You might have to go to SFGate.com for this, but it is an interesting read about a winery that Tom Hill followed carefully from the very start until he discovered they thought fencing had to do with building a kind of wall.
Beat me to the post. I did try their wines many years ago, but I had no idea of the back story.
Bruce
Seems like this post / story has happened every year for last 10 years. Cue the California Cult wineries Jokes.
A very well-written, well-researched, and fascinating story by Esther. Kudos to her.
I, of course, followed Renassiance from the very start…but not very closely. I tried a few of their wines early on. They were pretty spotty and I didn’ see the potential in them some apparently delivered.
I sorta was aware of a mystical cult background to them from Darrell. And knew that Gideon was once their winemaker. But not all the details that Esther dredged up.
What I didn’t know was the connection with Karl Werner of Callaway. Another winery I followed from the very start. And I can tell you that Eli Callaway made some exceptional wines early on that aged remarkably well. Still have a half btl of SweetNancy. I can state with great authority that Temecula can make great wines. That’s just not the norm these days.
Tom
I first heard about Renaissance from Zelma Long, who visited at the invitation of Karl Werner, who had been her boss at Mondavi. She was served a steak from cattle raised there, enjoyed the wine and told me they had some special philosophy based on Gurdjeff, pardon the spelling. When I sold American wine in the UK, I would run into Gideon, very nice guy and quite interesting, but was never impressed by the wine. Too hot of a region, I thought, esp for riesling.
Sometime in the 90s they called me up and asked if I would trade bulk wine for barrels. Instead of laughing I said, Send me some samples. The next thing you know I sold two containers of Cabernet and late harvest white as private label wine to a wine merchant in East Anglia. Karl did have a way with sweet wine, tho this may have been made by his widow.
Since Karl died and Gideon changed almost everything, both Renaissance wines and Gideon’s own brand have gotten some amazing reviews, esp by Esther Mobley.
Is it the hand or the land??
By the way, Karl’s widow and her husband now make olive oil under the Apollo label…prize winning stuff!
Great article & story. Thanks for posting.
I didn’t realize the winery closed operations. It is still selling wines from prior vintages.
Corti still has the '99 cab for sale -$40 or 45 I think.
Yup, Mel…it was a sweet that Darrell urged me to try that was quite good.
Tom
I found this story pretty amazing! I import Clos Saron into Sweden and therefore I have also tasted the initial Taken from Granite release. I agree with Esther that these are unique wines.
Great story. Renaissance and Clos Saron are both really interesting wineries.
Corti in Sacramento?
yup Corti in Sacramento