, Solano died before the process was complete and Vallejo took over the application. About the same time, the Tolenas and Rio de los Putos land grants in the northern and eastern highlands of the valley were awarded to the Armijo and Wolfskill families. The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought a tremendous influx of settlers that led to land disputes and resulted in partitioning of these original grants into smaller parcels.Early land holders in the valley grazed cattle, but wheat, because of its drought resistance, became an important crop in the latter part of the 19th century. Orchards of dominantly pears and apricots began to replace wheat around the turn of the century and soon became the dominant crop.
Grapes have been grown commercially in Solona County since the late 1800's. The first commercial winery in the valley was C. Schultz & Company, started in 1860 by the Schultz brothers Carsten and Henry, who moved from Hamburg in 1856. After operating for twenty or so years, they sold their operation in 1880 to Suisun winemaker Louis Mangels, who at the time ran one of the largest wineries in the state. As early as 1909, over were recorded by the Bureau of the Census. Since that time, a small but stable wine grape acreage has been continuously maintained. Several family operations continued into the 1920s, but these disappeared, by and large, during Prohibition. Winemaking started up again on a small scale following World War II, and the industry steadily grew ever since. Although wine grapes now constitute the main crop of the valley, fruit orchards are still important, as well as wheat, and various row crops such as soy beans, sorghum, corn, and sunflowers. The growing of olives for olive oil has recently become an important crop and several vineyards grow both grapes and olives. At the outset, about of grapes were under cultivation within the proposed area with two wineries in operation.
Terroir
Topography
Suisun Valley is a region in the California Coast Ranges that is bordered on the east side by the Blue Ridge of the Vaca Mountains, and on the west side by the Howell Mountains, which are also called the St. George Range. The valley is located almost entirely in Solano County with a northern terminus near the Napa County borderline, and a southern terminus at Suisun Bay in the estuary where the Sacramento River enters San Francisco Bay.Elevations on the valley floor range from above sea level, rising steeply to at Okell Hill on the north side, and to on the west side at Twin Sisters, a twin summit that is the high point of the Howell Mountains, as well as a prominent landmark in the valley. Blue Ridge on the east side of the valley exceeds elevation for much of its length. The watershed in Suisun Valley drains southward into the Suisun Bay. In the Vacaville-Dixon area, which lies to the east of Suisun Valley, the watershed drains eastward in to the Sacramento River.
Climate
Suisun Valley has a semi-coastal Mediterranean climate with a cool wet season from November to April, followed by a warm dry season. Moist winds blow inland from San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bay at the headwaters of San Francisco Bay almost continuously from May through October, which minimizes frost danger. Mean rainfall averages about a year in the southeast part of the valley to in the northwest, with nearly all rain falling during the wet season. Fog hardly ever penetrates into the Suisun Valley due to its distance from the Pacific Ocean. In contrast, fog is very prevalent in Green Valley due to its proximity to the ocean.The climate is classified as mid-Region III under the University of [California, Davis] system of heat summation by degree-days, averaging about 3,350 degree days per year, with the mid-valley averaging 3,250 to 3,450 degree days per year, and the upper valley averaging 3,700 to 3,750 degree days.