(BusinessInsider) - When you think of Malibu, you might think of postcard-perfect beaches or surfers catching waves.

But wine tastings? Not so much.

And yet, a year ago, this coastal area just 35 miles north of downtown Los Angeles got its own American Viticultural Area status, designating it as an official wine-growing region.

With a landscape mimicking Italy—rocky hills, Mediterranean villas adorned with tiles, and towering cypress—the region is poised to make great wines.

“All you need is sunshine, water and money, and there’s plenty of that going around,” says Tim Skogstrom, owner of Cornell Winery.

Meet the Malibu Coast AVA, where Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes thrive in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Home to around 50 growers of wine-grapes, it’s where a Chardonnay from Dolin Estate recently earned 89 points from Wine Enthusiast.

In 2006, Elliott Dolin planted 900 Chardonnay vines on a south-facing slope in his backyard; 2009 was his first vintage.

“The first thing we judged is whether we would drink it,” says Dolin. The Chardonnay has earned both silver and a double-gold medal in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Annual production hovers at around only 200 cases.

While the winery does not have a tasting room, its Chardonnay can be sipped at Cornell Winery & Tasting Room, an Old West-themed wine bar on Mulholland Highway in Agoura Hills. (It’s also uncorked at The Malibu Beach Inn and Geoffrey’s, and at Top Chef alum Brian Malarkey’s Herringbone in West Hollywood, plus a few spots in Washington D.C. and New York City.) Skogstrom opened the venue in 2006, using his experience as a sale and marketing manager at Francis Ford Coppola Winery to help boutique Malibu wineries get their name out.