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Number of AVAs now in Sonoma County as a result, this week, of West Sonoma Coast becoming the newest AVA in California. The AVA is the result of more than a decade of intense lobbying by a group of small high-end producers of top Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah who had grown increasingly frustrated by the immense size of the broad Sonoma Coast appellation. The West Sonoma Coast (sometimes called the “true Sonoma Coast”) is a sliver of rugged mountainous terrain at the extreme edge of the cold Pacific coastline. Temperatures there are often 10 degrees or more cooler than the rest of the Sonoma Coast.  There are some 50 small vineyards within the new West Sonoma Coast AVA.