Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau designated the San Luis Obispo Coast as America’s newest American Viticultural Area.
The new AVA spans about 60 miles from San Simeon in the north to Nipomo in the south, but is at most only 15 miles wide, bordered by the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Lucia Mountains.
The San Luis Obispo Coast AVA’s 78 vineyards have 3,942 acres planted to vines — most famously, to premium Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. But over the past decade a more diverse list of grape varieties has taken root here, too: Albariño, Grüner Veltliner and Riesling are the leading aromatic whites, while the cool growing conditions continue to prove exemplary for red varieties such as Grenache, Syrah, Tempranillo, Zinfandel and Lagrein.
The SLO Coast Wine Collective, a group of 32 wineries making wine from grapes grown within the region, applied for the SLO Coast AVA in 2017, making a case for the designation based on the area’s unique geography, geology and topography — and in particular, its proximity to the Pacific Ocean.