The Mendocino Ridge AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Mendocino county within the North Coast AVA in the state of California. It is the only non-contiguous AVA in America. Only elevations of 1200ft or higher are included. Everything lower than that falls into either the Mendocino County AVA or Anderson Valley AVA. Adjacent to the Pacific, the lower areas of coastal Mendocino County are regularly blanketed with a cooling fog, except for the ridges. These non-contiguous peaks rise from clouds of fog, seemingly like islands, bringing uninterrupted sunshine to the scattering of tiny vineyards nestled among Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and Douglas fir trees. The region covers more than a quarter-million acres of mountainous land, but just 75 acres of the entire viticultural area are planted, with Zinfandel being the local specialty since the late 1800s when many of these ridge-top vineyards were first planted. The early mountain wine-growers here came from Italy. Mendocino Ridge is recognized for producing some of the most distinctive Zinfandel red wins.