Ontario, and Quebec., and in Mexico is found in Baja California(Valle de Guadalupe) and in Coahuila(Valle de Parras) states. California The first successful commercial production of California Chardonnay was from plantings in the Livermore Valley AVA. Wente Vineyards developed a Chardonnay clone that was used to introduce the grape variety in several Californian vineyards throughout the 1940s. In the 1950s, James David Zellerbach, one-time US Ambassador to Italy in Rome, started Hanzell Vineyards winery and dedicated it to making Burgundian-style Chardonnay. His success encouraged other Californian winemakers to follow suit and culminated in Chateau Montelena's victory over Burgundy Chardonnay in the 1976 blind tasting event conducted by French judges known as the Judgment of Paris. In response, the demand for Californian Chardonnay increased and Californian winemakers rushed to increase plantings. In the 1980s, the popularity of Californian Chardonnay increased so much, the number of vines planted in the state eclipsed that of France by 1988. By 2005, nearly accounted for almost 25% of the world's total Chardonnay plantings. The early trend was to imitate the great Burgundy wines, but this soon gave way to more rich buttery and oaked styles. Starting with the 1970s, the focus was on harvesting the grapes at more advanced degrees of ripeness and higher Brix levels. New oak barrels were used to produce wines that were big in body and mouthfeel. Frank J. Prial of The New York Times was an early critic of this style, particularly because of the lack of "food friendliness" that was common with these massive wines. Another criticism of California Chardonnays, and one that has been levied against other Californian wines, is the very high alcohol levels which can make a wine seem out of balance. In recent years, California winemakers have been using process such as reverse osmosis and spinning cones to bring the alcohol levels down to 12 to 14%. The California wine regions that seem to favor producing premium quality Chardonnay are the ones that are most influenced, climatically, by coastal fogs that can slow the ripening of the grape and give it more time to develop its flavors. The regions of Alexander Valley, Los Carneros, Santa Maria Valley, Russian River Valley, and other parts of Sonoma County have shown success in producing wines that reflect more Burgundian styles. Other regions often associated with Chardonnay include Napa Valley, Monterey County, and Santa Barbara County. The California Central