Sonoma Valley Wineries - Kunde Family Estate
American Viticultural Area

This print by artist Kerne Erickson depicts the vineyards of the Kunde Family Estate in the Sonoma Valley AVA. Part of this estate is their Wildwood Vineyards, a 1,000-acre parcel bought by Louis Kunde in 1904 and planted with imported cuttings from renowned French wine producers, Chateaux Margaux and Lafite Rothschild. Kinde is the largest of this regions family owned vineyards at over 1,800 acres and in its fifth-generation. The movie, "Bottle Shock" starring Ivan Rickman and Christopher Pine was filmed on this estate. The movie chronicles the true events that put Napa Valley on the world stage as being recognized as a world-class wine producer next to the French.
Sonoma Valley has played a significant role in the history of California wine. The first vineyards in the valley were planted by Franciscan monks at Mission San Francisco Solano in 1823. In 1857, Agoston Haraszthy established one of California's first successful commercial wineries here when he founded Buena Vista Winery. By 1920, there were 256 wineries in Sonoma Valley with more than 20,000 acres planted to grape vines. Prohibition affected Sonoma Valley as hard as any other wine region in California, and most wineries were unable to continue operating. Recovery after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 was slow. Even in 1969, there were only 58 bonded wineries in Sonoma Valley.
There are well over 200 wineries in this AVA