California's newest AVA will sell on its name

An American Viticultural Area, or AVA, is a gov't-approved name for a wine grape-growing area--Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley are examples. The newest one is in SoCal, actually in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. It's called Malibu Coast.

To most of the country Malibu Coast brings to mind images like this:

Or even this:

The Malibu Coast AVA contains the Santa Monica Mountains and is bordered by the beaches on one side and L.A. sprawl on the other. There are two smaller existing AVAs within this new one: Malibu-Newton Canyon and Saddle Rock-Malibu. No, I've never heard of either and, in fact, didn't realize there were even wine grapes planted there. I mean, who ever heard of vineyards on the beach!?

Although the total acreage is small there are 52 wineries in the new Malibu Coast appellation. Maybe Pamela Anderson owns one?  You may have to search to locate a wine from here, but if you find one let us know if it tastes like salt spray and suntan lotion.

Update: L.A., in typical "LA-ness," wants to ban more vineyards in this new appellation. Guess they don't want to risk pushing out a future strip mall.