Clear Lake
AVA · Lake County · District 2
27 CFR 9.99 · established 1984-05-08 · last amended 2022-06-03
Heat class III · 1991-2020 normals
Climate normals in three numbers
, Apr 1 – Oct 31
78 GridMET cells cover this region
season rain, Apr 1 – Oct 31
44 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 Clear Lake
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What's in the ground
6.5
pH, 1:1 water
15.6cm
, whole profile
117cm
to
Well drained
, dominant condition
Distribution across 130 · mean ◆, median │, p10–p90 bar
Dominant
- 16.5%
- 7.4%
- 6.8%
- 6.6%
- 5.4%
130 map units · soil described over 79.5% of the region’s area · 20.5% is water, rock outcrop or other non-soil · 64% of the described area has a restrictive layer within the profile.
Sand, silt and clay, against every other appellation
Loam
39% sand · 37% silt · 24% clay
Sandier than 38% of California appellations and clayier than 61%. Each grey point is one appellation’s topsoil; appellations nest, so this is a distribution of places rather than of land.
Plus 17% 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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Producers
A curated roster, not a census — only source-verified entries appear, 2772 published across the atlas.
The roster places a producer in the appellation it names, never in a county — a winery’s address is a street in an AVA, and filing it under the county would be a claim about which of an AVA’s counties it sits in. So this region has no roster of its own, and 1 producers are entered in the appellations within it:
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 (632 words)
(c) Boundaries. The Clear Lake viticultural area is located in southwestern Lake County, California. The descriptive boundaries of the viticultural area, using landmarks and points of reference on the applicable U.S.G.S. maps, are as follows: Lower Lake Quadrangle Map (15 minute series); From the beginning point on Mt. Hannah in Section 16, Township 12 North (T12N), Range 8 West (R8W), identified as having an elevation of 3,978 feet, the boundary runs— (1) East-southeasterly in a straight line to the point on Seigler Mountain in Section 23, T12N/R8W, identified as having an elevation of 3,692 feet; (2) Then east-southeasterly in a straight line to the point on Childers Peak in Section 34, T12N/R7W, identified as having an elevation of 2,188 feet; (3) Then east-northeasterly in a straight line to the point on the southeast corner of Section 25, T12N/R7W; (4) Then northeasterly in a straight line to the point in Section 16, T12N/R6W, identified as being the “Baker Mine;” (5) Then northwesterly in a straight line to the point at the southeast corner of Section 23, T13N/R7W; (6) Then northerly along the east line of Sections 23, 14, 11, and 2, to the point at the northeast corner of Section 2, T13N/R7W, on the Clearlake Oaks Quadrangle map; Clearlake Oaks Quadrangle Map (15 minute series); Continuing from the northeast corner of Section 2, T13N/R7W— (7) Then northwesterly in a straight line to the point in Section 21, T14N/R7W, at the top of Round Mountain (8) Then northwesterly in a straight line to the southeast corner of Section 4, T14N/R8W; Lakeport Quadrangle Map (15 minute series); Continuing from the southeast corner of Section 4, T14N/R8W, on the Clearlake Oaks Quadrangle Map— (9) Then northwesterly on the Lakeport Quadrangle in a straight line to a point on Charlie Alley Peak in Section 28, T16N/R9W, identified as having an elevation of 3,482 feet; (10) Then westerly in a straight line to a point on Hells Peak in Section 29, T16N/R10W, identified as having an elevation of 2,325 feet; (11) Then southeasterly in a straight line, crossing onto the Upper Lake quadrangle, to the intersection of the 1,600-foot elevation contour and an unnamed 4-wheel drive road in Section 9, T15N/R10W; (12) Then northwesterly, then southwesterly along the 1,600-foot elevation contour to a point in Section 8, T15N/R10W, that is due north of the westernmost structure in a row of three structures located south of Scotts Creek; (13) Then south in a straight line, crossing over Scotts Creek and the westernmost structure, to the intersection with an unnamed, unimproved road and the 1,600-foot elevation contour in Section 17, T15N/R10W; (14) Then generally east along the 1,600-foot elevation contour to its second intersection with an unnamed, unimproved road in section 15, T15N/R10W; (15) The southeasterly in a straight line to a point on Griner Peak in Section 23, T15N/R10W, identified as having an elevation of 2,132 feet; (16) Then southwesterly in a straight line to a point on Scotts Mountain in Section 8, T14N/R10W, identified as having an elevation of 2,380 feet; (17) Then southeasterly in a straight line to a point on Lakeport Peak in Section 35, T14N/R10W, identified as having an elevation of 2,180 feet; Kelseyville Quadrangle Map (15 minute series); Continuing from Lakeport Peak in Section 35, T14N/R10W, on the Lakeport Quadrangle Map— (18) Then southeasterly in a straight line to the point at the southwest corner of Section 1, T13N/R10W; (19) Then south by southeast in a straight line to the point at the southeast corner of Section 36, T13N/R10W; (20) Then south by southeasterly in a straight line to the point at the southwest corner of Section 18, T12N/R8W; (21) Then east by northeast in a straight line to the beginning point at Mount Hannah, Section 16, T12N/R8W, on the Lower Lake Quadrangle Map.