Most people will want to visit Napa at least once when they come to the wine country because Napa is synonymous with California wine.
Why you should visit Napa:
Why you shouldn't visit Napa:
As the Napa wineries are in a compact area the Sonoma wineries are much more spread out.
Because of the many micro-climates and soil types leading to many different growing conditions there are numerous appellations, or official growing regions in the county. Carneros (which spans Sonoma and Napa) and the Russian River areas are cooler while Alexander Valley is a much warmer area. Others like Dry Creek and Sonoma Valley fall in between.
It's very difficult to generalize about what kinds of wines are best from which regions, but here goes:
There are other smaller appellations such as Green Valley, Chalk Hill, Sonoma Mountain and Rockpile.
Vineyards amongst the Redwoods in the Russian River Valley
As with Napa, it gets crowded in the summer, especially in the southern part of the county around the town of Sonoma. If you visit in the summer then weekdays are better for visiting these areas. Also, the wineries are most crowded after 1pm on the weekends. Fall weekends are very busy too because people want to come out during the crush. If you want a good combination of decent weather and smaller crowds try November or February-March. The quietest time for the wineries is December through March. If you want a chance to talk with folks and maybe even the wine maker or vineyard manager then visit the smaller wineries during these slower times.
The big wine event of the year is the Sonoma County Harvest Fair on the first weekend of October.
Early spring
Back to Visiting the Sonoma Wine Country page
This page last updated on 03/07/03
