When we visited Beringer Vineyards and Winery in October, I knew the company was a large producer, but I had no idea that it was part of a huge global conglomerate and that it produced some really incredible wines.
Beringer Vineyards and Winery (http://www.beringer.com/) were founded by brothers Jacob and Frederick Beringer, who were German immigrants. They purchased the land in 1875 and founded the winery in 1876. They hired Chinese workers to hand-chisel 1,200 feet of rock tunnels in the side of Spring Mountain to use for storing and aging wines.
In 1884, a magnificent house, known as Rhine House, was built as Frederick Beringer’s residence. It’s style was Victorian, with gables and turrets. It had magnificent stone work, stained-glass windows, and wood paneling. The 17-room mansion was completely refurbished in 2006-2008 (http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2008/12/everything-old-is-new-again.html)
Rhine House
Today, Beringer is part of a huge global wine conglomerate called Treasury Wine Estates. Treasury Wine Estates was split off from the Foster’s Group (Formerly Foster’s Brewing Group) of Australia in May of 2011. Treasury Wine Estates owns such companies as Stag’s Leap, Lindemans, Penfolds, Rosemount, Chateau St. Jean, and Etude.
Beringer was owned by the Beringer family until 1971, when it sold the business to the Nestlé Company (http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=business_cases). Under Nestlé ownership, the business expanded significantly. In 1996, Another group bought Beringer in a leveraged buyout. The business continued to expand, acquiring wineries such as Chateau St. Jean and Stag’s Leap. In 2000, it was acquired by Foster’s.
Beringer owns and manages 14 vineyards in a variety of microclimates, with different soils, and at different altitudes. They are all in Napa County or at the edge of the county. (http://www.beringer.com/index.cfm?method=pages.showPage&pageid=67ed41c9-bcff-203f-843a-bf0e9ddff56c)
Beringer is the oldest continuous operating winery in the Napa Valley.
Beringer produces wines at many different price points - from $7 per bottle to $270 per bottle.
We did two tastings in two different buildings at Beringer. The first was while we were seated at a table on the porch of the Rhine House. The temperature was perfect outside. The man who served us was Eric, a real gentleman, who was very knowledgeable. That tasting was the Beringer Reserve Experience which cost $25 for any four wines selected from a menu of nine wines - one white, six reds, and two dessert wines. The menu also offered several food pairing snacks.
Eric
My wife and I shared a tasting, and also ordered a plate of mixed olives for $4 and a LaBrea Bakery demi-baguette for $2.
We tasted four cabernet sauvignons, all of which we rated excellent. They were among the best wines we tasted at any wineries on our trip. I can only imagine what these cabs would be like with a few more years of aging. The retail bottle prices and wine club discounted prices are listed below:
- 2008 St. Helena Home Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon - excellent - $90/$72, rated 90 points by Robert Parker.
- 2007 Bancroft Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon from Howell Mountain, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon - excellent - $90/$72, rated 94 points by Robert Parker.
- 2006 Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, 97% Cabernet Sauvignon from 7 vineyards, and 3% Cabernet Franc - excellent - $115/$92, rated 93+ points by Robert Parker
- 2007 Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, 97% Cabernet Sauvignon from 6 vineyards, and 3% Cabernet Franc - excellent - $115/$92, rated 97 points by Robert Parker.
The olives and baguette paired very nicely with these wines.
After finishing the reserve tasting, we walked out of the Rhine house and through a small plaza with a fountain toward the right rear of the house. We then walked up a few stairs to the Old Winery Tasting Room, which also had a shop. There, we did a second tasting - a Wine & Chocolate Tasting - for $26.94. We tasted four more reds. They were very nice to nice, but did not begin to compare to the reserve wines we had just tasted.
Plaza and Fountain Behind Rhine House
We tasted the following wines. Retail prices were only available for two of the four wines.:
- 2007 Napa Valley Merlot - very nice
- 2007 Knights Valley Meritage, 52% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 1% Malbec - nice
- 2008 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc - very nice - $40
- 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot - very nice - $27, rated 91 points by Wine Spectator
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