Contact

Reaching the right resource matters, especially when the question involves something as specific as Sonoma's appellations, vintages, or producers. This page covers how to get in touch with Sonoma Wine Authority, what geographic territory falls within the scope of this reference, and how to frame a message so it gets a useful response.

How to reach this office

The primary contact channel for Sonoma Wine Authority is email. Written messages allow questions to be routed to the most relevant subject area — whether that's a specific AVA like the Russian River Valley, a question about a particular grape variety, or something more structural about how Sonoma's appellations are organized.

A general inquiry form is available on this site and routes directly to the editorial team. For questions that are time-sensitive — say, something tied to harvest season or an upcoming festival — note that explicitly in the subject line. It moves things along.

What this office does not handle: retail wine orders, winery reservations, or tasting room bookings. Those sit with individual producers directly. A list of Sonoma winery tasting rooms is maintained separately for exactly that purpose.

Service area covered

The reference territory covers all of Sonoma County's federally recognized American Viticultural Areas. That means the 18 AVAs nested within or overlapping Sonoma County, including:

1. Sonoma Coast AVA — the broad coastal-influence zone, roughly 500,000 acres
2. Russian River Valley AVA — the fog-channeling corridor running from the Pacific inland
3. Alexander Valley AVA — the warmer northern stretch along the Alexander Valley floor
4. Dry Creek Valley AVA — the narrow canyon-cut appellation renowned for Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc
5. Sonoma Valley AVA — the historic valley running north from San Pablo Bay
6. Knights Valley AVA and Bennett Valley AVA — smaller, distinct thermal zones with strong identity

The scope also includes cross-county appellations where Sonoma is a primary participant, such as the North Coast AVA. Questions about Napa Valley, Mendocino, or other California wine regions outside this footprint are outside the editorial brief — though the relationship between Knights Valley and adjacent Napa zones does come up often enough that it's worth mentioning.

What to include in your message

A well-formed message gets a faster and more useful response. The difference between "what wines does Sonoma make?" and "what distinguishes a Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir from a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir in a warm vintage?" is about 40 words — and also about three days of response time.

Structure a message to include:

1. Specific topic or AVA — name the appellation, producer type, or grape if relevant
2. Context for the question — buying, researching, traveling, comparing vintages, pairing
3. Depth needed — a quick orientation versus a detailed breakdown are different things
4. Any prior research done — avoids repeating ground already covered elsewhere on the site

For questions about cellaring, pricing, or vintage conditions, include the specific years in question. Sonoma's coastal microclimates mean that vintage variation here runs wider than in many California appellations — 2011 and 2013 produced radically different Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs, and a question that bundles them together can't be answered precisely without more detail.

Response expectations

Editorial responses typically arrive within 3 to 5 business days. Messages received during harvest season — generally late August through October — may run closer to 7 business days given the volume of time-sensitive content updates happening across the site.

The response style mirrors the reference approach of the site itself: direct, specific, and grounded in named sources rather than generalizations. A question about sustainable viticulture practices in Sonoma will get an answer that references the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing program by name, not a paragraph about "many producers working toward greener methods."

Two types of questions that fall outside scope, to save the effort of sending them:

• Legal or regulatory advice — questions about compliance, labeling law, or TTB regulations require a licensed attorney or regulatory specialist, not an editorial desk
• Investment or commercial guidance — whether a particular producer's allocation list is a good financial bet is genuinely not something this office is positioned to address

Everything else related to Sonoma wine — its history, its producers, its terroir, its food pairings, its natural and biodynamic producers — is fair territory.