Despite a generally sluggish American economy, United States wine exports are doing well. Winery revenues reached a record of US$1.39 billion last year, an increase of 21.7 per cent from 2010, according to the Wine Institute & Global Trade Information Services.
US wine exports to Hong Kong, its third-largest wine-trade partner, reached US$163 million, up 39 per cent compared with 2010. More than 90 per cent of that wine comes from California. Famous wine regions, such as Napa Valley and Sonoma lead the way, but several up-and-coming Californian wine regions are producing stellar wines worth seeking out.
Below are some of the emerging names that should be on your California wine radar.
Coombsville
Napa is a famous name in the wine universe, but Coombsville, a new Napa American Viticultural Area (AVA) that has recently been given official status by the US government, is a virtual unknown. Very near the city of Napa, in the southeastern corner of the county, Coombsville becomes the 16th AVA in Napa.
Bob Arns, owner of Coombsville's Tournesol winery, says: 'The geography of Coombsville is utterly spectacular: volcanic and alluvial, rocky soil, with ash layers and lava rocks, austere soil, lots of different elevations, nothing is flat and a private part of Napa Valley. We think it's the future of Napa cabernet.'