The Emergence of Pinot Noir in Sonoma County

Sonoma County growing areas such as Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, and Petaluma Gap are known for Pinot Noir. Following is a timeline for the growth of Pinot in the county.

 

Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
image from merryedwards.com

The historic and long gone Fountaingrove Ranch in Santa Rosa plus Italian Swiss Colony in the little town of Asti were growing Pinot Noir in the late 19th century. Asti would be way too hot for growing Pinot. 

By the 1950s, Hanzell Winery near the town of Sonoma planted the first of their highly regarded Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Louis Martini had a Pinot vineyard in the Napa side of the Carneros appellation. That was about it for what you'd consider premium Pinot.

The 1970 Sonoma County Agriculture Crop Report shows 265 acres of Pinot planted with another 170 acres of young, non-bearing vines. Pinot was less than 3% of the county's vineyards. By this time the early pioneers for Pinot Noir in the county were at work in the vineyards. The key ones were Joseph Swan, Joe Rochioli, Tom Dehinger, and Davis Bynum. The '80s saw Bert Williams and Ed Selyem then Gary Farrell jump in.

Between 1970 and 1980 Sonoma County had grown from 265 to 2,700 acres of Pinot. There was no growth between 1980 and 1990. There were 5,000 acres by 2000 and 10,000 in 2008. In the last decade it has settled in at about 13,000 acres. Pinot is 20% of the county's grape crop, and 30% of Russian River Valley's. Pinot is Sonoma's most valuable wine grape. More is planted in Sonoma than any other county in the state. It is only 5% of Napa's crop where Cabernet is king. 

The fast growth was driven not just by the consumers' new-found love of Pinot Noir, but for the sparkling wine houses that were popping up in both Sonoma and Napa Counties. The main sparkling wine producers in Sonoma are Gloria Ferrer, Iron Horse, J Vineyards, and Korbel.

Today you are likely to see one of these appellations on a bottle of Pinot from Sonoma County:
Russian River Valley, Green Valley, Sonoma Coast, West Sonoma Coast, Fort Ross-Seaview, Petaluma Gap, or Carneros. 

A Williams Selyem Pinot 
from Rochioli's Vineyard
image from Total Wine

Some references for this article:

sonomawinegrape.org
sonomacounty.gov
sonomacounty.com