The wines of Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley are some of the best in California, the United States and the world. They are both in northern California and located right next to each other. So, you might ask “Is there really a difference between these two wine regions?” In a word, yes.

Napa is world famous for its wines and excels in Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Merlot just to name a few. Napa is the smaller of the two valleys, is typically more expensive and gets more traffic and congestion. Napa is located more inland than Sonoma so they don’t get the same cool ocean breezes. Some of the major AVAs in Napa Valley include, Oak Knoll District, Rutherford, St. Helena, Stags Leap District and Yountville.

Sonoma is certainly more expansive being nearly double the size of Napa. So, it’s more spread out, has more small and family-owned wineries and seems to have a more casual feeling. In general, you’ll find more reasonably priced wines in Sonoma. Sonoma grows so many grapes it’s hard to list them all, but they excel in Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Syrah, and Sparkling Wines. What Sonoma has that Napa does not is the ocean. The western part of Sonoma sits right along the Pacific coast which means that they get cooler ocean breezes that help in the growing of certain grapes, such as Pinot Noir. Some of the major AVAs in Sonoma are Alexander Valley, Russian River, Dry Creek, and the Sonoma Coast.

It’s really hard to compare and contrast these two amazing wine districts and their incredible wines in a couple of paragraphs. So my advice it try them both! Cheers!