Buena Vista Winery Archives - Wine Country Getaways

Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma

April 20, 2015 by Joe Becerra

Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma

The Buena Vista Winery is located in the town of Sonoma. Folks who live outside of Northern California get a little confused when they try to understand where Sonoma is located. I perviously cleared that up in an article on Sonoma. The town of Sonoma is one of the most picturesque wine towns in California. It also has the good fortune of having three very old wineries. Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma is the oldest commercial winery in California, with a founding date of 1857. There are said to be other California wineries that started before Buena Vista, but none were of the commercial type. The Gundlach Bundschu winery in Sonoma was founded just a few months later in 1857. Rounding out the oldest wineries is the Sebastiani Winery founded in 1904. Three over-100-year-old wineries in one town is very cool. Of the three wineries, the Gundlach Bundschu winery is the only winery that is still owned by the founding family. Gundlach Bundschu is now in its sixth generation of ownership. If you want a history lesson on California winemaking, be sure to visit these three wineries. In addition to these wineries, there are two other full working wineries in the town of Sonoma, the Ravenswood Winery and the Bartholomew Park Winery.

Gundlach is a great choice for picnicking, with exciting vineyard views. The town of Sonoma is just a short hop from San Francisco or Oakland. When traffic is light, one can get there is less than an hour.

Additional guides to the town of Sonoma

Town of Sonoma Winery Map

Sonoma Valley in Winter

December 3, 2014 by Joe Becerra

A look at Sonoma Valley in early December near Valley of the Moon Winery

Sonoma Valley in Winter

The Sonoma Valley, like most of California, is getting a very good dose of rain. Much more is needed. In between storms, there are many nice days to travel to the Sonoma Valley. The good thing is that, if you are in San Francisco or Oakland, it is usually less than an hour’s drive to get to the Sonoma Valley, or as the Native Americans called it, “The Valley of the Moon.” Begin your travels at the Sonoma Plaza. You could spend your entire day exploring the shops, tasting rooms and restaurants. But if you are a wine country buff, you need just a short time there, perhaps mainly to buy your picnic lunch at the Sonoma Cheese Shop. From there, head out to two fantastic and historic wineries, Buena Vista and Gundlach Bundschu. Check our Sonoma Valley winery map for the location of each. Both of these wineries have picnic areas, but we prefer Gundlach because it is a little less hectic.

Most of the Sonoma Valley wineries are along Highway 12. See the Highway 12 Wine Route for details. Most of these wineries are open daily. On the western side of the Sonoma Valley are wineries located near Glen Ellen. See the Glen Ellen Wine Route. We highly recommend a stop at the Benziger Winery. Benziger was one of the first wineries in California to adopt biodynamic farming techniques.

Additional Information Sonoma Valley

Count Agoston Haraszthy Returns

June 27, 2012 by Joe Becerra

On Sunday afternoon we had the pleasure of attending a wine tasting party in San Mateo at the office of the Honorary Consul General of Hungary, Eva E. Voisin, to announce Count Agoston Haraszthy’s upcoming 200th Birthday Celebration on September 1, 2012, in Sonoma. The Buena Vista wines that were poured were donated by Jean-Charles Boisset, the current owner of the winery.

Buena Vista Winery

As you may know, the Count is known as the “Father of California Viticulture” and the entrepreneur who founded Buena Vista Winery in 1857. The Count emigrated from Hungary in 1840 and was involved in various business ventures in Wisconsin, San Diego and San Francisco before settling in Sonoma. He spent years experimenting with many different grapevines he had imported from Europe.