Los Carneros is California's most climate-defined appellation — the first AVA in the state to be drawn according to climate rather than political boundaries. It straddles the Napa-Sonoma county line at the northern edge of San Pablo Bay, where morning fog rolls in daily and persistent afternoon winds keep temperatures cool enough to make Cabernet Sauvignon impossible to ripen. That same cool moderation is what makes Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and sparkling wine extraordinary here. Shallow clay soils, low vigour, and a long, slow growing season produce fruit of intense concentration and natural acidity. The name — Spanish for "the rams" — dates to an 1830s Mexican land grant. Domaine Carneros, founded by Champagne house Taittinger, and Gloria Ferrer, founded by Freixenet, announced to the world that this quiet bay-edge corner of Sonoma was serious sparkling wine country.
When José and Gloria Ferrer crossed the Atlantic in 1982 to plant their dream on a Carneros cattle ranch, they became the first to prove this bay-edge corner of Sonoma was serious sparkling wine country. Owners of Freixenet — the iconic Cava house outside Barcelona — they brought Champagne clones and centuries of sparkling wine tradition to California. The winery opened in 1986 in a Catalan farmhouse with hand-dug caves, the first in the region. Today 335 estate acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay feed a portfolio of sparkling and still wines of consistent distinction.