The Tasting Panel magazine

December 2015

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DEPARTMENT HEADER DEPARTMENT HEADER 90  /  the tasting panel  /  december 2015 who has clocked in 35 vintages as a winemaker (22 years at Kenwood), has the soft-spoken, affable disposition of a col- lege English professor, and rightly so—he's taught at Santa Rosa Junior College and even published a textbook called About Wine that is available through Amazon.com. "We could make 28 different Sauvignon Blancs because that's how many different lots we bring in," he says, noting that each lot is vinified separately before blending. And, just as production of Sauvignon Blanc goes, all of Kenwood's 45 vintages tell the same story—small-lot winemak- ing techniques coupled with hand-harvesting to produce wines from Sonoma that truly embody the region. An exciting new chapter in that story is unfolding with the recent acquisition of Kenwood by Pernod Ricard Winemakers. When asked about the purchase, Henderson's enthusiasm is palpable. "I feel our best years are ahead of us," he says. "We are investing a lot in the winery—moving our grape delivery and repositioning the winery at the top of our hill so that everything will be gravity-flow, just like it was in 1906 when the Pagani brothers first built the winery. We're buying better barrels, investing in vineyards and getting better clones and better trellis systems." Kenwood's current production hovers around half a million cases annually. "We have 45 people in the winery and ten people in the cellar," explains Henderson, "and I do a lot of the blending—nothing gets picked until I taste the grapes in the vineyard, and this approach unlocks an incredible amount of power. I'm able to tailor specific production methods, such as type of yeast and barrel that is used, to each individual vineyard lot—emphasizing the exceptional flavor and aroma that the individual vineyard's terroir provides." The most obvious and immediate changes that will be distinctly noticeable, however, are in the packaging—Kenwood's labels are getting a whole new look and feel. "We wanted a label that tells the story of Kenwood a bit more," says Henderson. Moving from silk-screen to a more distinctive craft design, Kenwood's iconic wolf head is given a modern rendering that doubles in shape as a heart, which Henderson says was intentional, because they feel Kenwood is "right in the heart of Sonoma County." Within the outline of the heart/wolf head, copper colored lines are evocative of vineyards. "We draw from vineyards all over the county," explains Henderson, "and the small blocks in the label are representative of our small-lot winemaking. And the outline of the wolf—that's a nod to the Jack London ranch." The "Sonoma County" designation, which was fairly small on the previous labels, is now prominent, because as Henderson says, "We think it deserves top credit." Kenwood's current production hovers around half a million cases annually. Henderson,

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