Buena Vista is where commercial California wine began. Founded in 1857 by the Hungarian emigre Agoston Haraszthy, the self styled Count of Buena Vista, it is the oldest commercial winery in the state and a cornerstone of Sonoma County wine history.

The Count who planted California wine

Haraszthy reached the United States in 1842 and arrived in Sonoma in the 1850s convinced the hills east of town could rival Europe. In 1857 he founded Buena Vista and turned it into a working laboratory, importing tens of thousands of vine cuttings, ordering some of the first wine caves in the state dug by hand, and pushing growers across Northern California to think bigger.

His restless career ended in 1869 in Nicaragua, but the estate he started outlived him by more than a century and a half and shaped the way the whole state grows wine.

A landmark that survived everything

The stone Press House, built in 1862 as the first gravity flow winery in California, still anchors the property. The winery weathered phylloxera, earthquake damage, and the long shadow of Prohibition, the same forces that closed many of its peers for good.

That endurance is why Buena Vista is recognized as a California Historical Landmark and the benchmark against which the rest of the state measures its history.

The Boisset era

In 2011 Buena Vista joined the Boisset Collection, the family company led in the United States by Jean Charles Boisset, whose roots run to Burgundy. The restoration that followed brought the historic cellars back to life and leaned into the theatrical spirit of the founder.

The work reframed the estate as a place to walk through the start of an industry rather than just taste through a list.

Heritage you can taste

The wines play on that heritage, led by The Count, a Sonoma red blend named for Haraszthy himself, alongside Bordeaux varieties grown across the county. A visit pairs those bottles with the restored caves and the Press House.

For the wider picture, the Sonoma County wine guide sets Buena Vista alongside neighbors like Gundlach Bundschu, the family owned estate founded a year later.

Visiting Buena

The estate sits at the end of Old Winery Road, a short drive from Sonoma Plaza, surrounded by the vineyards and oak hills that first caught the Count’s eye. Tastings center on the restored Press House.

Frequently asked questions

Not sure where to start? Take the wine quiz or browse the full Sonoma County wine guide and California wine guide.