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There are only a handful of high-altitude vineyards above the fog line on Pine Mountain overlooking Cloverdale, but they think their terrain is unique enough to rate its own American Viticultural Area designation.
The boundaries of the proposed new AVA are shown in red on the map below.
Barry Hoffner is a relative newcomer to Pine Mountain; he and his wife planted their Silverwood Ranch in 2005, harvesting their first grapes two years later. But he says wine grapes have been grown elsewhere on the mountaintop for generations.
The temperature range, wind and soils of the mountian top make it best suited for a narrow range of varietals.
Hoffner says his Silverwood Ranch (below) and the neighboring vineyards are the only ones in Sonoma County to regularly get snowed on.
