Wine-Searcher.com says that:
Trinity County is one of California’s most northerly AVAs, just 65 miles south of the border with Oregon. The remote, mountainous county is better known for camping and fishing than for viticulture but unusual styles of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling are beginning to attract attention to the region.
The county is almost completely covered with forests and mountains, and its settlements tend to be few and far between. It lies directly north of Mendocino County, and Humboldt County separates it from the Pacific Ocean in the west. The difficult terrain and the remoteness of Trinity County means that few vignerons have explored its potential. The wineries that do exist here can be found around the Hyampom Valley in the west of the county and also around the Trinity Lakes in the north-east, an area distinctive enough to warrant its own Trinity Lakes AVA title.
Trinity County’s location among the Klamath Mountains means that most vineyards are planted at altitudes higher than 1200 feet above sea level, sometimes as high as 2500 feet. This altitude contributes to the area’s significant diurnal temperature variation. Warm days are tempered by cold air from the surrounding mountains that permeates the vineyards throughout the evenings, extending the growing season and giving grapes time to gently develop varietal character without sacrificing acidity.
However, the cold, alpine air poses a threat in the vineyards as well. Only a couple of months of the year are reliably frost-free, and in some vintages, the harvest can be significantly affected by frosts in both June and September.
The large size of Trinity County means that there is no uniform soil type: everything from alluvial loam to shale can be found across the county, along with pockets of limestone and decomposed granite. The mountainous nature of the terrain means that vineyards are usually found where the soils are thin and free-draining. A lack of water in the soil restricts both yield and vegetation growth, leading to more-concentrated berries.
Trinity County vineyards have been planted since the 1980s, and Trinity Lakes was made the region’s first sub-AVA in 2005.
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