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Pinot Passion Tour at Benziger and Building Thoughts
A client just reported on a brand new tour that the Benziger Family Winery focused on Pinot Noir. Coincidentally Pinot grapes are arriving at the crush pad, better late than never, so they could taste the juice fresh from vineyard. This 1.5 hour tour went into the vineyards and a private tasting room where they enjoyed a large selection of wines. The presentation included Power Point and part of the focus was about recognizing the wine’s taste relates to the vineyards.
We are glad they dumped the excess wine out because they drove themselves. We did a San Francisco day tour and a Napa day tour but they had a free day before returning home and we recommended Sonoma Valley. They spent the whole day at Benziger; after the Pinot they did the reserve tasting in the main room.
Recognizing the wine related to the vineyard is something from a James Bond movie. Bond is dining with M and a minister and James identifies the wine by the year and the side of the hill the grapes came from. As a wine tour guides we recognize that wines smell like the vineyards they spring from and the winery where they are made. Cakebread chardonnay smells just like their wood paneled winery, even more than their Carneros vineyards next door to Etude.
The Benzigers wineries have their equipment outside so their wines are true to the vineyards and the diversity of flavors they deliver in their tasting rooms is wonderful. A winery that makes all of their wines in one building, like Squire’s Glenlyon, tends to have a signature flavor style established by the shape of the building, the yeast caught in the air, and the aroma’s that previous vintages have left behind. Fortunately in Glenlyon’s case it’s a great little building and wonderful flavors.
The Freestone winery makes wonderful wines and yet they haven’t hit their stride yet. Why not? It’s a new building, albeit a fantastic wine making facility, but it is going to take a few vintages before it develops its Joseph Phelps signature. Their Napa wine making building has a delicious scent that marks all of their wines for the better. Like everything else about wine making, the more vintages behind you the better the future.
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