LANCASTER, Calif. — When you think of wine, it may be more Napa Valley than Antelope Valley that comes to mind. As it turns out, the Mojave Desert heat — and cold — does a grape good.

 

“We have a huge variance of temperature.  We have really hot days and really cool nights and that 30 degree temperature variance does really well with the grapes.  It’s extraordinary, because you think of environments being so harsh, but the grapes really do well.  We don’t have to worry about low sugar like they do in some areas.  And so we do get some great variable, flavorful wines.  And people do notice it when they taste the wine," says Cyndee Donato.

 

Cyndee and her husband, Frank, own AV Winery, the inspiration for which has overseas roots.

 

“His family was from Italy and they had vineyards.  Grandfather came over to earn some money, went back and the sisters had sold vineyards and all the winery, so he came back, and my husband for some reason decided, ‘someday I’m going to have a winery and vineyard" -- and apparently, a Farmer’s Market.

 

That’s why there’s a winery crowd Saturday mornings, May through November.

“I love this one most, because I have a lot of regulars that constantly come every week," says Chuck Jones, “CJ,” with MBS Baba Foods of Chatsworth.

 

“We make Sriracha.  We have beautiful Sriracha.  You can’t get homemade Sriracha just anywhere, but from us.  We grow the peppers.   We ferment them.  We turn it into hot sauce.  So that’s a hot thing for us right now," says Eric Holland of Holland Ranch.

And the hot thing for AV Winery, now and always, is wine – and wine making.

 

“You work on something.  We see it from the grape to the bottle.  You see it start to finish.  You see it on the vine and then you see people drinking it.  Our weather and our soil, our conditions that make our grapes different than if you grew this in any other place in the South Coast or the North Coast, or another state or another region.”

 

The wine stored in barrels at AV Winery will be ready for you in April, when they start bottling.  For now, there are lots of choices already bottled in their Lancaster shop.  

For more information, visit AVWinery.com.