Our Valleys
To visit Anderson Valley is to leave the world of traffic and convenience stores behind and embrace rich, pastoral countryside.
Anderson Valley
The Anderson Valley is a relatively isolated, small, and narrow valley. Bordered on three sides by mountains and only 18 miles from the Pacific Ocean, the valley opens on its northern end to the Pacific coast via the Navarro River Canyon. This unique topography allows fog to roll into the valley in the morning and cooling breezes to enter in the afternoon. A gradient is thereby created, with the northern ocean end, referred to by locals as “down-valley,” receiving more rain and fog and thus cooler, and the southern inland portion, or “upper-valley,” being typically 8-10°F warmer.
The valley’s vineyards and wineries are clustered along the fringes of Highway 128, which bisects the valley, with many of them located down-valley. Along the highway, vineyards begin at the town of Boonville, continue north through Philo, and end in the tiniest hamlet of the three, Navarro, with a population of only 67. As it continues north, Highway 128 winds through towering redwood forests, eventually reaching the town of Mendocino and the Pacific Ocean.
Alexander Valley
Located in the northern portion of Sonoma County, Alexander Valley covers 75,000 acres of terrain, 13,000 of which are currently planted with vines. The American viticultural area (AVA) is flanked by Dry Creek Valley to the west and Knights Valley to the east. The hillsides just northeast of Healdsburg block the coastal fogs that cover most of Sonoma County, which allows Alexander Valley to keep a little warmer than some of its neighbors. Meanwhile, gentle coastal breezes manage to find their way through crevasses between the hillsides to cool the region during the evening. Well-drained gravelly soils are the dominant soil type in the region.
Dry Creek Valley
With a grape-growing history going back 140 years, the compact Dry Creek Valley AVA includes more than 9,000 vineyard acres and over 70 wineries, one deli, and no stoplights in an area only 16 miles long and two miles wide. This rural wine region is located in north-central Sonoma County, just outside the city of Healdsburg, and a short drive south from small town Cloverdale.
The valley itself is bookended by the Russian River and the Lake Sonoma Recreation Area. A century ago, this was a rural backwater with just about nothing but family-owned farms and a handful of wineries.
The Vineyards of Phire Blue Estates
1800 feet above the Anderson Valley floor are planted 9.5 acres of pinot noir. Ten blocks planted to a variety of clones – 667, 777, 115, Mount Eden, Pommard 5, Pommard 4, Calera, Swan, Martini.
Between the Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley is the Rosewood Hill vineyard, predominantly planted to cabernet sauvignon.
