2007-11-09
BERINGER VINEYARDS
Sweet and to the Point
by Richard Paul Hinkle
One of the joys of getting out on the road and visiting wineries is to see and appreciate the extraordinary variety of tasting rooms. Some are nothing more than a cloth-covered table in a corner of a cellar; others are creations intricate enough to set architecture students to salivating. Some are mountaintop aeries, some overlook lakes or rivers, and some are tunneled deep into the earth, where barrels and cobwebs compete for your attention.
Then there is Beringer, one of my favorite tasting rooms of all time. I’m talking about the Rhine House, where Reserve tastings are still held and wine accoutrements in dazzling array are available for sale. This is a unique place in the world of wine, and I do not use that word idly. The house – designed to replicate the family home of the brothers Beringer in Mainz (Germany) – was built over a two year period (finished in 1883) for $28,000. That was a lot of money then.
Frederick Beringer, the businessman of the duo, commissioned San Francisco architect A. Schroepfer to design and build the 17-room Victorian. Built of California redwood, brick and stucco, the original slate roof still covers the gabled roof. I am particularly enamored of the original Tudor color scheme: earth tones meant to meld into the environment as seamlessly as possible. The St. Helena Star wrote the following: “The building is in medieval style. The basement and first story are of locally quarried limestone, while the second story is of bricks sheathed in California redwood. Above this is a begabled attic, replete with many dormer windows along with a tower which is higher than any steeple in town.”
Curiously, Frederick actually persuaded his younger brother Jacob (the winemaker), to move his own house 200 feet to the north so that he, Frederick, could have what he considered the most desirable location on the property for his new mansion. Jacob lived in the handsome Hudson House (originally built in 1848) until his death in 1915. Hudson House – since marvelously restored – is now the site of Beringer Vineyards’ Culinary Arts Center.
One of the wines you’ll want to taste when you visit is the 2006 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($15). Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite white wines, and this one will tell you why I like it with its zesty, fresh lime and just-cut grassiness. Says winemaker Laurie Hook of the Sauvignon Blanc, “This wine has grapefruit, guava, melon and lots of citrus character; it is grassy as you suggest, and there’s a nice little backnote of honey in the finish.” Which makes it an ideal wine for any al fresco dining experience, and perfect for seafood of all sorts.
The Napa Valley Pinot Noir 2006, at $20 the bottle, is more than a good value. There’s plenty of strawberry and raspberry fruit, and some clove and cardamom spiciness, and a fluid texture that has all the allure that the variety is supposed to have. Mushrooms or filet mignon; or both at once. This is the wine.
Beringer’s 2005 Napa Valley Merlot ($19) is typical of the variety, with soft and subtle plum and blueberry fruit up front, and just a hint of vanillin oak to spice things up a little. Salisbury steak anyone?
The King of the Hill at Beringer is the Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, and the 2004 ($115) is just coming into release. Executive Winemaker Ed Sbragia – he’s also busy with his own eponymous family winery over in Sonoma County – still has a hand in developing and producing this iconic Napa Valley wine. “We use about five or six percent of Cabernet Franc in the blend for its aromatics, and we draw from six or different vineyard sites to maintain the inherent complexity of the wine,” says the veteran winemaker. You can see it in both the accessibility and age-worthiness of a wine that is defined by its typical “C” trio: coffee-cassis-chocolate. It’s a wine that is rich yet silky, a wine that truly unfolds itself, piece by piece, different each time you taste it. Which is the very definition of complexity.
If you like dessert as much as I do, then hold on to your hat for the utterly delectable “Nightingale,” a blend of botrytised Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. The 2004 ($40/half) is exquisite, with orange peel, honey and vanillin (Sbragia likes “butterscotch”), in a rich, syrupy texture that would be perfect on its own or paired – in delightful contrast – with Roquefort cheese. Killer, absolutely killer.
Beringer Vineyard is located at 2000 Main Street in St. Helena, just north of the downtown area on your left (in the Avenue of the Elms). Phone (707) 963-4812 for further info, or check their extensive website – complete with wine collecting ideas and fabulous recipes from the chefs at the Culinary Arts Center – at www.beringer.com. The tasting room is open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and tours of the original caves are available.
[Hinkle is the author of eight wine books, and is presently working on numbers nine and ten. He also does business writing. He can be reached at rphinkle@sonic.net.]
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