t was billed as “The Ultimate Sonoma County Wine Event in San Francisco,” with more than 100 wineries packing up and motoring down to San Francisco to pour their products at the posh Four Seasons hotel in downtown San Francisco. Before the tasting on the afternoon on May 22nd, 2008, a morning seminar offered photos, maps and commentary from winemakers representing all 13 appellations within Sonoma County.

If it didn’t exactly live up to the advance PR, the event was still a day-long dive into one of the most fascinating wine regions in the world.

“Diversity” was the seminar theme, and moderator Geoff Kruth, MS intoned the word several times, beginning with his opening sentence. The panel of assembled winemakers seated alongside him also were careful to emphasize the many differences in geology, climate, and grape varieties among their respective appellations. The unspoken counterpoint, of course, was Napa Valley, where the growing domination of Cabernet Sauvignon seems to have no limit.

The winemakers on the panel all got off a memorable zinger or two about their appellations, and in most cases they were not just amusing but edifying. Mark Lingenfelder of Chalk Hill Estate called his region “the warm corner of a cool appellation,” while Dave Munksgard of Iron Horse Vineyards said the signature of Green Valley was “tiny vineyards surrounded by redwoods.”

Munksgard also got one of the biggest laughs of the morning with his prediction that “vineyards in Sonoma are moving so far west that someday we’ll have pontoons in the Pacific Ocean and grow grapes out there.”

This prompted Tom Hinde of Flowers Vineyard and Winery to open his remarks about Sonoma Coast by drawing a distinction between wineries on the so-called “true coast” and those in the rest of the vast, sprawling appellation that takes in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, and San Pablo Bay. “When you say you’re in ‘Sonoma Coast’ you should be able to see the ocean,” Hinde said dryly, “not be sitting on a porch near Healdsburg.” Another useful distinction, he noted, was that while most of Sonoma County’s appellations are soaked with sun and wait for fog to come in, “on the true coast we’re in the fog waiting for the sun to come out.”

Alex Rebel from Matanzas Creek Winery represented Bennett Valley, an appellation most people think of as a transitional zone between Russian River and Sonoma Valley (if they think of it at all). It’s likely that the seminar attendees will have a more vivid view after Rebel’s opening line: “If you were in Bennett Valley five million years ago, you were either climbing a volcano or swimming in a lagoon.”

Rod Berglund of Joseph Swan Vineyards took the geologic tack as well regarding Russian River Valley. The appellation, he said, combines “both old and active geology, with recent effects piled on top of changes from 40 million years ago.” Berglund also asserted that his appellation can produce great wine from many different grape varieties because of its long growing season. Given the number of Russian River Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc vineyards being replaced with Pinot Noir, however, that kind of diversity may soon be a thing of the past.

Ed Killian (Souverain), representing Alexander Valley, made perhaps the single most salient point of the morning: “Alexander Valley may not be the Russian River Valley, but it is a Russian River valley.” No less than its more famous cousin to the southwest, Alexander Valley was formed by the Russian River, its soils roiled up and redistributed by the river, its water table replenished by the river, and its fog patterns connected to riverine humidity. Not only that, but Alexander Valley is the only other Sonoma appellation with as many acres under vine as Russian River Valley – approximately 15,000.

Dave Rafanelli (A. Rafanelli Winery) and Richard Arrowood (Amapola Creek Vineyards and Winery) offered a more personal connection with their respective appellations of Dry Creek Valley and Sonoma Valley. Rafanelli was one of the original five petitioners for the Dry Creek Valley appellation, and he recalled how unusual it was 25 years ago to prepare soil studies for an entire region. The step was crucial, however, because Dry Creek Valley opens into the same riverside plains as Alexander Valley and Russian River Valley. Appellation borders had to be justified by something other than personal preference.

Arrowood talked about the brick-red soil in Monte Rosso Vineyard, one of the most famous plots of vines in Sonoma Valley, and noted that when he recently walked in the door of his house after visiting the vineyard, his wife looked at his shoes and said, “You really don’t need to bring any more terroir to my attention.”

For all the great lines and persuasive talk about the diversity of the wine region, it was hard to escape the fact that all 13 seminar panelists were white and 12 were men, many with grey hair. The lone representative of women and youth, Emma Kudritzki, was a late fill-in for MacRostie Winery winemaker Kevin Holt, yet another white guy with a graying goatee.

This is not to take anything away from the panelists themselves. Anytime you get to hear Dick Arrowood, Rod Berglund, Dave Munksgard, Tom Hinde and Dave Rafanelli talk about terroir, you’re getting a great education.

Yet one of the greatest aspects of Sonoma County’s diversity is its winemaking and winegrowing population, which includes scores of young, female, and ethnically diverse individuals. Perhaps this will be a theme of some future “Ultimate Sonoma County Wine Event,” and we’ll get to see a side of the county that so far seems stuck off-stage.

Fortunately, youth and both genders were well served at the afternoon tasting, which was packed with members of the trade from restaurants, retailers and distributors. The wineries were ranged in tight aisles that somehow created more excitement than crowding, and the producers were pouring their top wines in most cases.

Best of all, Sonoma offers a remarkable number of family-owned, family-run wineries, and this community of proprietor/winemakers was well represented. There’s nothing more illuminating than talking to someone who has not just a hand in the winemaking, but a head, heart and soul as well.

For more information about the 2008 event and future opportunities, visit sonomawinegrape.org.

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Photos by Thom Elkjer