Sonoma's Secret Wine Regions

They are not exactly state secrets, but these are definitely lesser known grape growing areas in Sonoma County with very high quality wines. Mostly they're unknown to many because they are small with few wines having the region on their labels. They are all official AVAs, or government-designated growing ares (like Napa Valley or Sonoma Valley, just much smaller).

At last count there are 18 AVAs in Sonoma County. Most of them make sense to the locals, but frankly, can just confuse consumers. So let's learn a bit about some of them.

Fort Ross Vineyard. It's a bit rugged and a bit remote

   Ft. Ross/Seaview

Maybe you're heard of the Sonoma Coast appellation. Much of it is actually not that near the coast though the weather is certainly influenced by the cool Pacific waters. Ft. Ross/Seaview considers itself the "true Sonoma Coast" with higher elevation vineyards that sit above the persistent summer fog bank that hugs the coast at sea level. It's still quite chilly giving you higher acid chardonnay and pinot noir and many are what you might call Burgundian-style wines.

There are only a few wineries here because of its remoteness, but many get fruit from the over 500 acres of grapes. There are a couple tasting rooms here and it's quite a drive to get to them.

   Knights Valley

This is an inland, remote area of the county bordering on northern Napa and southern Lake Counties to the east with Alexander Valley to the west and has one two-lane road running through. There are no towns or even what you'd call settlements here.

The first wine from this area I was aware of is Beringer's Knights Valley cabernet sauvignon. Cab is the main grape from here, but you'll find cab franc, syrah and sauvignon blanc, too, but look for the cab sauv. With over 2,000 acres of grapes you'll find the fruit in many wines, but you won't be able to taste it in Knights Valley as there are no tasting rooms. It is a pretty drive through the area though.

   Moon Mountain

Until recently grapes from here were labeled as Sonoma Valley. This was kind of funny as this area actually sits up in the hills between Sonoma and Napa Valleys. There are poor volcanic soils with cool winds off the Pacific to the west and the bay to the south.

It's all about cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel. The area first became well-known for the Monte Rosso Vineyard (Monte Rosso means red mountain for its iron rich soil). There are other grapes grown on the 1500 total acres of vineayrds, but seek out the cabs and zins. The easiest to find is probably Louis Martini Monte Rosso cabernet sauvignon.

   Rockpile

This one is really remote with only 160 acres of vineyards total with some of them sitting on a one lane gravel road past the last electric pole. This area, too, is about cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel, but pretty much anything from Rockpile is likely to be great. Also look for cabernet franc and petite sirah.

There are only a couple dozen wineries getting fruit from here so you'll have to search around, but if you see a Rockpile cab or zin on a shelf buy it! If you're visiting Sonoma County Mauritson, Paradise Ridge, and Rockpile Vineyards are good spots to get introduced to these wines.

Click on map to enlarge

Disclaimer: I work for one of the wineries listed here