Yolo County

Yolo County has three main winegrowing areas: Dunnigan Hills, Clarksburg and Capay Valley. Located in the northwest portion of Yolo County, the Dunnigan Hills AVA covers approximately 89,000 acres. The region enjoys a typical Mediterranean climate with warm, sunny days and cool nights. In fact, the temperatures during the summer growing season can vary from a toasty 98 degrees during the daytime hours to a comfortable 65 degrees at night, allowing the grapes to cool and preserving their natural acidity. Wineries here harvest much of their fruit at night to maximize these positive effects.

Sprawling across almost 57,000 acres of portions of Sacramento, Solano and Yolo counties, the Clarksburg AVA has about 10,000 acres of grapevines. Summer days are warm, but the cool breezes of San Francisco Bay spread across the Sacramento River Delta in the late afternoons; this air mass keeps the Clarksburg area at least nine degrees cooler than neighboring Sacramento. More than 25 wine varietals thrive in this appellation, and at least eight wineries call it home. Many wineries outside the AVA source grapes from Clarksburg and mention the region on their labels.

Capay Valley lies in the northwest corner of Yolo County, a drive of about an hour and a half north from San Francisco and about an hour’s drive east from Sacramento. Bordering the better-known Napa and Lake counties, this 102,400-acre region became an AVA in its own right in 2003. Summers are warm and dry, and portions of the valley receive moderating breezes from the Sacramento Delta.