Mission Possible: Keeping Sonoma True Through the Wine Patrol

Deep beneath the surface of the Sonoma Valley, a controversy lies. Little is known of this controversy unless one happens to delve deep into Sonoma’s rapid growth in recent years. Many people may be surprised to know that Sonomans don’t really want to be compared to, or put against, Napa Valley, its closest rival. Napa, at least some people agree, has become a commercialized Sonoma with high-end shops, high-class eating establishments and high-priced wines; many believe too high-priced.

Enter in the Wine Patrol, a group of individuals whose single most important quest in life is to locate, promote and praise Sonoma’s finest wines under $15-$30 and to bring public awareness to Sonoma and its original simple, non-glitzy charm that Napa has commercially overshadowed in the last few years.

The Wine Patrol is comprised of wine makers and wine drinkers who, back in the 1990s, gained notoriety by “hijacking” the Napa Valley Wine Train and “forced” tourists to try local Sonoma Valley produced wines instead of the highly publicized Napa wines the tourists were on their way to taste. As stated on the Wine Patrol’s Website, the Wine Patrol love wine and understand not everyone can afford expensive bottles of it. By initiating other wine lovers and making them “deputies” via their website instructions, the quest for keeping Sonoma well-known and out of the snobby wine growers’ image seems plausible.

The Wine Patrol’s mission is simple, really: they’re tired of seeing restaurants mark up good-tasting wines because, basically, they can and we allow it to happen because we pay for them. By recruiting members of the public (you join by choice, hijacking potential members is not allowed!) and deputizing them to be on the lookout for overpriced, excellent wines and especially keeping an eye out for any untruths or misrepresentation of the City of Sonoma, the public will hopefully become aware of not only this project but how Sonomans truly love their city and will do just about anything to protect its reputation.

Do you wonder what a “wine crime” is? As a deputy of Wine Patrol, you will be able to spot one of these ten tables away from you in a restaurant. A “wine crime” is simply when restaurants charge way too much for the bottle of wine they purchased from a winery. Add a corkage fee or get charged too much for a simple glass of wine and thus you have a “wine crime”. A deputy is allowed to leave a calling card distributed by you after you pay a $5 fee* to the Wine Patrol and basically direct attention to the wine buyers of restaurants that have sky-high wine prices so wine buyers will be aware that they have committed a “wine crime”. Wine buyers can go to the Wine Patrol’s website, which is listed on the calling card to find the Wine Certification List, where Wine Patrol has named restaurants deemed worthy of being on the list of affordable, high-quality wines. Wine buyers should strive to do what they can to be on this list after being charged with a “wine crime” by a fellow deputy. This is a rather different approach to calling a restaurant wine list that’s priced way too high outlandish, instead bringing humor and a little more respect to the table (no pun intended). It also adds a solution to this problem if the wine buyers choose to participate and raises awareness to how restaurants hike up wine prices even when they don’t have to. The Wine Patrol claims that Europe doesn’t charge insanely high prices for bottles of wine in their fine dining establishments, so why do so many U.S. restaurants feel the need to? Their answer is this: because Europeans won’t stand for paying $50 for a $15 bottle of wine, so why should we?

Will the Sonoma Valley always be able to hold onto its Old World reputation and charm? Will Sonoma become “Napanized” in the next decade or so?  One thing we can count on is the Wine Patrol will be watching our backs, making sure that quality wines stay at reasonable prices and Sonoma remains Sonoma for many, many years to come. Wine lovers can choose to become involved in the revolution or sit back and continue to pay outlandishly overpriced amounts for wines they love. You make the decision!


* The Wine Patrol website charges $5 to become a Deputy and that fee covers your member ID card, an extra member ID card for a friend or spouse, 18 WinePAL cards to leave at restaurants, and the cost to mail these items to you.