place of unparalleled wild beauty, the Sonoma Coast is a respite from the world. In the 100-degree days of summer, its foggy, cool climate makes it a magnet for the overheated. And slowly but surely, it?s also become ground zero for earthy, elegant Northern California Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Accessible by way of Highway 12 through Sebastopol, Freestone and Bodega or on Highway 116 through Guerneville and Duncans Mills all the way to Jenner, the Sonoma Coast is deceptively easy to reach. That easy access betrays what lies beyond, some of the most gorgeous stretches of road ever put to pavement, sometimes winding, predominantly seat-of-your-pants wow, never less than amazing, no matter how many times traveled.
?We are on the edge,? says Tom Hinde, general manager of Flowers Vineyard and Winery on a ridgeline above Cazadero. ?We?re on the margin of the largest body of water that influences the climate of our wine. We are sort of the last winery on the right.?
Before joining Flowers four years ago, Hinde spent 16 years with Kendall-Jackson developing Sonoma Coast vineyards for Hartford Family and La Crema wineries. All that time there makes him a dirt-under-the-fingernails expert on the region, which itself still has many secrets to reveal. Flowers? estate vineyards ? there are two, Camp Meeting Ridge and Flowers Ranch ? sit less than a mile from the ocean at 1,000 to 2,000-feet elevation. When he talks about being on the edge, he means it.
Sonoma Coast is the largest American Viticultural Area, or AVA, in Sonoma County. It starts at the Mendocino line, encompasses a series of coastal highlands, overlaps just about the whole of the Russian River Valley AVA, makes a beeline toward Sonoma Mountain, swings around and over to Carneros, then back down to the Marin border. It in fact overlaps five other AVAs, so vast an area that pioneers like Flowers have felt it important to distinguish themselves as the ?true? Sonoma Coast, a much more specific designation.
?The true coast is not about who owns what, where and how do we cover it all,? Hinde explains. ?We think it?s never more than a mile, a mile and a quarter from the ocean, always above 1,000 feet, and in the fog. As opposed to a valley waiting for fog intrusion, we?re in the fog on a peak waiting for solar radiation.?
Of the 517,000 acres (almost 750 square miles) of land that make up the Sonoma Coast AVA, only a tiny percentage is actually planted (7,000 acres), mostly to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Of that, Hinde and others see three particular areas of authenticity.
First there?s the northernmost area around Annapolis, where ridges reach about 1,000 feet elevation but the plantable areas sit five or six miles in, making for a bit warmer climate. Here, among the prominent vintners is Peay. Hartford Family?s appropriately named Annapolis vineyard is also planted within earshot.
?We were looking for a very cool climate where we could be on the edge as far as ripening our fruit,? says Andy Peay, who with brother Nick, a veteran of Flowers, and Nick?s wife, former Peter Michael winemaker Vanessa Wong, started scouting the Sonoma Coast for ideal winegrowing sites over a decade ago.
?The whole idea was cool-climate Pinot Noir and at the same time what we like to drink is northern Rhone wines,? Peay continues. ?That sort of led to the experimental Viognier, Rousanne, Marsanne and Syrah. We?re probably one of a handful of the coolest Syrah vineyards in California.?
Then there?s the area south of that, north of the Russian River and jutting up to 2,000 feet, where vineyards for Flowers, Bohan, Hirsch, Peter Michael, Marcassin and Martinelli can be found. This collection of grower-producers is the closest to the ocean.
The third area lies south of the Russian River, concentrating around the towns of Freestone and Occidental, a true coastal environment known to be quite challenged by fog. Rutherford-based producer Joseph Phelps has recently planted its Freestone Vineyards here; it is also where such notable vineyards as Coastlands, Seascape, Theriot and Dutton are found.
The Russians were the first to plant the area, specifically around their settlement at Fort Ross. But it wasn?t really until the 1970s that grape growing as we know it took hold in the Sonoma Coast. Michael Bohan, whose family ranch sits east of Fort Ross (Bohan-Dillon Road pays homage), was the first to plant, and he started with Zinfandel.
Bohan inspired David Hirsch, who secured a sprawling former sheep ranch in 1978. He planted Pinot Noir. Bohan soon did, too. Marcassin and Martinelli?s plantings here weren?t far behind. Hirsch?s vineyard soon became the go-to source of great Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, providing grapes to the likes of Steve Kistler, Williams Selyem, Littorai and more; it remains among the most sought-after vineyard designates to this day.
Walt and Joan Flowers were the owners of Moon Nurseries in Philadelphia and great lovers of wine, specifically the wines of Burgundy. They began poking around Northern California in the late 1980s, eventually purchasing 320 acres. They planted 40 of those acres to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay over time and, modeling themselves after some of the great domaines of Burgundy, grew all the fruit themselves and built a winery on-site.
The Flowers started slow. They planted a mere 10 acres in 1989 and didn?t harvest until 1994. They waited another three years after the first wines were released to build a winery. Fifteen vintages in, Flowers is the only full-service vineyard and winery on the true Sonoma Coast open (by appointment) to visitors.
A visit is worth its rewards, which on a clear day include southwesterly views to the Farallon Islands, Bodega Head and Point Reyes. Looking east from Flowers Ranch, four miles due south from Flowers? winery site at Camp Meeting Ridge, the views look out to Mount St. Helena in Napa County and to Cobb Mountain in Lake County. Standing on one of the highest peaks on the Sonoma Coast, you can see Napa, Marin and Lake counties all at once.
And then there are the wines, made from fragile vines that have had to withstand a hostile climate. Not only is there the fog and wind, but often more rain than anywhere else in the county ? an average of 80 inches per year. In 2005, admittedly one for the records, Flowers took in 108 inches of precipitation. The true Sonoma Coast gets early rain in the fall and is among the last to turn dry in the spring.
?You?re not going to grow as much fruit as you can in Alexander Valley and Sonoma Valley and so on,? Hinde explains. ?We?re the first to get cold and the last to warm up. We?re where everybody goes in August on a 100-degree day.?
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: