Skip to content
California Wine Atlas

Fountaingrove District

AVA · Sonoma County · District 3

27 CFR 9.250 · established 2015-02-18

Heat class III · 1991-2020 normals

Climate normals in three numbers

3,265°F-days

, Apr 1 – Oct 31

19 GridMET cells cover this region

III

179mm

season rain, Apr 1 – Oct 31

56 mm of it in the , Sep 1 – Oct 31

Warm and cool vintages since 1980

loading vintages…

Rain across the season, and at harvest

loading vintages…

The boundary

This boundaryClick to open

Hovering a shaded region names it; a click opens its page.

Measured vineyard area

loading crop mapping…

Drought categories, year by year

Sonoma County — not Fountaingrove District

loading drought monitor…

What's in the ground

6.3

pH, 1:1 water

9.8cm

, whole profile

80cm

to

Well drained

, dominant condition

Distribution across 107 · mean ◆, median │, p10–p90 bar

6.3
2.1%
26.8%
available water
9.8cm
depth to restriction
80cm

Dominant

  • 38.3%
  • 11.1%
  • 6.8%
  • 6.1%
  • 4.8%

107 map units · soil described over 94.5% of the region’s area · 4.7% is water, rock outcrop or other non-soil · 88% of the described area has a restrictive layer within the profile.

Sand, silt and clay, against every other appellation

CLAYSANDSILT

Loam

36% sand · 38% silt · 27% clay

Sandier than 18% of California appellations and clayier than 81%. Each grey point is one appellation’s topsoil; appellations nest, so this is a distribution of places rather than of land.

Plus 23% rock fragments by volume, which the triangle does not describe — the three fractions are of the fine-earth material only.

Elevation, slope and aspect

loading terrain…

Bearing acreage by variety

Sonoma County · District 3

loading acreage…

Price per ton

Sonoma County · District 3

loading crush report…

The appellation in federal law

The boundary, in the government’s own words (433 words)

(c) Boundary. The Fountaingrove District viticultural area is located in Sonoma County, California. The boundary of the Fountaingrove District viticultural area is as described below: (1) The beginning point is on the Mark West Springs map at the intersection of the shared Sonoma-Napa County line with Petrified Forest Road, section 3, T8N/R7W. (2) From the beginning point, proceed southeasterly along the Sonoma-Napa County line, crossing onto the Calistoga map and then the Kenwood map, to the marked 2,530-peak of an unnamed mountain, section 9, T7N/R6W; then (3) Proceed west-southwest in a straight line to the marked 2,730-foot summit of Mt. Hood, section 8, T7N/R6W; then (4) Proceed west-northwest in a straight line to the marked 1,542-foot summit of Buzzard Peak, section 11, T7N/R7W; then (5) Proceed west-southwest in a straight line, crossing onto the Santa Rosa map, to the intersection of State Highway 12 and Los Alamos Road; then (6) Proceed due north in a straight line to the southern boundary of section 9, T7N/R7W; then (7) Proceed west-northwest along the southern boundaries of sections 9, 4, and 5, T7N/R7W, to the western boundary of the Los Guilicos Land Grant; then (8) Proceed west-southwest along the southern boundaries of sections 5, 6, and 7, T7N/R7W; then continue west-southwest along the southern boundaries of sections 12 and 11, T7N/R8W, to the point where the section 11 boundary becomes concurrent with an unnamed light-duty road known locally as Lewis Road; and then continue west-southwest along Lewis Road to the road's intersection with Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa; then (9) Proceed north-northwesterly along Mendocino Avenue to the road's intersection with an unnamed road known locally as Bicentennial Way; then (10) Proceed north in a straight line, crossing through the marked 906-foot elevation peak in section 35, T8N/R8W, and, crossing on to the Mark West Springs map, continue to the line's intersection with Mark West Springs Road, section 26, T8N/R8W; then (11) Proceed northerly along Mark West Springs Road, which turns easterly and becomes Porter Creek Road, to the road's intersection with Franz Valley Road, section 12, T8N/R8W; then (12) Proceed northeasterly along Franz Valley Road to the western boundary of section 6, T8N/R7W; then (13) Proceed south along the western boundary of section 6, T8N/R7W, to the southwest corner of section 6; then (14) Proceed east, then east-northeast along the southern boundaries of sections 6, 5, and 4, T8N/R7W, to the southeast corner of section 4; then (15) Proceed north along the eastern boundary of section 4, T8N/R7W, to the Sonoma-Napa County line; then (16) Proceed easterly along the Sonoma-Napa County line to the beginning point.