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At the north of the San Francisco Bay Area, Sonoma County is one of the most recognizable wine countries in the New World. Yet it is difficult to pin down an identity for Sonoma wine. Is it the lean and pristine Pinot Noir and Chardonnay of the Sonoma Coast, grown within a stone’s throw of the Pacific Ocean? Or is it their satisfying and singular counterparts found in the Russian River Valley? Or perhaps Sonoma should best be known for its treasured centenarian Zinfandel vineyards, found in patches across the county, or for its structured, savory Cabernet Sauvignon and velvety Merlot.
Of course, Sonoma is all these things and more, and its diversity continues growing as young producers experiment with new varieties and expand the region’s stylistic spectrum. Still, Sonoma can be confusing. The county’s 18 American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) intersect to create a labyrinthine system that is rarely intuitive. Sonoma’s top grape varieties yield wildly divergent results in the hands of winemakers across its 1,800-square-mile expanse. In many regards, Sonoma fits inside one county the entire breadth of the California wine industry.
This guide will explore Sonoma County as well as the other counties of the North Coast: Mendocino County, Lake County, and Solano County. (Napa County is addressed in a separate expert guide.) Despite their proximity, these counties likewise vary in climate and terroir, and their exciting potential is only just being realized.
It is believed that Sonoma County has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years. Three primary Native American tribes were present in the area prior to European arrival: the Coast Miwok, the Wappo, and the Kashaya Pomo. The Miwok settled near Bodega Bay, and their first documented encounter with Europeans comes from 1579, noted by Chaplain Fletcher, who was aboard a ship of Sir Francis Drake. The Pomo were just north, near what become Fort Ross, while the Wappo lived to the interior, also occupying the Napa Valley. Before European settlement, an estimated 5,000 Native Americans populated Sonoma. When the Europeans arrived, Mexican land grant holders forced many of them into work as laborers. While Native American populations are still found in Sonoma, their numbers have steeply declined.
The Russians beat the Spanish and Mexicans to Sonoma County, landing at Bodega Bay and constructing Fort Ross in 1812. This became the most southern outpost of the Russian-American Fur Company, an operation that descended down the West Coast from its headquarters in Alaska and made use of Native Alaskans and the Indigenous peoples of Sonoma as sources of labor. Beyond fur trapping, the Russians are also credited with planting the first grapevines in Sonoma County. Their initial efforts at Fort Ross, unsurprisingly, failed—and it would be another century and a half before coastal viticulture took hold in Sonoma. The Russians found greater success further inland, and in 1836, Igor Chernykh planted the first vineyard in what is today the Russian River Valley. The Russians’ stay in Sonoma, however, was short lived; they sold Fort Ross in 1841 and retreated to Alaska.
In 1823, Father José Altimira and his Franciscan brothers established the Mission San Francisco de Solano at the center of what would become downtown Sonoma. San Francisco Solano was the last of the 21 missions built along the California Coast, an endeavor that began in San Diego in 1769. It was also the only mission built after Mexico gained independence from Spain. Viticulture was important to the Franciscans—who, further south, introduced vinifera to California. They primarily cultivated Mission, also known as Criolla Chica or País in South America and Listán Prieto on the Canary Islands, which they vinified into a sweet fortified wine called Angelica. A vineyard was planted at San Francisco Solano, though winegrowing there is less documented than at the other missions.
In 1835, at the order of Governor José Figueroa, General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, who would later become a prolific grapegrower, arrived in Sonoma to secularize the San Francisco Solano mission and organize a town in its immediate surroundings. Several of Sonoma’s early winegrowing efforts were tied to land grants deeded to American pioneers by the Mexican government. One such example was Rancho Sotoyome, awarded to Cyrus Alexander—the first to plant grapes in his namesake Alexander Valley. Mexican governance of California, however, was brief. Despite being outnumbered roughly 20 to 1, the American settlers (there were only around 500 in California) organized in the late spring of 1846 to gain control of the territory. On June 14, a small group, led by William B. Ide, arrested Vallejo at his Sonoma home and declared the independent Bear Flag Republic, using as its symbol a white flag decorated with a star and a grizzly bear—not unlike California’s state flag today. American military forces, under Commodore John D. Sloat, seized control of the situation by July 9, claiming California for the United States. In 1850, California was the 31st state admitted to the Union.
Buena Vista to Prohibition
The 1849 Gold Rush moved a large American population west, with an estimated over 300,000 hopefuls traveling to the Sierras with the dream of getting rich quick in California. Several immigrant communities—French, English, Scottish, German, and Danish—reached the West Coast, and after trying their hands at panning for gold, many came to Sonoma, in some cases bringing their wine traditions from the Old World. Among them was the Hungarian-born serial entrepreneur Agoston Haraszthy. In 1949, he traveled with his family from Wisconsin to California. Instead of searching for gold, however, he looked south to San Diego, where he became the first county sheriff and built the area’s first prison. He also planted grapevines, a lifelong interest he had pursued in the Midwest.