Several years ago, in an article in Food and Wine magazine, wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. stated, “Look for wines from California’s Central Coast… to take their place alongside the hallowed bottlings of Napa and Sonoma valleys. No viticultural region in America has demonstrated as much progress in quality and potential for greatness as the Central Coast…”
The Central Coast AVA is huge – stretching roughly 250 miles along the coastline of California, from San Francisco County in the north down to Santa Barbara County in the south, averaging about 25 miles in width. There are three distinct sub-regions within the Central Coast AVA. San Francisco Bay in the north, the central region includes Monterey and San Benito, and the southern most region encompasses San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. I will focus on wines from the southern region this week and tackle the former two sub-regions next week.
Click here to listen to my recommendations on WTOP radio’s Wine of the Week.
