McHenry Vineyard
- Address:
-
McHenry Vineyard
6821 Bonny Doon Road
Santa Cruz, CA - Phone:
- (530) 756-3202
- E-mail:
- lmchenry@dcn.org
- URL:
- http://www.mchenryvineyard.com
- $0 Tasting Fee
- Wine Tours Available
- Visit this winery
Wine Tours - Visiting McHenry Vineyard
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Santa Cruz Mountain Wine Tour
This is a five-hour tour will take you through the Santa Cruz Mountains and discover wineries you never knew existed.
McHenry Vineyard is located in the Ben Lomond AVA in the San Francisco Bay Area. During the 1970s and 1980s, the McHenry Family won many awards for their Pinot Noir production.
Unfortunately, disaster struck in 1992. During the late 1980s and 1990s, Pierces Disease swept through much of the Santa Cruz Mountains and Ben Lomond AVA. The McHenrys were not spared from this devastating bacterium. Pierces Disease literally starves the vines of water. Their beloved Pinot Noir vineyard was decimated, but it was not long until the replanting began.
In 1997, the Pinot Noir vines were restored, and they were bearing grapes a few years later. They make two different bottling, each with a different clone. Production is extremely low, and neither wine exceeds 200 cases a year. McHenry Vineyard also makes a Pinot Noir sourced from Massaro Vineyard in Carneros.
Comments & Reviews
June 3, 2009 | mchenry
The reception of our 2005 Estate Pinot Noir has been so positive that only a few cases remain and we have had to limit sales to those who visit the winery on June 6 or 7, 2009, for Vintners Festival. Here is how we describe the beautiful vintage: "The grapes make the wine is a cliché and a simplistic way of explaining the complexities of how great wine comes about. However, with Pinot Noir it is the best explanation of why some wines are so very pleasing. We smiled with delight as we picked the 2005 crop. In our 30+ years of experience with this noble grape, it reached as close as we have ever seen to perfection: rich sugars (25 degrees Brix) and flavors, strong backbone of tartness (1.2 TA, 3.2 pH) and tannin, and small, flavorful berries. The resulting wine is absolutely superb, but we are disappointed to have less than 200 cases of it. Like our 1984, 1988, 1989, 1993, and 1997, it will be best of show in commercial wine judging competitions with bottle aging. It has already won a Silver Medal at the California State Commercial Wine Competition.
The scent is hauntingly beautiful and complex; the feel in the mouth is soft and luscious ; the pleasure of the after-glow brings a smile."
We will release the 2006 Estate and Estate Swan Clone in late August, 2009.
Please visit our web site for more information at www.mchenryvineyard.com
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