The Soul of Sonoma County

This summer, I had the opportunity to visit Bordeaux, a port city in southwestern France and a famed wine-growing region, and many of its grand wine chateaus. Traversing the almost 300,000 acres of vineyard, it’s easy to be in awe of the ancient walls and underground cellars that run the length of the vineyards and sometimes small villages. (Yes, that’s 300,000 acres—five times the number of planted vineyard acres than Sonoma County.)

The town of Saint-Émilion is beyond quaint, perched at the top of a cobblestone laden street with a church, a few restaurants and shops and a view that spans as far as the eye can see of luscious vineyards. And it seemed to me that no matter the question—When was this built? Or, when was this planted? The answer always involved and dated back to the Romans.  What a history! And what a story these vineyards and ancient walls could tell of war and treaties, love, neighbors, destruction and rebuilding.  There are also new stories that no longer include the names on the wine label or chateau, as families have been selling to larger corporations, feeling their future options are limited. Regardless, the old world of wine deserves its place in our hearts.

Compared to Bordeaux, we’re only beginning to write our story. California is considered the “new world” in the world of wine, and our history is long and storied, but we are hundreds of years behind our friends from the old world.

So, why do I love Sonoma County so much? What does this new world of wine have to share? Sonoma County is where life slows down. It’s a special place where parades, the county fair and farmers markets are neighborhood gatherings and must-attend events. It’s a county blessed with a bounty that enables you to eat and sip from the local land. Here you can still borrow milk and tractors from your neighbor. It’s a place where you can’t go to the store—or a local watering hole—without running into someone you know.  This is where your local farmer is also the Little League coach and a volunteer firefighter. Sonoma County is where families grow up with other families for generations.  I often hear locals harken back to a time when life in Sonoma County was slower, less crowded and more of a community, but I argue that if you stop and look around, you’ll find the heart of our community is still strong.

The soul of this new world wine region where we live and love, Sonoma County, is agriculture.  It is our family farmers.  It’s the fifth generation Dutton brothers, Steve and Joe, who both volunteered their time to lead the two biggest local ag organizations  at the same time—the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, where Steve served as president from 2016-2018, and Sonoma County Winegrowers, where Joe served as the chair from 2016-2018. They’ve both spent countless hours each week supporting the broader farming community.  The soul of this county also includes generations of Sangiacomos, who were instrumental in transitioning their farm from pears to grapes in the early 1980s, thankfully keeping the land in agriculture.  And it’s the first-generation land lovers—folks like Duff Bevill and the Beldens whose passion for Sonoma County and farming ensures a future for our working lands.

It’s also couples like Kevin and Linda Barr who work alongside each other to successfully farm a number ranches and vineyards, large and small, around the county. It’s the Serres family with a special father-daughter story, as Taylor takes over more of the farming responsibilities and the leadership in local organizations from her father.  It’s Brad Petersen, who farms for Silver Oak Cellars, a job he watched his father, Dane, do for years before he succeeded him. And it’s the Bucher family on Westside Road, who are balancing the demands of running both a dairy and a vineyard. And the stories that could be shared about our 1,800-plus local farmers. There is no story about Sonoma County and this beautiful place that doesn’t include the people who live here.

In this new wine world, it has been the farmers who have defined and written our story.  It is their love of the land, their stewardship of precious resources and their commitment to our ag heritage.  It is their vision that committed to sustainable farming. They’re responsible for the essence of the pace, the sense of community and the landscape that we all enjoy. It’s their tenacity that is the backbone of Sonoma County’s legacy and what makes up the terroir in each bottle of Sonoma County wine.

We may not have the Romans, but we have the farmers and our story continues to be written every day. It has never been more important to support local agriculture, so that the story of Sonoma County in another 100 years or more still includes our farming families and our world-class wines.

 Karissa Kruse is president of Sonoma County Winegrowers, a marketing and educational organization, dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Sonoma County as one of the world’s premier grape-growing regions. For more information, visit www.sonomawinegrape.com.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Loading...

Sections