"And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
 
Throughout the Old and New Testaments, vines, vineyards, their fruit, and wine are mentioned over and again, none more important to our faith than the words repeated during every Mass Consecration. As if to remind us of how tangibly connected we are to these words, our parish is in Sonoma Valley's fertile wine country. We own a vineyard. It rests right outside our back door, producing some of the region's best grapes. Our Lady of Mount Carmel mission church in nearby Asti is shaped like a wine barrel.

We have long, deep roots here. Our parish dates to 1865 when the first Italian immigrants began to settle in Sonoma County's northernmost Alexander Valley. The first Masses were held in a Cloverdale, CA, hotel until our first parish church was dedicated in 1880. That first church served the parish until 1962 when our current building was erected.

Families from the Italian Swiss Family Colony Winery in Asti five miles south of Cloverdale began worshipping in a school in about 1893. By 1907 they converted a greenhouse into the "wine barrel" church. There they worshipped until 1960 when they dedicated the current building with the same distinctive architecture. In fact, the redwood in its arched ceiling came from old wine barrels.

Today, St. Peter's serves its parishioners in two languages -- one with an English Mass, the other with one in Spanish.

We offer all the Sacraments. We have religious education classes for children and adults. There are several service groups associated with St. Peter's, offering our parishioners other ways to connect with each other and to serve the Cloverdale area.