Anderson Valley is a place that doesn’t care for glamor, but its wines still stand with the best of the best. 

It was officially established as an American Viticultural Area in 1983, but even then wineries like Husch, Lazy Creek, Navarro, and Greenwood Ridge were up and running. A good contingent of its past and present winemakers settled here to get away, to toil in relative obscurity. 

But historically, the region’s nervy grapes have also attracted prominent winemakers from elsewhere, who’ve long sourced the grapes from marquee sites unattached to any specific winery. Many of their Anderson Valley wines have drawn well-deserved attention, helping to put the quiet region on the map.

Anderson Valley wines speak of its relatively remote location and sensibility—its wisps of ocean air, and leave-me-alone winemaking. Pinot Noir claims 69 percent of its planted acreage. Around a quarter of its vines are Chardonnay, followed by small amounts of Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, and Riesling.

Cool and Remote

The cool-climate appellation is located in a tight southwestern sliver of Mendocino County, just north of Sonoma County. It’s a good two-and-a-half hour drive from San Francisco by car, about the same distance from Napa, and roughly 30 to 45 minutes from Healdsburg, which is where many Anderson Valley winemakers live.  

The AVA’s closeness to the Pacific Coast defines the region, and makes it possible —though barely at times—to ripen the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and aromatic white wine grapes slowly and tenderly, in a way that builds the acidity that keeps its wines fresh and exciting. The average year-round temperature is just 53°F. In the summer it isn’t unusual for daytime temperatures to scrape the nineties, and then drop back down into the forties at night. 

Boonville is Anderson Valley’s hub and the first town you’ll hit if you’re coming from Healdsburg. It’s a place that holds on to its past, resistant to becoming overly fancy for visitors. Here, you’ll find a hotel, a few restaurants, shops and a winery or two, such as Pennyroyal Farm and Foursight Wines. You can drive its entire length in around 10 minutes. 

Northwest towards the coast is Philo, tinier still, but the heart of where most of the wineries lie. Here you’ll find what locals call the Deep End—the valley’s coldest zone. It’s often 10 degrees cooler in Philo than Boonville. 

The winding length of Highway 128 through the Anderson Valley makes for a natural barrier protecting the region from overcrowding or overdevelopment. It’s pretty quiet most of the time. Accommodations are minimal, but often cozy. The food scene is low-key when compared to other wine regions. 

You’ll find most of the appellation’s roughly 90 vineyards in its namesake valley, but there is a small but growing move to the hillsides and mountaintops, where complex soils and less fog are found. The highest of them reach around 2,500 feet.

While a lot of wine comes out of the Anderson Valley, the actual number of wineries and tasting rooms (about 30 tasting rooms and fewer wineries) here is minimal.

The Established Vineyards, and Those Who Made Them Famous

Any list of influential winemakers who love Anderson Valley fruit must start with California icon Ted Lemon, and his West Sonoma Coast-based Littorai. He’s long worked with grapes from three of Anderson Valley’s most significant vineyards: Cerise, a parcel of which was planted specifically for Littorai in 1998; Savoy, where he’s bought grapes since 1995, making Littorai the longest-running buyer from that vineyard; and Wendling, from which he started purchasing grapes in 2009. In 2016, Lemon bought a chunk of Savoy, which he calls One Acre/The Return.

Eric Sussman of Radio-Coteau was also early to source Savoy Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, as was Ehren Jordan at Failla. The vineyard, which was planted in 1991, was bought by Sonoma-based Donum Estate last year. And Kosta Browne loved Cerise Vineyard so much it bought it in 2016.

Another top site: Ferrington, which was first planted back in 1969. Failla makes a Ferrington Pinot, as do Russian River Valley producers Arista and Williams-Selyem. Williams-Selyem has also worked with Pinot from the region’s Morning Dew Ranch, which was planted in 1998 by its late founder, Burt Williams.

Ceritas makes Pinot from Hacienda Secoya in Anderson Valley’s Deep End, a site planted in 1995. Kevin Harvey of Santa Cruz Mountains-based Rhys Vineyards bought partially-planted land in the Anderson Valley to develop Bearwallow Vineyard in 2008 after driving through the Deep End and tasting enough mineral-driven Pinots from the area to become intrigued. And Waits-Mast makes Pinots from the region’s Filigreen Farm, Wentzel Vineyard, and Roma’s Vineyard (more on that last one later). 

Jason and Molly Drew are perhaps the best examples of outsiders who came to the area and ended up putting down roots. They bought an old apple orchard in 2000 in the Mendocino Ridge appellation, a feral high-elevation AVA above the fog line that overlooks the ocean and is above Anderson Valley’s southern flank, where they planted eight acres of Pinot and Chardonnay in ancient oceanic soils, 1,250 feet above sea level. In addition to that estate, Faîte de Mer Farm, Drew produces Clow Ridge Vineyard and Fog-Eater Pinot Noirs and a Bahl Briney Chardonnay from Anderson Valley grapes, as well as three outstanding Syrahs from Mendocino Ridge.

Phil Baxter Jr. of Baxter Winery grew up in St. Helena, where his winemaking dad worked for Rutherford Hill. But Phil Jr. settled in Anderson Valley full-time to make Pinot, Chardonnay, and Zinfandel from such distinctive sites as Oppenlander, Ferrington, Run Dog, and Langley, as well as from the Valenti Vineyard in Mendocino Ridge.

Douglas Stewart of Breggo Cellars first bought and planted land in the Anderson Valley in 2000. He launched Pinot Noir and Chardonnay-focused Breggo in 2005, then sold Breggo to Napa Valley-based Cliff Lede Vineyards in 2009—but kept his 203 acres of land. In November 2023, he bought back the remaining inventory of Breggo’s vintages through 2012 (at which time it was renamed Fel Wines), and relaunched the label. In the years between his stints with Breggo, he founded Lichen Estate, which focuses on estate-grown Pinot Gris, including a sparkling version. 

Other Anderson Valley pioneers include Navarro Vineyards (and its second-generation offshoot, Pennyroyal Farm), Handley Cellars, Goldeneye and Toulouse. Other key producers who make Anderson Valley home are Thomas T Thomas Vineyards, Domaine Anderson, Black Kite Cellars, and Maggy Hawk. 

Minus Tide makes wine from a broader swath of Mendocino, most notably Mendocino Ridge, but the team of Kyle Jeffrey and Brad and Miriam Jonas live in, and make their wines in, Anderson Valley. Another young producer to keep an eye on is Read Holland; its Anderson Valley Deep End Pinot Noir and Wiley Vineyard Riesling are particularly good.

When you’re in the area, the Boonville Hotel & Restaurant and Disco Ranch (a wine bar and specialty market as well as one of the best small wine shops you’ll ever visit) are your best bets for finding the good local stuff.

Sparkling Wines

Champagne’s Louis Roederer took a bet on Anderson Valley in 1982, planting grapes there back when California sparkling wine barely existed. Since then, Roederer Estate has accumulated 600 acres of vineyards—perhaps most notably in 2004, when it absorbed the valley’s other sparkling wine pioneer: Scharffenberger Cellars, founded in 1981 by UC Berkeley graduate of biogeography John Scharffenberger. (You may recognize his name from the chocolate business he went on to launch; among his insights was that the valley would be a good home to Pinot Meunier, which he planted.) Today, all of Roederer’s bottles are made from estate-grown fruit, most of it farmed organically; Anderson Valley grapes, says the estate’s winemaker Arnaud Weyrich, are, on average, higher in acidity than those grown in Champagne. Roederer’s signature is adding oak-aged reserve wines to each year’s cuvée. 

Elevation Matters

In 1990, Dean and Suzi Carrell bought 120 acres along the eastern ridge of the Anderson Valley, including 50 acres of prime vineyard land, at an elevation of 1,800 feet. To give you a sense of how remote the terrain is and how difficult it is to work it, so far, only six acres have been planted. 

The site is called Roma’s Vineyard. It’s planted with Pinot Noir, mostly to the Pommard clone. Under their Roma’s Vineyard label, the Carrells make still, rosé, and a port-style mistelle wine from their grapes. 

Another high-elevation site that’s generating buzz is Golden Fleece Vineyard. It’s planted with five acres of Pinot Noir, between 1,400 and 1,900 feet above sea level, just a (long) stone’s throw from Roma’s. Karin and Justin Miller of Garden Creek Vineyards in Alexander Valley bought it in 2005 and farm it organically. 

Lussier makes a Pinot Noir from each of these vineyards, fermenting with native yeast with a good percentage of whole-cluster grapes. Winemaker Mark Lussier says both sites show incredible tension and restraint because of their extreme environments. During the 2021 vintage, apex of California’s last drought, Golden Fleece ran out of water, while Roma’s dry-farmed vines had to dig deep.

“Both wines have a core of fruit flavors, but there’s this exciting relationship between their mineral or herbal notes,” he told me. “My attention keeps bouncing back and forth between these two sides of the wine. I love that I can make wines [from grapes grown] so close to each other as the crow flies, yet they’re so different.”

Top Picks

2019 Domaine Anderson Estate Pinot Noir ($55)

Lovely aromatics rule the day in this blend of grapes from the producer’s Dach and Walraven vineyards, which is given a lengthy 15 months to age. Pomegranate, watermelon, and red currant coalesce around silky tannins and an undeniable earthiness.

2021 Littorai Anderson Valley One Acre Pinot Noir ($135)

One Acre is now 3.5 acres. In any event, this Pinot is savory and earthy above all else, with specks of the violet and pennyroyal character commonly found in area Pinots. Subtly concentrated, this is one for the cellar, where its strong minerality and lilting acidity will nicely integrate. 

2022 Drew Cellars Bahl Briney Anderson Valley Chardonnay ($35)

Named for the Boontling—the local dialect—term for “good stuff from the coast,” this appellation blend is sourced from two sites in the valley. It’s fresh, mineral-driven, and brimming with wet stone and sea air; citrus notes on the back palate accentuate its forceful freshness.

2021 Lussier Roma’s Vineyard Pinot Noir ($50)

A dry year where the dry-farmed vines had to dig deep, this is 100% whole-cluster fermented and complex in its light, delicate framework of savory rhubarb, pomegranate, and earth wrapped in lean, long tannins that never distract.

2017 Roederer Estate L'Ermitage ($75)

Weyrich’s tête de cuvée is only made in certain years. This is the most current, blended from the best lots that are aged a little bit longer to showcase what an Anderson Valley sparkling wine can be. A roughly 50-50 split between Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, save for a two percent hit of Pinot Meunier, this spent five years on yeast and seven months under cork. There it developed power and richness from the vintage’s heat, but never lost its crisp tastes of Asian pear and brioche.