Thursday Virtual Happy Hour: The Russian River Valley AVA in Sonoma County

We are continuing a four-week exploration of various AVAs within Sonoma County. The idea is to find a bottle of wine made from grapes grown within the AVA. You can choose any varietal or blend that you want. If you can't find something within your budget, try something within Sonoma County in general.

Russian River Valley, one of the United States' top-ranked wine regions, is located at the heart of Sonoma County, California. It is one of California's coolest and foggiest AVAs creating a perfect climate for producing highly acclaimed wines from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. It is named after the Russian-American Company, whose explorers charted the river in the early 19th Century, eventually founding the Fort Ross colony a few miles north of the river mouth. The Russian River which gives the AVA its name is the second-largest river within the nine-county Greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Despite the AVA's name, the river flows only through its northern edge – the majority of vineyards here are located on the plains between the towns of Windsor, Santa Rosa and Sebastopol. The AVA's limits have been extended south-eastwards twice in the past decade, further emphasizing this effect.

The finest Russian River Valley vineyard sites are planted on either Goldridge Series or Franciscan Assemblage soils. The Goldridge Series is highly characteristic of Sonoma Valley and consists of deep, moderately well-drained soils formed in material weathered from loose, crumbly sandstone. The Franciscan Assemblage is a chaotically distributed mix of greywacke sandstones, limestones, deep-sea radiolarian cherts, altered mafic volcanic rocks (greenstones), serpentinites, shales, and high-pressure metamorphic rocks. There are also alluvial soils of various make-ups here, concentrated close to the river itself.

We have a choice of videos to watch including:

1. https://youtu.be/LyHhb9K4N_E?si=ZggkaTz4MZHjG1ml - A Visit to Russian River Valley, Sonoma County California - Russian River Valley Winegrowers (1:57)
2. https://youtu.be/c5fx9sKdiVM?si=OC3oJLL3CHmP9EIf - The Russian River Valley Neighborhoods - Russian River Valley Winegrowers (3:35)
3. https://youtu.be/Z8Mz7uViNLI?si=j_U3dh1DM5P5eSbT - Dissecting the Russian River Valley AVA - Cellar Angels (6:12)
4. https://youtu.be/mBF4_0x6lg8?si=SgXbAvlNvh5sEs3w - Exploring Russian River Wines for WSET Level 4 - Wine with Jimmy (11:45)

So, pick up a bottle and watch a couple of videos. Let us know what you’re drinking and eating, and, if possible, the region from which your wine comes. Do you have any comments (positive or negative) about the videos? And, as always, tell us what’s going on in your life - what's happening with you, how you're feeling about things, updates, successes, challenges - as much or as little as you’re willing to disclose. We are in this together. And - thank goodness - we have wine!

Cheers!!