Ep 460: Sonoma County, CA -- The Overview

<p><!-- wp:create-block/libsyn-podcasting-block --></p> <div class="wp-block-create-block-libsyn-podcasting-block"> <div class="libsyn-shortcode"> </div> </div> <p><!-- /wp:create-block/libsyn-podcasting-block --></p> <p style="font-weight: 400; text-align: center;"><a href= "http://www.sonomawinegrape.org" target="_blank" rel= "noopener"><img src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/45638/map.jpg" alt="" width= "494" height="371" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400; text-align: center;"><a href= "http://www.sonomawinegrape.org" target="_blank" rel= "noopener"><em><span class="S1PPyQ" style="font-size: 8pt;">Map: Sonoma County AVAs. Sonoma County Winegrowers </span></em></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Over the last 12 years we’ve done so much on Sonoma but I realized that we’ve never done a podcast outlining the areas of Sonoma to give form to this wine paradise that has 18 American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) and covers more than a million acres of land (405,000 ha) of which more than 60,000 acres are planted to grapes.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"> </p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Sonoma is still full of small, family-owned vineyards. It’s estimated that at least 85% of Sonoma County’s vineyards are family owned and operated and 80% of vineyards are less than 100 acres (40% are less than 20 acres). The Sonoma landscape incorporates coastal ranges, valleys, mountains, flats, benchlands, and innumerable soils and microclimates, including a multitude of producers with different styles and ideas of what to grow.  </p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"> </p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In this show, we try to compartmentalize the areas of Sonoma, to help you figure out the big areas and their specialties.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"> </p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Here are the show notes:</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">We start with generalities…</p> <ul> <li><strong>Climate:</strong> There are sunny days and almost no rain from May through September with most areas cooler near the coast and warm