By Virginie Boone

Jack London’s novel Valley of the Moon, written in 1913, is about a working-class couple, Billy and Saxon, living in Oakland who go in search of farmland they can eventually own, ending up in Sonoma Valley, where their dreams come true.

Not his biggest hit but beloved nonetheless, the book is a road trip story reflecting London’s increasing interest in and commitment to farming, elements of which can still be pondered at the 1,565-acre Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen, the writer’s long-ago home and ranch, where his dreams came true.

California-born writer Joan Didion reflected on London and others’ search for meaning in the folds of the Golden State in her own book, Where I Was From, published in 2003. Though she had complicated feelings about the state (moving back and forth to New York), she recognized its persistence as a place for dreamers and strivers:

“We believed in fresh starts,” she wrote. “We believed in good luck. We believed in the miner who scratched together one last stake and struck the Comstock Lode. We believed in the wildcatter who leased arid land at two and a half cents an acre and brought in Kettleman Hills, fourteen million barrels of crude in its first three years. We believed in all the ways that apparently played-out possibilities could while we slept turn green and golden.”

We still believe; people continue to be drawn to an agricultural, entrepreneurial and cultural beacon like California because they believe that here, their dreams may come true. At the same time, we know that it’s about more than fresh starts and good luck. Want to get into grape growing or wine? A place like Sonoma County has for over a century drawn those looking to be a part of a farming community with a long track record of success and name recognition in the world.

But it’s also a great place to live, with newcomers arriving constantly, despite its challenges, and locals born and raised in Sonoma County leaving to learn and explore elsewhere and coming back. The vibrant food and wine industries attract talent and interest from near and far, bringing in wider perspectives and approaches to our area. A wine region otherwise suffers when it doesn’t have a wide worldview and outside perspectives.

Sonoma County offers culture beyond the gustatory, bringing in world-class music, entertainment and film to such venues as the Green Music Center, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts and True West Film Center.

So when the Sonoma County Winegrowers travel to New York to showcase Sonoma County wines at the Wine Spectator New York Wine Experience, like they did last week, or to the Toyota Center in Houston to pour wines for Rockets fans, or even to nearby San Francisco to mingle with the San Francisco Giants fanbase in the Cloud Club at Oracle Park, like they did last season, the growers and winemakers who come along embody not just the great wines they make, but the greatness of Sonoma County overall. A place for dreamers where dreams can still come true.

Image by: Sonoma Valley Visitors