Just over a decade in, the Sonoma County Barrel Auction (SoCoBA) finds itself in a sweet spot: seasoned enough to have a sense of legacy yet still evolving with the kind of collective energy that feels unmistakably Sonoma.
Last week’s 11th edition brought together around 300 participants – vintners, trade, media and, for the first time, a select group of customers. The two-day event, held on 1-2 May, featured a full-day grand tasting followed by a spirited live auction.
The 2025 SoCoBA raised a total of $328,000. This year’s highest bid went to Ridge Vineyards‘ Lot 43: a 2024 Fredson Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon from Alexander Valley, which sold for $27,000.
‘We are incredibly grateful for this response to our wine among so many esteemed Sonoma County wine producers. Ridge has been producing single-vineyard wines from Sonoma County for about six decades, and while our Sonoma wines are often associated with our Zinfandel programme, and our Bordeaux varietals with Monte Bello Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, this lot offered an opportunity to showcase something new to us: a Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma County,’ said Ryan Johnson, Ridge’s director of marketing.
This kind of surprise – the Sonoma Cabernet from Ridge – is exactly what SoCoBA is designed to deliver.
At first glance, the ‘Never Before, Never Again’ concept sounds straightforward enough – a one-off wine, made once and never repeated. But things get a lot more interesting. In practice, it invites winemakers to break from routine and get a little wild: teaming up in unexpected collaborations, experimenting with techniques that rarely make it into the winery’s core programmes, or gaining access to prized fruit from renowned vineyards or select blocks that are usually off-limits. It’s part creativity lab, part winemakers’ flex, and fully in the spirit of the auction.
‘These one-of-a-kind wines reflect not only the breadth of appellations and varietals in Sonoma County, but also the innovation, collaboration, and generosity of our wine community,’ said Michael Haney, executive director of Sonoma County Vintners.
Credit: Richard Wood Photographics.
This year’s auction featured 59 lots from producers across Sonoma’s AVAs.
Standout wines included a rare collaboration between Sonoma’s historic producer, Williams Selyem, and the Benovia Winery with a Pinot Noir from the Cohn Vineyard, a heritage site planted in the 1970s. The Sticks and Stems Pinot Noir from Three Sticks is a deep dive into 100% whole cluster Pinot Noir from Gap’s Crown Vineyard.
Sightlines, a Pinot Noir from Flowers, is an exploration of the highest section of the Cielo block in the Sea View Ridge estate. Voice of the Vineyard is a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, a blend of fruit from the oldest and newest blocks at Knights Bridge Estate, capturing the site’s ongoing evolution.
Luisona is Saintsbury’s first-ever amphora-fermented Chardonnay, made from a single Dijon 96 clone. A Lorenzo Legacy is a Chardonnay that brings together two distinct visions from the same vineyard, united in one blend by the two Gregs – Stach of Landmark and La Follette of Marchelle.
Unlike more high-stakes wine auctions elsewhere – Premiere Napa Valley, for example – SoCoBA maintains a community-first ethos. The focus remains on connection, storytelling and shared excitement. The numbers matter, but they feel almost secondary to the spirit of it all: a thoughtful blend of authenticity and ambition.
‘Each year, SoCoBA brings the trade deeper into Sonoma wines,’ said Haney. ‘We’ve hosted the event at venues across the county, highlighting the diversity of our AVAs – and once people experience it, they want to come back. We’re seeing more engagement and more buyers eager to explore these wines and connect with the region.’
Since its first edition in 2015, SoCoBA has raised more than $5m to support trade-facing marketing initiatives, including the ongoing #WineIsUs campaign, which promotes Sonoma wines across consumer channels.
