{"id":2747,"date":"2024-08-30T13:45:12","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T13:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2747"},"modified":"2024-08-30T14:58:35","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T14:58:35","slug":"let-us-now-praise-famous-vineyards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2747","title":{"rendered":"Let Us Now Praise Famous Vineyards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The sight of internationally famous vineyards in the course of wine tasting travels can evoke some contradictory responses.  The most obvious is the sense of understanding that that\u2019s where some really great wine comes from.  But the other is that, \u201cOh well, it looks like every other vineyard, so what\u2019s the big deal?\u201d  To us, it\u2019s not so much about seeing the famous vines; it comes when we open a bottle from one of those vineyards and can picture the exact location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of these vineyards are right next to the building \u2013 let\u2019s call it a ch\u00e2teau \u2013 where the wine is made.  Bordeaux law, for example, requires the vines and the winery to be in close contact.  In many other parts of the world, the vineyards are free-standing.  We have been fortunate enough to have seen many of these unique properties.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sanford & Benedict vineyard.  Photo courtesy of Sanford Winery.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since this issue is focused on Santa Rita Hills, there are two vineyards that have enormous reputations.\u00a0 Sanford & Benedict is the flagship vineyard of the Sanford Winery<\/a> and we suppose they keep the best grapes for themselves.\u00a0 But there are many other labels that boast wines from that vineyard, including Fess Parker, Au Bon Climat<\/a> and even Gary Farrell<\/a> from way up north in Sonoma County.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other renowned Santa Rita Hills vineyard is Fiddlestix, which is virtually across the road from Sanford & Benedict.  There is no Fiddlestix winery, but the grapes are widely sold.  We\u2019re most familiar with Etude\u2019s wine from there.  And speaking of Etude<\/a>, their Heirloom vineyards are pretty special, too.<\/p>\n\n\n

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To Kalon Vineyard, with the Robert Mondavi winery at the rear.  Photo courtesy of the winery.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most famous Napa Valley vineyard is undoubtedly To Kalon.  Although there is a To Kalon Vineyard Company, the vast majority of this vineyard\u2019s production is owned by Constellation Brands, which in turn owns Robert Mondavi.  Mondavi\u2019s To Kalon Reserve helped establish Napa Valley as capable of making world-class wines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most famous European vineyards are in Burgundy.  Due to the history and laws of this region, almost all vineyards are split among numerous growers, with individuals sometimes limited to a single row in a single vineyard.  So, for example, the Clos de Vougeot<\/a> in Burgundy (of which we have written before), is shared by many wineries including Jadot, Faiveley, Drouhin and many other smaller producers.  They can all claim to have a Clos Vougeot wine, which by itself is a mark of quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two other Burgundy vineyards stand out.  Power Tasting has written about Corton-Charlemagne<\/a> before.  Supposedly, Charlemagne owned it back when.  Today, it\u2019s the only vineyard in the C\u00f4te d\u2019Or that produces both red and white grand cru<\/em> wines.  And we can\u2019t forget the Puligny-Montrachet vineyards.  One right next to the other, there\u2019s Montrachet itself, and Chevalier-Montrachet and B\u00e2tard-Montrachet, plus several others.  Connoisseurs differ as to which is the greatest.  We\u2019re not connoisseurs but we have walked in those vineyards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sight of internationally famous vineyards in the course of wine tasting travels can evoke some contradictory responses.  The most obvious is the sense of understanding that that\u2019s where some really great wine comes from.  But the other is that, \u201cOh well, it looks like every other vineyard, so what\u2019s the big deal?\u201d  To us, … Continue reading Let Us Now Praise Famous Vineyards<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2747"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2747"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2765,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2747\/revisions\/2765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}