Potter Valley
Sub-AVA · Mendocino County · District 1
27 CFR 9.82 · established 1983-10-13
Heat class III · 1991-2020 normals
Climate normals in three numbers
, Apr 1 – Oct 31
14 GridMET cells cover this region
season rain, Apr 1 – Oct 31
63 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
Mendocino County — not Potter Valley
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What's in the ground
6.3
pH, 1:1 water
17.0cm
, whole profile
119cm
to
Well drained
, dominant condition
Distribution across 57 · mean ◆, median │, p10–p90 bar
Dominant
- 27.5%
- 15.0%
- 13.2%
- 9.3%
- 7.0%
57 map units · soil described over 99.6% of the region’s area · 1.8% is water, rock outcrop or other non-soil · 63% of the described area has a restrictive layer within the profile.
Sand, silt and clay, against every other appellation
Loam
42% sand · 36% silt · 22% clay
Sandier than 50% of California appellations and clayier than 49%. Each grey point is one appellation’s topsoil; appellations nest, so this is a distribution of places rather than of land.
Plus 11% 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
Mendocino County · District 1
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Price per ton
Mendocino County · District 1
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The appellation in federal law
The boundary, in the government’s own words (144 words)
(c) Boundaries. The Potter Valley viticultural area is located in Mendocino County, California. The boundaries are as follows: (1) From the beginning point at the southeast corner of quadrant 36 and southwest corner of quadrant 32 (a point where Mendocino and Lake Counties border on the T. 17 N.-T. 16 N. township line), the boundary runs northwest to the northeastern corner of quadrant 4, on the T. 18 N.-T. 17 N. township line; (2) Then west to the northwest corner of quadrant 1; (3) Then south to the southwest corner of quadrant 36; (4) Then east to R. 12 W.-R. 11 W. range line at the southeast corner of quadrant 36; (5) Then south to Highway 20; (6) Then southeast on Highway 20 to where Highway 20 passes from quadrant 20 to quadrant 21; and (7) Thence northeast, returning to the point of beginning.