Sonoma County wines will shine at Super Bowl’s San Francisco fan village

More than 50 Sonoma County vintners are gearing up to tout their brands at a specially designated wine lounge at Super Bowl City, a fan village coming to San Francisco's Embarcadero at the end of January.

Also, as part of Sonoma County Tourism's contract with the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, Sonoma wines will be poured at four VIP events and at the exclusive Host Committee 50 Club, Chief Sales Officer Mark Crabb said. A few wineries are expected to put on other events in addition to those sponsored by the host committee.

An estimated 1 million people are expected to visit the fan village, said Nathan Ballard, spokesman for the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee.

Among the Sonoma County wineries participating are Anaba Wines of Sonoma, Balletto Vineyards of Santa Rosa, Bruliam Wines of Healdsburg, Cartograph Wines of Healdsburg, Clos du Bois of Geyserville, Knights Bridge Winery, Lambert Bridge Winery of Calistoga, Paul Hobbs winery of Sebastopol, Parmeson Wines of Healdsburg, Seghesio Family Vineyards of Healdsburg, Tara Bella Winery of Santa Rosa, and Trione Vineyards and Winery of Geyserville.

It will be difficult to estimate how many will actually enter the wine lounge, designed to hold up to 180 people. But Bill Smart of Lambert Bridge Winery in the Dry Creek Valley, who has been involved in the planning with Sonoma County Tourism, estimated that it could be as much 2,000 people daily.

It's been a lot of work for participants like Smart, who has been making sure that his team has completed the background checks that will allow them to work at the high-security area in Justin Herman Plaza and figuring out the logistics that will enable him to get as many as 30 cases down to the lounge amid likely gridlocked traffic.

“It's a really amazing opportunity to be part of an event so huge and so prevalent in American culture,” said Smart, vice president and general manager of the winery that produces 8,000 cases annually. “It's not like we have multi-millions.”

The lounge will be open from Jan. 30 to Feb. 7 (Superbowl Sunday), but vintners and their staffs will not be able to pour the flights, glasses and bottles to be consumed on site, Smart said. That will be handled by a separate concessionaire specifically licensed to pour for the festivities.

Instead, local vintners will be out in front to greet visitors entering the wine lounge, explain about the wines as well make a pitch about Sonoma County. Wineries will rotate, with up to 16 different brands serving each day.

The biggest headache for the Lambert Bridge crew will likely be how to get down to the fan village amid an expected traffic nightmare. Smart said he and his staff will likely take a shuttle from the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma to Larkspur and then take the ferry to the Embarcadero.

“It's just going to be a zoo,” he said. “I just can't imagine the traffic.”