Madera County

Madera County is Yosemite’s lower flank — valley oak country at 500 feet rising to ponderosa pine above Bass Lake. The Madera AVA holds vineyards on the warm valley floor, where old-vine zinfandel and barbera ripen hard, and summer nights cool by the San Joaquin River canyon. Tasting rooms pour from farmhouses and ranch outbuildings along Avenue 12 and Road 600. Bass Lake opens leashed shoreline walks; the Lewis Creek Trail above Oakhurst holds a cold-water dog walk. Pair a Madera zinfandel with an afternoon at Bass Lake. The county pours Yosemite’s gateway wine, and the dogs ride happily to the glass.