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California Wine Atlas

Roussanne

White wine grape · reported 2000–2025

Further reading: VIVC catalog entry

Roussanne is a French variety from the northern Rhone valley. California's bearing acreage has more than tripled since 2000, from 97 to 304 acres in 2025, spread across 27 counties led by Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Sonoma. It is a rich, low-acid white grape that oxidizes easily if mishandled. In California it is most often blended with Marsanne and other Rhone whites, though it is also bottled as a varietal wine.

What kind of grape this is

Species
VITIS VINIFERA LINNÉ SUBSP. SATIVA (DE CANDOLLE) HEGI
Berry color
BLANC
Country of origin
FRANCE
Synonyms
27

names this grape is known by elsewhere, per VIVC

Approved on a US label
Roussanne

the names TTB permits on a bottle

FPS selections
5

distinct clones and selections held at UC Davis

What is published

Counts describe what this atlas holds for Roussanne, not what California grows. A zero is a published answer: it means the source names the grape and reports nothing under it, or does not name it at all.

522

county-years of acreage

27 counties, 304 bearing acres in 2025

309

district-years of crush

15 of 17 crush districts, 26 crop years

309

district-years of Brix

tonnage-weighted at the crusher, Crush Report Table 3

7

producers in this atlas

producers whose curated wine list names it — a curated roster of 2,772 producers, not a census of California

regions with a maturity date

not one of the eight cultivars with a

Acreage in California

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Counties and concentration

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Where it is planted

Reported by county — never by AVA

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Share of each county's vineyard

Reported by county — never by AVA

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The counties

Reported by county — never by AVA

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Tonnage and price by district

Reported by crush district — never by county or AVA

All 15 districts on one axis →

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Brix at the crusher

Reported by crush district — never by county or AVA

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Growers in this atlas's roster

7 of this atlas’s 2772 curated producers, 7 of them with a named wine in the atlas made from it. A roster is not a census — this is who the atlas has entered, not who grows the grape in California.

Measured chemistry, from one producer's own sheets

2 wines from 1 producer, each read from that producer’s own tech sheet and linked to it. No average is shown, and none should be computed from these. Wineries that publish tech sheets are selected by their own marketing departments, so a mean across them describes publishing habits rather than a grape.