Economy Sonoma County, California

vineyard on northwest flank of sonoma mountain.

forbes magazine ranked santa rosa metropolitan area—essentially entire county—185th out of 200, on 2007 list of best places business , careers. second on list 5 years before. sonoma county downgraded because of increase in cost of doing business, , reduced job growth, both blamed on increases in cost of housing.

winemaking—both growing of grapes , vinting—is important part of economic , cultural life of sonoma county. in 2004, growers harvested 165,783 short tons (150,396 t)s) of wine grapes worth us$310 million. in 2006 sonoma county grape harvest amounted on 185,000 tons, exceeding napa county s harvest on 30 percent. 80 percent of non-pasture agricultural land in county growing wine grapes—58,280.4 acres (235.85 km) in 2014 of vineyards, on 1100 growers. common varieties planted chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, , pinot noir, though area known merlot , zinfandel.

sonoma county home more 250 wineries eleven distinct , 2 shared american viticultural areas, including sonoma valley ava, russian river valley ava, alexander valley ava, bennett valley ava , dry creek valley ava, last of known production of high-quality zinfandels.