Notes About Business

Geography and topography have settled Marin County in a position where temperatures are lower than those in Sonoma and Napa Counties although they are mere minutes away. Furthermore, Marin County’s terrain and weather patterns are must more similar to those of the southern French wine country of Burgundy than of those in its on State of California. For that reason, viticulture in Marin County and its production of wines can easily compete with the world class wines of Burgundy.

Marin County’s chill factor allows for an extended grape growing season with the fruit hanging longer on their vines which yields higher quality grapes. Marin County’s wine industry celebrates wines with more balance, outstanding natural acidity and many varieties of its wines have lower alcohol levels (usually at under fourteen percent) than those produced in the wineries of the nearby wine country.

Marin County’s viticulture began when the vitis vinifera grapes were introduced at the same time as San Rafael Mission opened its door. Wisely, the residents of Marin County immediately recognized the value of their natural assets and their potentials. Seemingly overnight and regardless of their size, just about every family in Marin County began to cultivate small vineyards on their own plots

The vineyards that were started up by the San Rafael Mission to be used as therapeutic work for the Native Americans who did not take well to the Spanish rule were captured by General Mariano Vallejo. Vallejo promptly banned the Mission’s religious attachments, commended that the vineyards be dug out and replanted on his own property in the neighboring county of Sonoma. This action, of course, brought Marin County’s viticulture to a near standstill.

However, historians and researchers also claim that Marin County’s budding viticulture was set back when San Rafael Mission, which was originally established for the rehabilitation of those Native Americans who began wilting under the Spanish rule and who worked in the nearby vineyards, was taken over by General Mariano Vallejo who banished its religious affiliation and ordered the local vineyards to be uprooted and moved to his own property in Sonoma.

Currently, viticulture and the wine industry in Marin County have been resurrected and are kept alive and growing slowly by twenty five winemakers who are producing premium wines while safeguarding a piece of the County’s history. Nevertheless, viticulture in Marin County continues to be eclipsed by the giants of the California wine country, Napa and Sonoma.

To keep them motivated and informed, the Marin County Grape Growers Association was established. Its members meet twice a month to discuss and debate over issues relating to their industry and to share experiences, to exchange ideas and to ponder over improvements and innovations.

The fact is that Marin County has only 200 acres of vineyards and merely twenty-five wineries while Sonoma County has better than 40,000 acres and nearly 300 wineries and Napa County has 45,275 acres and 316 wineries. Those are facts indeed. But there is still one more fact that I would like to share with you and that fact is that Marin County had the extended growing season and produced the first-class cold-climate wines that Sonoma and Napa Counties could only dream about.