With a grape-growing history dating back 140 years, the relatively small and compact Dry Creek Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) includes more than 9,000 vineyard acres and over 60 wineries, one deli, and no stoplights in an area only 16 miles long and two miles wide. Best known for its Zinfandel wines, this rural wine region is located in north-central Sonoma County, just outside the city of Healdsburg, and a short drive south from small town Cloverdale. The valley is only 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean, bookended by the Russian River to the south and Lake Sonoma to the north. A century ago, this was a rural backwater with just about nothing but family-owned prune farms and a handful of vineyards. Today the region produces world class zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon and other varietals.