The York Mountain AVA is an American Viticultural Area

American Viticultural Area

An American Viticultural Area is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau , United States Department of the Treasury....

 located in San Luis Obispo County

San Luis Obispo County, California

San Luis Obispo County is a county located along the Pacific Ocean in the Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census its population was 269,637, up from 246,681 at the 2000 census...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It is part of the larger Central Coast AVA

Central Coast AVA

The Central Coast AVA is a large American Viticultural Area that spans from Santa Barbara County in the south to the San Francisco Bay Area in the north. The boundaries of the Central Coast include portions of six counties. With around planted to wine grapes, Chardonnay accounts for more than...

, located on the eastern side of the Santa Lucia Mountains

Santa Lucia Mountains

The Santa Lucia Mountains or Santa Lucia Range is a mountain range in coastal California, running from Monterey southeast for 105 miles to San Luis Obispo. The highest summit is Junipero Serra Peak, in Monterey County...

, west of Paso Robles AVA

Paso Robles AVA

Paso Robles Wine Country is an American Viticultural Area located in the San Luis Obispo County, California. It has approximately 26,000 vineyard acres planted with wine grapes, and is well known for its hertiage varietal Zinfandel, Rhône-style wines, and "Crazy Blends," blends and styles that are...

. Most vineyards in the region are planted at an elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 of about 1500 feet (457 m). Just 7 miles (11 km) from the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

, York Mountain is cooler and wetter than Paso Robles. York Mountain gained AVA status in 1984 as a result of a successful petition by the owners of the York Mountain Winery, which first opened as a commercial winery in 1882.