For remarkably good wines at approachable prices, head to Ca.’s Sonoma County

To those familiar with California’s wine history and geography, Sonoma County looms as large as Napa Valley. While wine grapes were introduced by Spanish missionaries along the coast of Southern California much earlier, the first quality-oriented successes in American winemaking took place in what is now Sonoma County in the late 19th century, not long after the Bear Flag of the California Republic was first raised over the town of Sonoma itself.

Sonoma County covers a huge coastal area located within an easy drive from San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge and just north of Marin County’s scenic suburbs and redwood forests. The region is well-suited to agriculture and is the birthplace of California’s farm-to-table movement.

With miles of Pacific coastline to the west and a shorter waterline along the Bay to the southeast, roughly half of Sonoma County has a cooler maritime climate that favors lighter wine styles, such as sparkling wines and white wines, but also pinot noirs. However, the inland northeast is more insulated and considerably warmer, so it specializes in bolder reds from thicker-skinned grapes like cabernet sauvignon.

Appellations like Dry Creek Valley, Knights Valley, and Alexander Valley, where this winery is located, may not have the cachet of the adjacent Napa Valley, but they make remarkably good wines at more approachable prices. Sourced primarily from Alexander Valley vineyards, this midweight red wine is loaded with dark cherry and mulberry flavors, with lingering accents of pumpkin pie spices and vanilla that derive from months of aging in oak barrels.

$17.99, 14.5% alcohol

PLCB Item #5623

Sale price through May 1 — regularly $20.99

Also available at:

Total Wine & More in Wilmington and Claymont, Del., $15.99, totalwine.com; Gloucester City Bottlestop in Gloucester City, $16.09, bottlestopnj.com; Canal’s Bottlestop in Marlton, $16.96, canalswine.com.