Quintessential Sonoma County Vineyards

Consumers who buy a lot of premium wine may have favorite vineyards. Example, "I just love any Pinot Noir from the Van der Kamp Vineyard."  

This post was inspired by Sonoma Magazine's a list of  "The Most Iconic Vineyards in Sonoma County." It's a nice try, but my list is better. :)  We agree on some, not on others. People will still disagree with mine, but it is based on living in Sonoma County and drinking local for a lot of decades. If you can't trust experience, what can you trust? 

This is about consistently producing above normal quality wines over many years, sometimes with a little uniqueness or fame thrown in.

Farming Jackass Hill Vineyard
Not for the faint of heart

After the vineyard name in the list below is the growing area, or official appellation. Some are in multiple AVAs because, well, laying them out is left up to a mix of growers and lawyers who don't care if another appellation is already there. For instance, Durell Vineyard is in Carneros, Sonoma Coast, and Sonoma Valley so a wine could be labeled with any of these, and confusing for the consumer.

Bacigalupi Vineyard, Russian River Valley

Known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, owned by the Bacigalupi Winery family since the 1950s.

Their claim-to-fame is for supplying some of the fruit used in the famous 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that won at the Judgement of Paris in 1976. Their grapes helped put California wines on the map.

Bacigalupi grapes are used by Gary Farrell, Williams Selyem, Auteur, MacRostie, and others. The block of Chardonnay used in the Judge of Pairs tasting is found in a Bacigalupi Winery bottling.

19th century vines coming to life once again
Bedrock Vineyard

Bedrock Vineyard, Sonoma Valley

Known for Zinfandel, this vineyard goes back to the mid-19th century. It was purchased about 20 years ago by Joel Peterson, of Ravenswood fame, plus he's been called the godfather of Sonoma County Zin. The vineyard is in good hands.

The wines from here can be described as intense. Besides the Bedrock Wine Co., other top wineries known for Zin such as Baile, Turley, and Ridge get grapes from here. That's enough to tell you how special these vines are.

Durell Vineyard, Carneros

Known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. They also propagated own clone of Syrah that's used by others.

A pioneer in Carneros, the vineyard was first planted in the 1970s in an area known for cattle ranches and dairies. It's now owned by the proprietor of Three Sticks Winery.

Wineries using Durrell grapes are Three Sticks Winery, of course, plus Kistler, Sojurn, Scribe, and others. I've always enjoyed the Chardonnay and Pinot I've had from Durrell.

Dutton Ranch, Russian River Valley

Known for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah.

A huge ranch of 80 separate vineyard sites and 1,200 acres farmed by the Dutton family. Their Santa Rosa ranch goes back to the 1880s when prunes and hops were king, followed by Gravenstein apples. They sold that property and moved to their site west of Santa Rosa in the Graton area.

They've done business with 70 wineries over the years.  A couple of them are wineries started by family members -- Dutton Estate and Dutton-Goldfield. Some of the other, better-known ones are Chappellet, Gary Farrell, Kistler, Kosta Brown, Merry Edwards, and Sonoma-Cutrer.

Gap's Crown Vineyard, Petaluma Gap

Known for Chardonnay, but mostly for Pinot Noir.

First planted in the 1970s in this cool, foggy, windy location. Yeah, really not a nice spot.  :)

Pinot Noir from Gap's Crown has become a sought-after item. Some wineries using the fruit are Gary Farrell, MacRostie, Sojourn and Three Sticks.

Jackass Hill, Russian River Valley

Known for Zinfandel. It's owned by Martinelli Winery and I believe is the only winery using the fruit.

First planted in the 1880s on a very steep slope. It's the steepest vineyard not planted on a terraced hillside in the country, something that would be illegal to do now.

Maple Vineyards, Dry Creek Valley

Known for Zinfandel.

In the 1980s Tom and Tina Maple bought an old vine Zinfandel vineyard and made it what is is today, one of the premier Zin vineyards. You owe it to yourself to search out a wine from them. Wineries using the grapes include Bella, Dutcher Crossing, and Armida (recently acquired by Overshine Wines).

Monte Rosso (Red Mountain) Vineyard

Monte Rosso Vineyard, Moon Mountain

Known for Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.

There's a lot of history here! This vineyard is even a state historical landmark. It sits on a hill of volcanic rock. First planted in the 1880s and considering how remote the site is now, I can only image what it was like getting to and from on horseback and with horse drawn wagons. The vineyard was bought by Louis Martini in the 1930s. Gallo acquired Louis Martini Winery, and the vineyard several years ago.

Baile, Bedrock, Carlisle,Repris, Ridge, and others get grapes from this special site. Wines from Monte Rosso are always good, sometimes incredible.

Montecillo Vineyard, Moon Mountain

Known for Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.

First planted in the 1960s in the mountains that separate Sonoma Valley from Napa Valley. It was owned by one of the owners of the Kenwood Winery for a long time and was the main vineyard used in their Artist Series Cabernet. The vineyard was recently purchased by a Napa winery.

Some of the wineries getting grapes from here are Carlisle, St. Francis, and Turley.

Pagani Ranch, along Highway 12 in March 2010
This section was torn out and replaced

Pagani Ranch, Sonoma Valley

Known for Zinfandel. Really kick ass Zinfandel.

A 19th century vineyard that has seen expansion and more recently some replanting of the old vines that had stopped producing. Many acres of the old vines are still there.

Baile, Bedrock, Ridge, Seghesio, and others make great Zinfandel from these grapes.

Rochioli Vineyard, Russian River Valley

Known for Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir. The iconic Sonoma County Pinot Noir vineyard.

Joe Rochioli Jr was the first to plant Pinot Noir in the Russian River in the late 1960s. Any of the other original Russian River Pinot producers came to see Joe before they bought property and planted grapes. He passed a couple of years ago and his obit mentioned leaving behind 900,000 vines, sort of his children. His actual son, Tom, oversees the vineyard now. 

Besides Rochioli Winery, Gary Farrell, Ramey, Williams Selyem, and anyone else that can get their hands on the fruit sell wines made from the vineyard. It's not cheap, but if you can, get yourself a bottle of Rochioli's estate Pinot.

Rockpile Vineyards in spring

Rockpile Vineyard, Rockpile

Known for Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.

New, compared to other vineyards listed here, the Rockpile Vineyard is just over 30 years old, the Rockpile appellation, about 20 years. It's remoteness in the mountains is the reason it took so long for vineyards to come here. Now there are about ten growers and just 160 acres of grapes in the appellation. The Rockpile Vineyard sits at 2,000 feet. Rod and Cathy Park planted cuttings from some old vine Zin here in 1992. They shared their first bottling with nearby wine people not knowing what it expect. The answer was something like, "Wowser." About a decade ago Ken Wilson bought the vineyard.

Carol Shelton and Seghesio are lucky enough to be among those getting wine grapes from here. Wilson's wineries, such as Rockpile (duh) and Wilson also use the fruit. If you've not had a wine from the Rockpile appellation you are missing out because it's a special growing area.

Teldeschi Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley 

Known for Zinfandel.

The oldest block of vines on the ranch is from the 1880s. The wines from here smell and taste like the quintessential Dry Creek Zinfandel.

Besides Teldeschi Winery, Bedrock and Carlisle among other buy their fruit.

Vineyard view from MacRostie Winery