Benziger estate vineyards
1883 London Ranch Rd., Glen Ellen, CA
Website: http://www.benziger.com/
Benziger Family Winery is without a doubt my personal favorite of all wineries I have visited to date. There isn’t anything grandiose about this winery. They don’t have a castle or exquisitely manicured gardens, and they aren’t widely distributed (at least not in New Hampshire). What I like most about this winery is that it is family operated; it is simple but has outstanding wines; and its focus is all about giving as much back to the land as we take from it. With that being said, I make it a point to stop into the winery every time I am in Napa or Sonoma Valley.
The Benzigers have been making wine on Sonoma Mountain since the 1980s. It was Mike Benziger who discovered the property and recognized its potential after going off on his own to study wine in Europe and California. At the time, the Benziger family was living in White Plains, New York. It took some persuasion from Mike to convince the doctor who owned the Sonoma property to sell it, and to convince his father Bruno to fund the purchase. The entire Benziger family, which consisted of Bruno and Helen with their 5 sons and 2 daughters (plus their significant others and children), moved onto the estate and camped inside the leaky, century-old farm house while they went to work immediately on building a winery. The winery was completed in 1981 in time for the crush, and their first two wines, a Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, were released in 1982. They spent the rest of the decade planting their estate vineyards.
Benziger was the first vineyard in Napa and Sonoma to receive Demeter Biodynamic certification. The goal of biodynamics is to incorporate nature into the winemaking process and produce wines that exhibit the characteristics of the land. I think that the Benzigers’ commitment to producing biodynamic wines is evident in the taste and quality of their wines. The winery offers two different tours that bring visitors out into the vineyards and explain the biodynamic farming process. I went on the Biodynamic Vineyard Tram Tour the first time I visited wine country, and this is what gave me a true appreciation for wine. To begin the tour, we hopped onto a tram and rode up into the vineyard making the first stop at the crest of a hill looking out over the surrounding vineyards and winery.
The view from the tram tour at Benziger
Our guide spent some time talking about biodynamics before we got back on the tram and rode through the vineyards to the fermentation facility and crush pad. Here we learned about the crushing and fermentation process and then headed into the caves. After a walk through the cave and a little more education about the barrels, we were led to the tasting room to sample some wines.
The insectarium at Benziger
The second tour that I would recommend to everyone is the Benziger Partners Estate Vineyard Tour. It costs more than the tram tour, but it is an experience that people will remember forever. It can be a very romantic experience as well for couples. Like the Biodynamic Vineyard Tram Tour, this tour also starts with a tram ride through the vineyard, but it gets into much more detail about biodynamics. Along the tour, we rode in between rows of vines and could reach out to taste the grapes. We made several stops along the way where our tour guide talked about the animals on the property and water sources and how they all play a part in biodynamic farming. About half way through the tour, we stopped at the insectarium and were served a glass of Sauvignon Blanc to sip as we marveled at all of the fruits, vegetables, and other plants that were grown there.
Inside Benziger’s wine cave
Our next stop on the tour was the wine cave. We were taken to a candlelit room set up in one section of the cave and sat down to sample 4 different wines while the tour guide provided education about the vineyards where the grapes were grown and how the flavor of the wine is characteristic of the vineyard. On our way out of the cave, we stopped to sample a wine from the barrel. As if we didn’t have enough wine already, the tour ended in a private tasting room off of the main tasting room with a sample of a couple more wines. The experience and the number of wines sampled were well worth the price.
I will continue to recommend this winery to anyone in Napa or Sonoma Valley. To me, this winery represents what wine country should be all about.
Update as of 8/14/15: I just returned from my latest trip to Sonoma specifically to attend the wine club members’ annual Block Party event. The event includes meet-and-greets with the family, the opportunity to claim a vine in one of the vineyard blocks, and a 4 course meal paired with wine. It was the first time I was able to attend and I would love to return because my husband and I had a lovely time. However, I was dismayed to learn that both Benziger and Imagery wineries were recently sold to The Wine Group, a big conglomerate. The news shocked me and I immediately went online to get more information. Based on the articles I read, Mike has been recovering from some health issues. The Wine Group is looking for the opportunity to get into the high-end wine business and has vowed to maintain the sustainable farming practices. Some of the family will continue to be involved in the operations and winemaking. I do hope that is true. I’d hate to see the best qualities of this winery go away because it has been taken over by a conglomerate. Only time will tell…