California's Central Coast is made up of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Livermore Valley and Santa Clara regions. These regions sometimes suffer greatly from urbanisation, as cities like San José are greedy for land in their growth. Many a winemaker has therefore been unable to resist the lure of money and has sacrificed their vineyards to urban expansion. Nevertheless, in some parts, especially in Santa Cruz, an extremely remarkable wine culture has developed, for which the name Ridge is representative. In Santa Cruz in particular, however, one must look carefully at the patches of earth on which one wants to plant vines. Some of the soils are too barren and infertile to produce subtle results, while in other corners the vineyards are located at 600 metres and above - and this is where dream wines are produced. There are actually only a few wine growers and wineries here, but there are also wineries that buy in grapes from other regions of California. The Livermore Valley is relatively warm, because the Pacific cold air is pushed away by a mountain range. Therefore, excellent Cabernet Sauvignons grow here. In Santa Clara, the vineyards have already been pushed far to the south by the insatiable hunger of the big city of San José; real viticulture only exists again around the city of Gilroy, which has also become famous as the "garlic metropolis". However, the regions of San Lucas and Chalone must also be mentioned. Both regions are very much under a cool Pacific influence, and the soils here consist of limestone - an El Dorado for Burgundy freaks, which is why some of the best Pinots Noirs in North America grow here.
