Sonoma Valley (General Information)
Sonoma Valley
Sonoma
valley is less developed than Napa Valley, but it offers more backcountry
character. Sonoma also boasts the great geographical diversity and the highest
number of appellations in the California Wine Country
People chose Sonoma valley for just that reason. The charm of Sonoma is
the rural less traveled areas than its neighbor. Sonoma is less commercialized
than Napa, but no one should think for a second that Napa is generally going
to have better wine or that it offers a better experience. Sonoma is so different
than Napa Valley that it offers a unique experience and can easily fill one's
vacation time here.
Sonoma offers a fresh dose of reality where smaller sized wineries are intergrated
with neighborhoods and communities. It's not uncommon that you will have your
wine-tasting at a picnic table in a Sonoma winery. Sonoma offers a unique
and totally different feel - a wine country feel. At the end of the day, whether
you're in France, Italy, Santa Barbara, Napa or Sonoma it's all about the
almighty grape. Sonoma produces great grapes. As a result, Sonoma produces
great wine. Youre experience in the wine country will be about the attractions
and the must see's and do's, but at the end of the day, it's going to be about
tasting great wine. For this reason alone is why we recommend not just going
to any winery, but chose the best wineries for you. Our wine
country tours will make sure you taste the best wine around from both
Sonoma and Napa Valleys.
Getting Around
Sonoma Valley is 17 miles long and 7 miles wide. It's bordered between 2 mountain
ranges: the Mayacamas mountains to the east and the Sonoma Mountains to the
west. Highway 12 makes its way through the Carneros District, Glen Ellen,
Kenwood and ending at the southern boundary of Santa Rosa.
Sonoma Towns
The Carneros District is a region that borders San Pablo Bay that marks the
entrance to both Napa and Sonoma Valley's. Other important Sonoma towns are
Sonoma, Glen Ellen, Kenwood and Santa Rosa.
Sonoma Visitors Information
453 1st Street. Sonoma, CA 95476 (707-996-1090) www.sonomavalley.com
At the entrance of the Viansa winery and one of our tour stops is another
great Visitor Information Center
25200 Arnold Drive (Highway 121), Sonoma CA 95476.
Sonoma Wineries
Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves
In
1982 the Ferrer family, proprietors of the world’s largest producer
of sparkling wine, Freixenet U.S.A., purchased 250 acres of land in Sonoma’s
Carneros wine district where they planted vineyards with the traditional sparkling
wine grapes of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. In 1986 their state-of-the-art winery,
with Spanish-style architecture and breath taking Vista Terrace, which overlooks
the estate vineyards and the rolling Carneros hills opened to the public.
The winery was named after José Ferrer's beloved wife.
Viansa Winery & Italian Marketplace
Founded in 1989 by Sam and Vicki Sebastiani, Viansa
Winery & Italian Marketplace is a destination winery in the Carneros grape-growing
region at the entrance to the Sonoma Valley Wine Country. Viansa was created
as a way to share a love of good food, wine and Italian heritage with visitors
from around the world. Dedicated to the marriage of wine and food, Viansa
truly offers visitors a taste of Tuscany in Sonoma Valley. Today, the winery
is proud to be the premier producer of Italian varietals in the United States!
Roche
If you were to ask their winemaker, Michael Carr,
what his secrets are to making such fantastic wine at Roche, one answer he
would provide is “knowing the family’s lands, our unique growing
conditions and changing weather patterns…all of these are fundamental.”
Michael has gained that experience due to a long history with our winery and
working with our vineyards. In fact, he served as our Assistant Winemaker
for eight years from 1991 until 1998, before becoming our full-time Winemaker
in the Fall of 2002. During his five-year stint away from Carneros, he gained
valuable knowledge on how to establish winery operations from the “ground
up” while with MacRostie Winery in Sonoma, California. He also perfected
his winemaking and vineyard management skills while producing Gold Medal award-winning
wines with San Juan Vineyards on San Juan Island in Washington.
Schug Carneros Estate Winery
Walter Shug (pronounced Shewg) comes from a long
line of Pinot Noir vintners. After graduating from a prestigious German wine
institute of Geisenheim he came to California where he established his reputation
as one of California's top cabernet sauvignon and Reisling producers.
More Sonoma Winery listings to come. Be sure to
check out Sonoma Wineries listing detail.