Fort Ross-Seaview is one of the westernmost AVAs in California. It is located on the hills west of the Russian River Valley, within the sizeable Sonoma Coast appellation. Elevation is Fort Ross-Seaview's main differentiating feature, with vineyards planted on ridges and hillsides above the fog that characterizes northern California. The maritime climate is well suited to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which dominate the vineyards.
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The Sonoma Coast AVA was granted in 1987, to give some of the more commercial operations a chance to bottle their wines under a more specific AVA than the generic Sonoma County title. However, the sheer size of the area, and its wide variations in terroir, have led producers to seek out smaller AVAs within its bounds. Fort Ross-Seaview was approved in December 2011, after years of legal wrangling and postponements.
The area covered by the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA extends to around 11,000 hectares (27,500 acres) of land, but the title is only given to wines made from grapes grown above 920ft (280m) above sea level. This means that, in practice, there are only around 220ha (550 acres) of land that can actually make Fort Ross-Seaview wines. At this altitude, the vines are free of the famous Sonoma fog that settles in the lower valley. This means the vineyards are warm and sunny during the growing season, with temperatures moderated by the cool fog below, as well as the nearby ocean. The Pacific coast, at times less than a mile from the AVA's boundary, provides a warm thermal mass at night, helping prevent frost in the vineyards.
Fort Ross-Seaview's mountainous terroir means that the soils, made up largely of sandstone, are thin, rocky and free-draining. The vines must work hard to survive on these low-fertility soils, and as such produce low yields of small grapes with concentrated flavors, making for high quality wines. There is also little threat from diseases like rot and mildew, as the soils do not hold much water.
There are several top estates within the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA, including Flowers Vineyard & Winery, Fort Ross Vineyard and Marcassin Vineyards. Linda Schwartz of Fort Ross Vineyard began to gather support for the AVA's establishment in 1999, but was met with disagreement over the boundaries. In 2003, the cause was taken up again by David Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards, although it still took another eight years before the title was finally approved. The most salient criticism of the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA is that despite its more mountainous topography, it is too similar to the more familiar Sonoma Coast AVA (within whose boundaries it lies).
