Benmore Valley
AVA · Lake County · District 2
27 CFR 9.138 · established 1991-10-18
Heat class IV · 1991-2020 normals
Climate normals in three numbers
, Apr 1 – Oct 31
3 GridMET cells cover this region
raw 4 km GridMET would say III
season rain, Apr 1 – Oct 31
62 mm of it in the , Sep 1 – Oct 31
Warm and cool vintages since 1980
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Rain across the season, and at harvest
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The boundary
Hovering a shaded region names it; a click opens its page.
Measured vineyard area
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Drought categories, year by year
Lake County — not Benmore Valley
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What's in the ground
6.0
pH, 1:1 water
10.9cm
, whole profile
80cm
to
Somewhat excessively drained
, dominant condition
Distribution across 13 · mean ◆, median │, p10–p90 bar
Dominant
- 74.8%
- 15.3%
- 5.2%
- 4.0%
- 0.6%
13 map units · soil described over 98.5% of the region’s area · 3.5% is water, rock outcrop or other non-soil · 74% of the described area has a restrictive layer within the profile.
Sand, silt and clay, against every other appellation
Loam
44% sand · 37% silt · 19% clay
Sandier than 58% of California appellations and clayier than 29%. Each grey point is one appellation’s topsoil; appellations nest, so this is a distribution of places rather than of land.
Plus 24% rock fragments by volume, which the triangle does not describe — the three fractions are of the fine-earth material only.
Elevation, slope and aspect
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Bearing acreage by variety
Lake County · District 2
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Price per ton
Lake County · District 2
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The appellation in federal law
The boundary, in the government’s own words (430 words)
(c) Boundaries. The Benmore Valley viticultural area is located in the southwest corner of Lake County, California. It lies entirely within the North Coast viticultural area. The beginning point is an unnamed peak of 2788 feet elevation found in the southeast portion of section 35, T. 14 N., R. 11 W., on the “Purdys Gardens, CA” U.S.G.S. map: (1) Then southwest in a straight line to the point where an unnamed unimproved road crosses the south section line of section 35, T. 14 N., R. 11 W., west of Benmore Creek; (2) Then following the unnamed unimproved road south to the intersection with the boundary between Lake and Mendocino Counties; (3) Then following the county boundary between Lake and Mendocino Counties east and south to the intersection with the 2800 foot contour line; (4) Then following the 2800 foot contour line in a northerly and then southernly direction to its intersection with the boundary between Lake and Mendocino Counties on the southern edge of section 2, T. 13 N., R. 11 W; (5) Then following the boundary between Lake and Mendocino Counties east to the point of intersection of sections 1, 2, 11, and 12, T. 13 N., R. 11 W; (6) Then southeasterly in a straight line to an unnamed peak of 2769 feet elevation in the center of section 12, T. 13 N., R. 11 W; (7) Then south in a straight line to the point where the boundary between Lake and Mendocino Counties changes from an east-west direction to a north-south direction; (8) Then in a straight line in an easterly direction to an unnamed peak of 2883 feet elevation in the southwestern portion of section 5, T. 13 N., R. 10 W; (9) Then northeast in a straight line to the easternmost peak of an unnamed ridge with four peaks in the center of section 5, T. 13 N., R. 10 W; (10) Then northerly in a straight line to an unnamed peak of 2647 feet elevation near the north section line of section 5, T. 13 N., R. 10 W; (11) Then westerly in a straight line to the point of intersection between section 5, T. 13 N., R 10 W., section 31, T. 14 N., R. 10 W., and section 1, T. 13 N., R. 11 W; (12) Then northwest in a straight line to an unnamed peak of 2904 feet elevation in the north portion of section 1, T. 13 N., R. 11 W; (13) Then northwest in a straight line to an unnamed peak of 2788 feet elevation, the point of beginning.