The Best Time to Visit Sonoma County: A Wine Lover's Guide
There’s no wrong time to visit Sonoma County. The weather isn’t always perfect, but as long as you dress properly, you can still comfortably enjoy our region’s beautiful views, charming towns, and exquisite wines any time of the year. And most Sonoma tasting rooms, including Roche Winery’s, have the same or similar hours all year long.
So if you’re a wine lover trying to decide when to visit Sonoma, your decision is really about what you want to do and see when you’re in the area. Let’s walk through Sonoma’s four distinct seasons, which are a little different than what you might be used to if you’re not from around here.
Early Spring
The grape-growing season really begins in early March, when “budbreak” greens up vineyards across the county. This is when growers prepare the vines for the coming season: “debudding” new growth so that the vines focus more of their energy on producing amazing grapes; tilling cover crops and organic fertilizers into the soil to improve vine health; and protecting the vines’ tender shoots from potentially devastating spring frosts.
Tasting rooms see an uptick in business during this season as the weather warms and the sun shines more consistently. And April is Sonoma County Wine Month, which brings a flurry of tasting and bottle promotion at area wineries. It’s a great time to get more value out of your visit.
Late Spring and Summer
Late April through August brings the heart of the grape-growing season in Sonoma. As summer warmth builds and guests queue for outdoor tastings, the vineyards hum with activity.
This is when growers set up trellises to support the growing wines, prune immature grape clusters in the annual “green harvest,” and tend bird and bat boxes to protect the vineyards from pests. It’s a great time for a vineyard tour — might we recommend Roche Winery’s vineyard and winery tour? (If it helps make the decision for you, this experience includes a sneak preview of our ever-popular futures wines, served straight from the barrel.)
If you don’t have time for a vineyard tour, late spring and summer are great for more low-key tasting experiences. We love seeing guests pack our shaded outdoor patios on warm summer afternoons, enjoying wines by the glass or tasting flights showcasing our reserve wines. We do recommend hats and sunscreen — the sun gets quite strong on those bluebird Sonoma days.
Harvest Season
The grape-growing season begins its final chapter in late August and early September, when the first varietals go to harvest.
The exact timing of each harvest depends on summer temperatures, the type of grape, and the vineyard’s microclimate, among other factors. Once it happens, it goes fast, and most of the work occurs overnight and early in the morning, so you might not get a great look at the process.
But you’ll see the evidence in the newly plucked vines of our Tipperary Vineyard and in the buzz of activity around the production facility. To see what’s going on behind the scenes, book a Roche Winery vineyard and winery tour.
If you have more time to see the sights, there’s one more benefit to harvest season in Sonoma: an uptick in social activity around the region. The season’s social calendar is capped by the annual Sonoma County Harvest Fair in mid-October, one of the most popular agricultural fairs in Northern California.
Late Fall and Winter
Vineyard work slows in the late fall and winter months. Once they’ve completed the harvest, cleaned up after the work, and planted cover crops with nitrogen rich plants and legumes, growers more or less leave the vines to their own devices. It’s then time to begin the different but no less important work of producing and aging wine.
The vineyards continue to put on a show for wine country visitors though. While not quite rivaling the neon yellows and oranges of high country aspen and birch, the vines’ broad leaves do change color, painting the hills in shades of orange, red, and amber. For a few weeks in October and November, fall colors that rival those seen on the East Coast come to Sonoma.
This lull between the height of summer and the often rainy winter is a great time to visit Sonoma tasting rooms as well. Fall lingers well into November here. Even as northern latitudes and higher elevations see their first frosts and snows, Sonoma remains mild and sunny, extending the prime outdoor tasting season.
Most years, winter — which in Sonoma is more accurately described as the “cool rainy season” — sets in by Thanksgiving and continues into March. It’s a double-edged sword: the rainier the winter, the lusher and greener the landscape gets, and the better the cover crops do to restore the soil around the vines. Rainy years also bring brilliant yellow mustard blooms as spring approaches, offering end-of-winter visitors a color show to rival autumn. Herbaceous mustard greens feature prominently in Sonoma’s early spring farm-to-table fare, too.