Sonoma County · Appellation

Bennett Valley

A small, wind-carved pocket recognized as an AVA in 2003, Bennett Valley sits at a gap in the hills that funnels cooling air off the Petaluma Gap and San Pablo Bay, giving it a climate more restrained than its Sonoma Valley neighbors just beyond the ridge. Volcanic and andesitic-basalt soils, among the county's rockiest, force vines into modest yields and concentrated fruit. Merlot has become its unlikely signature here, alongside Syrah and Chardonnay that read cooler and more structured than the appellation's location on a map would suggest.