Sacramento Valley
In the rolling hills of Yolo County north of the Delta, warm days and cool Delta nights ripen honest, value-driven wines in the Sacramento Valley.
About Sacramento Valley
The Sacramento Valley forms the northern half of California's vast Central Valley, a landscape of farmland, rivers, and rolling hills north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. While better known for row crops and rice, the valley holds real wine country, most notably the Dunnigan Hills AVA in northwestern Yolo County.
The region's appeal is its combination of warm, reliable ripening and the cooling influence of Delta breezes that sweep up the valley on summer afternoons, helping the grapes retain freshness and acidity. Yolo County's wine areas, including the Dunnigan Hills, Clarksburg, and the Capay Valley, have quietly built a reputation for honest, well-priced wines.
Matchbook Winery anchors the Dunnigan Hills, a family operation drawing on generations of Central Valley farming to make Rhone and Bordeaux varieties at approachable prices. For visitors, the Sacramento Valley offers an unpretentious, agricultural counterpoint to California's glossier wine regions, all within easy reach of Sacramento and the Bay Area.
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