Wine Postcard Stories – Pioneer Sonoma Plaza Wine Scene: An Early Wine Country Tour
A visitor to the Sonoma Valley in 1893 exclaimed, “If this is not Paradise, there is no such spot on earth. The beauty of the scenery, the wealth of the soil, the perfect climate are united here.” A beautiful, rare double foldout postcard shows the little township around 1900 with tidy vineyards extending up the northern hillsides. The budding city’s vineyard acres clearly outnumbered its inhabitants, three to one. By 1892, the area population was 750 while there were 3,000 acres planted to vineyards, mainly Mission and Zinfandel but with plots of Riesling and Semillon. Wineries dotted the landscape. During the last half of the 19th century, a number of winegrowers established their wineries near or overlooking the Sonoma Plaza. One very rare turn-of-the-century postcard led to this wine country story.
