Sonoma Valley
Sub-AVA · Sonoma County · District 3
27 CFR 9.29 · established 1981-12-04 · last amended 1987-02-27
Heat class III · 1991-2020 normals
Climate normals in three numbers
, Apr 1 – Oct 31
46 GridMET cells cover this region
season rain, Apr 1 – Oct 31
50 mm of it in the , Sep 1 – Oct 31
Warm and cool vintages since 1980
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Rain across the season, and at harvest
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The boundary
Hovering a shaded region names it; a click opens its page.
Measured vineyard area
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Drought categories, year by year
Sonoma County — not Sonoma Valley
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What's in the ground
6.0
pH, 1:1 water
14.9cm
, whole profile
87cm
to
Well drained
, dominant condition
Distribution across 159 · mean ◆, median │, p10–p90 bar
Dominant
- 31.9%
- 14.8%
- 6.6%
- 6.1%
- 4.8%
159 map units · soil described over 93.2% of the region’s area · 6.1% is water, rock outcrop or other non-soil · 79% of the described area has a restrictive layer within the profile.
Sand, silt and clay, against every other appellation
Clay loam
30% sand · 38% silt · 31% clay
Sandier than 7% of California appellations and clayier than 94%. Each grey point is one appellation’s topsoil; appellations nest, so this is a distribution of places rather than of land.
Plus 13% rock fragments by volume, which the triangle does not describe — the three fractions are of the fine-earth material only.
Elevation, slope and aspect
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Producers
A curated roster, not a census — only source-verified entries appear, 2772 published across the atlas.
Bearing acreage by variety
Sonoma County · District 3
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Price per ton
Sonoma County · District 3
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The appellation in federal law
The boundary, in the government’s own words (214 words)
(c) Boundaries. The Sonoma Valley viticultural area is located within Sonoma County, California. From the beginning point at the junction of Tolay Creek and San Pablo Bay, the boundary runs: (1) Northerly along Tolay Creek to Highway 37; (2) Westerly along Highway 37 to its junction with Highway 121; (3) Northwesterly in a straight line to the peak of Wildcat Mountain; (4) Northwesterly in a straight line to Sonoma Mountain to the horizontal control station at elevation 2,271 feet; (5) Northwesterly in a straight line to the peak of Taylor Mountain; (6) Northeasterly in a straight line to the point at which Los Alamos Road joins Highway 12; (7) Easterly in a straight line to the peak of Buzzard Peak; (8) Easterly in a straight line to the peak of Mount Hood; (9) Easterly in a straight line to an unnamed peak located on the Sonoma County-Napa County line and identified as having an elevation of 2,530 feet (This unnamed peak is located in the northeast quarter of Section 9, Township 7 North, Range 6 West, Mt. Diablo Base and Meridian); (10) Southerly along the Sonoma County-Napa County line to the point at which Sonoma Creek enters San Pablo Bay; and (11) Southwesterly along the shore of San Pablo Bay to the beginning point.