1995 Benziger Muscat Canelli

Benziger Family Winery was founded in 1981 when Mike and Mary Benziger, then a young married couple, settled in northern California. Within a few years Mike’s father Bruno Benziger, a successful New Jersey wine and spirits importer, purchased property in Sonoma Valley to start a grape-growing and farming business. The family specialized in well-made but modestly-priced wines, and by 1985 they were producing 380,000 bottles annually. Eventually Benziger’s six other adult children moved west and joined the business. Their Glen Ellen and M.G. Vallejo brands were sold to Heublein Inc. in 1993. However the family also started a line of fine wines in the 1980s and today the 100-acre estate includes vineyards in the Russian River Valley, the Sonoma Coast, Sonoma Valley and Sonoma Mountain appellations. The estate is biodynamic and produces a broad portfolio of wines including Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and blends. The estate is still owned and operated by the Benziger family.

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,