Melia Robinson/Business Insider
For many years, Sonoma County was the kid brother of wine country. Napa County’s elite wineries, trendy restaurants, and globally known brand long overshadowed Sonoma’s charms.
But Sonoma County, which stretches across nine cities and three times the land area of Napa County, is stealing visitors thanks to its laid-back atmosphere and affordability. In 2016, travelers spent $ 1.9 billion in Sonoma County, compared with $ 1.3 billion in Napa County, according to an annual economic impact report. The area attracts approximately double the 3 million visitors who visit Napa County every year.
Comparing the two is like apples and oranges — or pinot grigio and merlot, if you prefer — because they vary so much in size. A wine blogger put it best when he said, “Napa Valley is a wine Disneyland, while Sonoma Valley is a wine region.”
With the harvest season nearly upon us, I visited Sonoma and Napa to figure out which offers the best experience for first-timers in wine country. In both areas, I visited two to three wineries and tried a chardonnay and a house specialty at each.
Here’s how it went.
Full disclosure: I am not a wine connoisseur. But driving from San Francisco to Napa County on a recent weekday, I felt giddy. It’s essentially a boozy amusement park for grown-ups.
Melia Robinson/Business Insider
There is the city of Napa and the county of Napa, considered the holy grail of wine country. It’s home to more than 400 wineries, with many packed side by side along State Route 29.
Google Maps screenshot
Napa County rose to the top of wine-tourism lists in 1976, when a chardonnay from the local winery Chateau Montelena trounced nine other chardonnays in a blind tasting in Paris.
Melia Robinson/Business Insider
The wine competition, known as the 1976 Judgment of Paris, changed the way connoisseurs around the world perceived the young Napa County region. It suddenly rivaled top-dog France.
With its rise in the wine industry, Napa County has also become a tourism destination. The region boasts the only three-Michelin-starred restaurant in wine country (The French Laundry), golf courses, resorts and spas, and some of the most coveted wine grapes anywhere.
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