Centuries of Setting the Bar for the Napa Valley

Everything at Beringer Vineyards, just north of St. Helena, has been designed to pull you in and offer relaxed enjoyment of a wide range of wines. It’s just that they’ve been doing it continuously longer than anyone else in the Valley – since 1876, in fact. Yes, three centuries’ worth of hospitality have yielded some impressive results.  The design of the grove of trees and their landscaping which greet you as you pull in silence the road noise of Highway 29, taking you back in time to the nineteenth century.  Founded by German brothers Jacob and Frederick, the gravity-flow and then-steam-powered winery is supported by thousands of feet of hand-dug caves in the hillside, which still provide a stable 58 degrees year-round.

The winery offers two different tours, Introduction to Beringer and Taste of Beringer, and reservations are recommended though you can go online to do so, but it’s really the various tasting options and the cornicopia of bottlings which make Beringer Vineyards our Tasting Room of the Week.  The sheer number of wines made is staggering, and there are literally too many to count.  Among the highlights are the annually released Private Reserve Cabernet and Chardonnay wines, which were first made in 1977 and the Modern Heritage winery-only bottlings which were first made Chardonnay, Rosé, Riesling, Pinot Noir and a red Rhône blend. The Knights Valley wines show off the impact of volcanic soils on several Cabernets, a Meritage red blend, awhite blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sèmillon while the Napa Valley releases highlight at least a dozen different vineyard-designated Cabs, as well as Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc.  There are also lighter styles of wines in the California Collection, including Pinot Grigio, White Zinfandel, sparkling wines, and sweet bottlings.

Your options for enjoying the wines are equally as all-encompassing.  The Old Winery Tasting Room offers the opportunity to sample the more popular releases while the 1883 Rhine House Mansion provides tastings of the reserve and limited-release bottlings.  For those looking for something special, the Private Tasting, by appointment only, will take you deep into the library, and the Private Club Tasting, personally led by the Wine Club Concierge, goes even further.  Large groups of twenty or more can be accommodated, too, with special individualized tastings arranged in advance.  It’s that combination of lots of wines and lots of ways to enjoy them which really makes Beringer stand out above the crowd and which shows why they’ve been leading the way for as long as folks have been coming to Napa for the best wines in the country.  Check out for yourself what others have known since the nineteenth century – Beringer Vineyards is the best of the best. Enjoy!