San Francisco Bay AVA

San Francisco Bay is a multi-county American Viticultural Area (AVA) which is centered and surrounds the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was established on January 19, 1999, by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Treasury after evaluating the petition submitted by a consortium of nearly 75 growers and vintners led by Wente Bros. to establish the viticultural area known as "San Francisco Bay." It lies within the larger Central Coast viticultural area and includes San Francisco and counties encompassing the areas known as “South” and “East Bay.” This consists of Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, and San Mateo as well as portions of Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties. “North Bay” counties of Sonoma, Napa and Marin were excluded for they reside within the North Coast viticultural area with its distinct properties. ATF also concluded the established Santa Cruz Mountains viticultural area exhibits features and characteristics unique to its boundaries when compared to the surrounding areas, therefore, it was excluded from the "San Francisco Bay" viticultural area.

"San Francisco Bay" AVA expands 1,696,640 acres (2,651 sq mi) and encompasses four designated AVAs within its boundaries: Livermore Valley, Santa Clara Valley, Lamorinda and recently Contra Costa. In conjunction with establishing "San Francisco Bay" viticultural area, ATF amended the boundaries of the Central Coast viticultural area to include San Francisco Bay entirely as the previous boundaries of Central Coast encompassed only smaller portions of the San Francisco Bay region. Approximately 440,960 acres (689 sq mi) was added to Central Coast with an additional 2,827 acres (1,144 ha) under vine. In 2006, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau {TTB} added 20,000 acres (31 sq mi) to San Francisco Bay viticultural area and the Central Coast viticultural area to conform to the expanded boundaries of the Livermore Valley viticultural area.