West Sonoma Coast

Sonoma County has something like 18 different appellations for wine grapes. Each of these growing areas is supposed to have unique qualities that make for unique wines. Note the sea green-colored Sonoma Coast appellation on the map below. Much of it isn't exactly spittin' distance from the ocean.

Many people in the wine biz who grow grapes or make wine near the Pacific have complained about this. The smaller Fort Ross/Seaview sub-appellation within the Sonoma Coast appellation was in response to this. There are grape growers saying they are from "the true Sonoma Coast." There's a West Sonoma Coast Vintners group.

Why all the noise about this growing area that probably very few actually care about? Grapes grown close to the coast are at elevation to stay above the persistent summer fog that hangs along the beaches much of the day. They are still in a very cool climate and rarely see much of what you'd call summer weather. This leads to some high acid wines and the area is great for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in this special cool climate style.

Gallo has a large vineyard south of Santa Rosa. I remember they were responsible for expanding the Russian River Valley appellation down to where their vineyards lie so they could put Russian River Valley on the label. I'm not sure if they were instrumental in getting the Sonoma Coast appellation extended so far inland. At any rate some of their wines from this Two Rock Vineyard are labeled as coming from Russian River Valley while others are labeled as Sonoma Coast; a little confusing.

Sonoma County has about 50 miles of coastline. The Sonoma Coast growing area is 750 square miles. Eventually you'll see this appellation broken up into smaller ones by the people who care (growers and winemakers). Unfortunately, this will only confuse the consumer even more.