About the Fair Play Viticultural Area©...

In Spring 2001, the Fair Play American Viticultural Area (AVA), located within southern El Dorado County, California, became a federally-recognized wine appellation.  The Fair Play AVA encompasses thirty-three square miles entirely within the "El Dorado" and "Sierra Foothills" wine country and includes more than 350 acres of production vineyards and over twenty bonded wineries.  Wines made from grapes grown in the Fair Play American Viticultural Area are unique and delicious because of agricultural conditions that exist no where else in the world.

History
The name of the Fair Play AVA originated from the name of a gold mining camp established during the California Gold Rush. From this mining camp grew a trading center, then a bustling mining town.  In 1887, Civil War veteran Horace Bigelow started the first commercial  vineyard and winery in what is now the Fair Play AVA.

Today, Fair Play is a visitor-friendly agricultural community. Along its scenic country roads, you'll find family-owned farms with choose-and-cut Christmas trees, flowers, cattle and alpacas, plus vineyards, wineries, restaurants, and bed and breakfasts offering friendly hospitality.

Geography and Microclimate
A scenic drive through Fair Play takes you through the lush, hilly, foothill  terrain and rounded ridge tops of the microclimate exclusive to the Fair Play AVA. Fair Play's elevation at 2000 to 2,800 feet above sea level, positively effects growing conditions—an annual growing season of 230 to 250 days and annual rainfall of 35 to 40 inches.

Fair Play's elevation and geographic location between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Sacramento Valley is responsible for a heating and cooling pattern ideal for growing outstanding wine grapes. This pattern leads to summer temperatures reaching over 100 degrees as the hot air of the Sacramento Valley is pushed up into the foothills. At night, cool air from the Sierra Nevada Mountains reaches down, settling into Fair Play and cooling the vines. During winter, Fair Play vineyards avoid frost because vines are planted on ridge tops, thus cold air passes by seeking lower ground.

Soils
The Fair Play AVA's soils are essential to the premium quality of the grapes and award-winning wines the area is known for. Deep, moderately to well-drained granitic soils of the Holland, Shaver, and Musick series and sandy and course sandy loams comprise the soil type which has an ideal 40 to 60-inch rooting depth for vines. 

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