Below is a description of the major appellations / American Viticultural Areas / AVAs you are likely to see on a bottle of Sonoma County wine. You may not understand what these AVAs imply, so below is an overview and a generalization -- meaning just because I don't mention Sauvignon Blanc in a particular growing area doesn't mean it's not grown there. Small microclimate zones can spring up almost anywhere. Because of the soil and climate diversity, Sonoma County can grow pretty much any wine grape somewhere.
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| Click on image to enlarge |
Much of Sonoma County borders on water to the south and west. This has a distinct cooling influence on the nearby land. Also, there are numerous hills and mountain ranges that can block that cooling effect or breaks in the hills that can funnel in the chilly wind and fog. During the growing season, the northern and interior parts of the county are usually warmer.
The wineries listed below are suggestions, in that I am familiar with them.
This is a warmer area in the northeast part of the county. There is some localized cooling from the meandering Russian River, especially at night. Cabernet Sauvignon is king. You'll find full-bodied Chardonnay and Zinfandel along with Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc.
Many wineries are along the main artery, Highway 128. Grapes are grown on the valley floor and in the nearby mountains to the east and west. Some of the better known wineries in AV are Alexander Valley Vineyards, DeLorimier, Hanna, Jordan, Medlock Ames, Robert Young, Silver Oak, and Soda Rock. All of these are known for their Cabernet Sauvignon and sometimes their Chardonnay. A few smaller, lesser known operations are Hawkes, J Rickards, Stuhlmuller, and Trentadue.
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| Looking towards Mt St Helena from Alexander Valley |
CARNEROS Sonoma County
The Carneros AVA is interesting in that it crosses county lines and lies in both Sonoma and Napa Counties at the south end along the San Pablo Bay. It's cool and windy, great for growing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The road through Carneros is Highway 12. It's often under construction and there's lots of traffic as it's the main road into Napa and Sonoma from the Bay Area.
On the Sonoma County side you'll find Cline, Gloria Ferrer (known for sparkling wine, but they make others), Sangiocomo plus some smaller wineries like Larson, Ram's Gate, and Schug.
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| Fog from the bay creeping over Carneros image from sonomacounty.com |
Sitting just over the hill and across the US101 highway to the west of Alexander Valley is Dry Creek Valley. It's slightly cooler than AV and is most famous for Zinfandel. Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet also do very well here. More recently there have been plantings of some Rhone varieties, like Mourvedre and Grenache, plus some Italians such as Barbera and Vermentino.
The valley has mountain ranges to the east and west and is traversed by two roads, Dry Creek Road and West Dry Creek Road, with just a couple old bridges crossing the river between the two roads.
There are lots of great wineries here. A few of the better known ones are A. Rafanelli, Bella, Dry Creek Vineyards, Ferrari-Carano, Mauritson, Mazzocco, Quivira, Ridge/Lytton Springs, and Wilson. A few smaller ones worth checking out are Amista, Kokomo, Mounts, Nalle, Orsi, Pedroncelli, Rued, Trattore, Unti, and Zichichi
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| Dry Creek Valley old vine |
This very large growing area is at about the center of the county. It overlaps with some of the Sonoma Coast AVA and contains a couple sub-AVAs: Green Valley is cooler than most of the rest of Russian River Valley, Chalk Hill is a bit warmer. Recently, the Sebastopol Hills sub-AVA has been proposed. It's small, but produces some of the best Pinot from Russian River Valley IMO.
Some of the appellation is actually near the Russian River, but a good bit of it to the south is not, though it retains the cool, foggy summer weather that the river area is known for. Most of the RRV area will cool off significantly after 5 pm in the summer and won't begin to warm up until late morning the next day.
The cooler climate makes lighter, refreshing wines like Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah. There's a good bit of Zinfandel in some of the warmer areas, too, and it tends to be lighter in color and flavors with good acidity compared to Zin from places like Alexander Valley or Lodi. This means a RRV Zinfandel is often a better food wine. Not just the weather, but also the soils here are great for Pinot and Chardonnay.
The eastern and southern area is fairly flat and near sea level. The NW and much of the western part of the AVA is hilly. Getting around is usually on secondary two-lane roads that can wind around and get you lost, so pay attention to your map app!
There are many wineries well-known for their Pinot Noir, but don't forget the other varietals here. Some of them are Balletto, Deloach, Dutton-Goldfield (good Chardonnay and Syrah, too), Garry Farrell, Hartford, Inman, Iron Horse (great sparkling wines), J Rochioli, Joseph Swan, Korbel (sparkling wine), Lynmar, Merry Edwards, Twomey, and Williams Selyem. A few small ones you may not have heard of are Arista, Benovia, Bricoleur, Emeritus, MacRostie, Marimar, Moshin, and Scherrer.
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| One of the windy back roads in Russian River Valley |
The Sonoma Coast AVA extends from San Pablo Bay, over to the coast proper, then up to the border with
Mendocino County. This AVA is really too large, as much of it isn't on the Pacific Coast as you might assume. There is a new sub-AVA, West Sonoma Coast, that is actually true coast. A true coastal vineyard is planted up above the fog line so it gets adequate summer sun, even though the temperatures remain quite cool throughout the growing season. The Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs are within the vast Sonoma Coast growing area.
This appellation is all about Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the Burgundian style. Lighter in color, lower in alcohol, fruit less pronounced, and crisp acidity with lots of cool climate flavors. The Russian River Valley gets all the talk for Pinot, but many will say the coast is where it's at. Problem is there is a lot less Sonoma Coast wine than there is Russian River, plus the coast ones are usually more expensive. This is partly supply-and-demand, but it's also the remoteness of most coastal vineyards adds to the cost.
There are many wineries that source fruit from the Sonoma Coast, but make it elsewhere. There aren't many wineries in the true western Sonoma Coast region, they are a long, sometimes difficult drive away, and aren't always open to visitors. Flowers, Ft. Ross, and Hirsch are some of the wineries near the coast.
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| A Sonoma Coast vineyard sitting above the Pacific image from wine.com |
This growing area runs from the town of Sonoma up almost to Santa Rosa. It's traversed by Highway 12 with mountains on both sides except at the south end around the town of Sonoma. Over the Mayacamas range to the east is Napa Valley. South of the town of Sonoma is kind of a mess in that Sonoma Valley, Carneros and the Sonoma Coast growing areas overlap. That means a certain vineyard might be in both the Carneros and Sonoma Coast AVA, for instance.
A bit of everything is grown in the Sonoma Valley depending on where your vineyard is located, but Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet and Zinfandel are king. The Pinot is grown in the cooler southern part of the AVA near and south of the town of Sonoma. In what I'd call the "actual valley" starting a couple miles north of the town of Sonoma, it is about Cab and Zin because it's warmer here. Many of the vineyards are in the hills above the highway. Many are over 100 years old.
A few of the well-known wineries here are Arrowood, Benziger, BR Cohn, Buena Vista (founded 1857), Chateau St. Jean, Gundlach-Bundschu, Imagery, Kenwood, Kunde, Mayo, and St. Francis. A few smaller, less-know ones are Deerfield Ranch, Eric Ross, Loxton, Ty Caton, Vaughn Duffy, VJB, and Wellington.
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| Autumn in Sonoma Valley |
The Smaller Growing Areas? See the previous blog entry on Lesser Known Sonoma County AVAs
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