The Tasting Panel magazine

August 2010

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Up Front at UP Artesa The Carneros view behind him, Mark Beringer begins a new phase for Artesa Winery. by Meridith May / photos by Ryan Lely Carneros spans the southern edge of Napa and Sonoma, with Artesa sitting pretty on the Napa side of the AVA. Its natural air- conditioning from Petaluma Gap winds, its foggy mornings and its warm daytime temps bring the paradigm of elegant intensity to its main charac- ters, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, making it unlike any other California wine region. “So many people have tried to be something else,” notes Mark Beringer, who joined Artesa as winemaker in February of 2009. “We are putting Carneros back into our wines. We are bringing back Carneros, back to the place it needs to be. Winemakers have leap-frogged on other appel- lations for too long, manipulating the fruit to be something else. Carneros doesn’t bring out big, extracted Pinots, but that’s the style that seems to have been emulated here. You’re not going to get Russian River or Monterey Pinots in Carneros.” Beringer, who is a fifth-generation descendent of Beringer Winery co-founder Jacob Beringer, left a 14-and-a-half-year career as Director of Winemaking for Duckhorn Vineyards to begin Artesa’s new phase. Artesa Winery, designed by Barcelona architect Domingo Triay, is built into the highest hill of the 350-acre estate, with a protective native grass covering. / the tasting panel / august 2010 “I am bringing back the delicate style of Carneros Pinot Noir—that light, strawberry, floral-rose-petal style. And for Chardonnay: lemon-custard, citrus-blossom character. You just can’t load up this varietal with oak and malolactic fermentation.” Beringer’s touch on the Artesa Chardonnay includes whole-cluster pressing and a French oak barrel program—but just a small portion of oak, PHOTO: BY MERIDITH MAY

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