Administrative area · United States
Sonoma County
A large, climatically varied county west of Napa, covering everything from cool Pinot Noir sites to warm Zinfandel country.
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the cool coastal and river valleys, old-vine Zinfandel from Dry Creek, and ripe Cabernet from Alexander Valley — three quite different wine regions under one county name.
About Sonoma County
Sonoma is much larger and more varied than Napa, and its identity is correspondingly harder to summarise. Its sub-AVAs do the real work.
The Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast are cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay country; Dry Creek Valley is known for old-vine Zinfandel; Alexander Valley is warm enough for ripe Cabernet.
Much larger and more varied than Napa next door, and correspondingly harder to summarise — the county runs from the Pacific to the inland valleys and holds nineteen AVAs. Proximity to gaps in the coastal range matters far more than latitude.
The Petaluma Gap is the key feature: a break in the hills that lets cold ocean air and fog inland every afternoon, cooling sites that would otherwise be warm. Some Sonoma vineyards are among the coolest in California, and others are warm enough for Zinfandel.
No authority delimits this name or attaches rules to it. A political unit — an Italian region, an English county, a US county — used as a wine area because that is how the industry and its readers talk about it, not because a wine authority delimited it. That does not make it less real or less useful — it means nothing legal follows from it, and you will not generally find it on a label as a controlled designation.
Grapes
Wines from here
white
California Chardonnay
The style that defined "buttery Chardonnay" — ripe stone fruit, vanilla and cream — though the best modern examples are far more restrained.
red
California Cabernet Sauvignon
The broad statewide category — a very wide quality range, from Central Valley volume wine to serious coastal bottlings.
red
California Pinot Noir
Riper and fuller than Burgundy, with dark cherry, cola and baking spice — but retaining real acidity in the coolest sites.
red
Zinfandel
California’s brambly, high-alcohol red, at its best from field-blend vineyards over a century old.
red
Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet from Sonoma’s warmer inland valleys — a little softer and more red-fruited than Napa.
red
Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
California’s coolest, most wind-exposed Pinot sites — taut, savoury and more structured than inland examples.
rose
White Zinfandel
A sweet pink wine created by accident in the 1970s that sold in enormous quantity — and inadvertently saved California’s old Zinfandel vineyards.
sparkling
California traditional-method sparkling
Bottle-fermented sparkling from cool Californian sites, several of them founded by Champagne houses.
Climate
- Latitude
- 38.5° N
- Temperature
- Moderate
- Day–night swing
- Wide
- Rainfall
- Falls mostly in winter
- Drought risk
- High
The Petaluma Gap lets Pacific air through the coastal range, and how far a site sits from that gap decides its climate more than latitude does.
Proximity to the Pacific and to gaps in the coastal range matters more than latitude. The Petaluma Gap funnels cold air inland, making some Sonoma sites far cooler than anywhere in Napa.
Vintage variation
Vintage matters little
Reliable sunshine, low disease pressure and — often — irrigation to smooth out what rainfall does not deliver. The grapes ripen every year.
- Rainfall timing. The rain arrives outside the growing season, so harvest is usually dry. This removes the largest single source of vintage variation.
- Maritime influence. Nearby water lengthens the growing season and brings cloud and rain with it. Ripening is slower and less certain, and the spread between years is wider.
- Mediterranean influence. Hot dry summers and reliable sunshine. Ripeness is rarely the question.
Derived from the climate above, not from anyone’s view of particular years. Why there are no vintage scores here.
These are influences on how a wine turns out, not determinants of it. Picking date, yield, vine age and every winemaking decision sit between the climate and the glass.
Places within it
- Alexander Valley — Sonoma’s warmest major AVA, on the upper Russian River, and its best source of Cabernet Sauvignon.
- Dry Creek Valley — A narrow valley north-west of Healdsburg, and California’s most celebrated home for old-vine Zinfandel.
- Russian River Valley — A fog-cooled Sonoma AVA producing some of California’s best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
- Sonoma Coast — A very large and much-criticised AVA reaching from the Pacific inland, within which the genuinely coastal vineyards are a small and distinct part.
What to eat, and how to serve it
Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.
California Pinot Noir
Serve at 14–16°C (cellar cool).
Try with fillet steak, grilled chicken or turkey.
California Chardonnay
Serve at 10–13°C (lightly chilled).
Try with fillet steak, grilled chicken or asparagus.
Sources
Sources consulted
- American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) — Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), US Department of the Treasury