Borden Ranch AVA

Borden Ranch is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in southern Sacramento and northern San Joaquin Counties in the east-central portion of the larger Lodi appellation. The area lies approximately 27 miles (43 km) southeast of the city of Sacramento, 13 miles (21 km) north of the city of Lodi and encompasses the census-designated place of Clay. It was established as the nation's 158^th, the state's 99^th, Sacramento's fourth and San Joaquin County's third AVA on July 17, 2006 by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), Treasury after reviewing the petition submitted by the Lodi American Viticultural Areas (LAVA) Steering Committee proposing a viticultural area in Sacramento County known as "Borden Ranch."

The Lodi American Viticultural Areas (LAVA) Steering Committee actually petitioned TTB to establish seven new viticultural areas within the boundaries of the existing Lodi viticultural area in southern Sacramento and northern San Joaquin Counties. The seven LAVA Steering Committee petitions proposed the creation of the Alta Mesa, Borden Ranch, Clements Hills, Cosumnes River, Jahant, Mokelumne River, and Sloughhouse viticultural areas. The sixteen wine industry members that comprise the committee stated that their proposal subdivides the existing Lodi area into "seven smaller viticultural areas of distinction." The establishment of the seven viticultural areas did not in any way affect the 551,500-acre (861.7 sq mi) Lodi AVA which continues as a single American viticultural area within its current boundary. However, the TTB ruled that the seven proposed areas fall entirely within the 1986 original 458,000-acre (716 sq mi) boundaries and thus, as proposed, would not include any of the 93,500 acres (146.1 sq mi) added to Lodi AVA when it was expanded along its western and southern borders in 2002.

The Borden Ranch viticultural area encompasses 70,000 acres (109 sq mi) with approximately 11,000+ acres (4,500+ ha) under vine. Its vineyards are located at altitudes between 73 and 520 feet (22–158 m) above sea level. The northern edge of the AVA is defined by Laguna Creek and the southern edge is defined by Dry Creek, both of which flow out of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains into the San Joaquin Valley. The soils in Borden Ranch is alluvial with cobbles, clay pan, and clay loam. Red wine grape varietals are the most commercially important grapes in the area. Situated between the Sierra Foothills to the east and the San Joaquin Valley to the west, the viticultural area has a distinctive terrain of old alluvial fans, river terraces and plains, and high elevations. The plant hardiness zone is 9b.