The romantic nose of this wine almost leaping from the glass is the first thing to steal your attention with a beautiful expression of jasmine, white peach, apricot and honeydew. The next impressive characteristic is the overly weighty, almost viscous mouthfeel. So heavily does this elegant white wine coat your palate, that your first reaction is almost a double-take, questioning weather or not this really is a Sauvignon Blanc – rather than a good Chardonnay. Once your feet return to the ground, you’ll find the finish to be a satisfying light, clean citrus experience that would more than compliment most any salad, seafood or white meat dish. Of course, it would also pair well with any sunset or afternoon swing in your hammock. And at 700 cases produced, it will not last long.

Contact Jonathan Keller to steal as much of this little gem as you can.

Renaissance’s winemaker Gideon Beinstock handcrafts their estate-bottled wines in a traditional European style. Gideon first arrived at Renaissance in the 1970s and helped to plant the vineyard. During the 1980s he roamed the vineyards of France, exploring their wines and wineries. He built friendships with a number of winemakers in Burgundy and the Rhone Valley, and was particularly influenced by such wine experts as Steven Spurrier (Academie du Vin, Paris, 1980/81) and Maggie McNie, MW (Masters of Wine Program, London 1989). With his half-French heritage, Gideon’s first love was definitely French wines. He began to write articles about wines and conduct classes. He returned to Renaissance in the early 1990s where he gained hands-on experience as assistant winemaker under Diana Werner.

When he became head winemaker in January 1994, Gideon brought a radical change to their winemaking art: he “finished” the 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon, blending Renaissance’s traditionally pure varietal Cabernet Sauvignon with 4 percent Merlot and 1.5% Sauvignon Blanc. The result was a gold medal at the 1995 VINEXPO and a great deal of critical praise. Wine author and columnist, Matt Kramer, proclaimed this 1991 Renaissance Cabernet Sauvignon as “one of its best–intense, filled with a blackcurrant scent and superbly balanced” and further described it as “stunning and long-lived.” It was this wine that prompted him to call Renaissance “California’s best-kept Cabernet secret.”

Originally, the Renaissance winemaking style was highly extracted, thick, very tannic, designed for long aging in the bottle. Gideon’s “hands off” style of winemaking is based on minimal manipulation: gentle extraction, no inoculations, no fining or filtration doing everything in his power to highlight the expression of the terroir in the wine.

Since 1994 Gideon has conducted a series of experiments with additional grape varieties in their vineyards, searching for the best microclimate, soil, and varietal combination. This program opened new horizons for their use of blends as a winemaking tool (for example, Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc and Merlot), and lead to the creation of a whole range of exciting new wines, such as Syrah, Grenache, Viognier and Roussanne.

Compared to the single varietal approach, blending a few varietals to maximize the expression of the soil and “sense of place” is a key element in the French winemaking tradition. Gideon, who trained as an artist, describes his winemaking art: “Just as a painter mixes different colors to capture the essence of light, I work with a palette of different grapes to achieve compositions that capture the essence of our vineyard.”

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The 2006 Y3 Chardonnay from JAX sees no malolactic fermentation and reflects the clean, fresh acidity and wonderful finesse that one would expect from an excellent food-friendly wine. A lovely white wine with a pleasant buttery mouthfeel, not overly heavy, finishing clean and elegant. This Chardonnay will easily impress those used to spending double what it costs to enjoy this wine. Rob Hunter (former executive wine director at Sterling Vineyards) made this popular Chardonnay from top vineyard sources (Pahlmeyer, Atlas Peak) which consistently produce wines in the top shelf price range for California Chardonnays.

The Y3 name is a tribute to the proprietors’ grandparents who owned a cattle ranch in the 1960s and the Y3 symbol was their family cattle brand. Stock up on this wine and you won’t regret a single, delicious bottle.

Contact Jonathan Keller to acquire JAX Y3 Chardonnay.

Contact Jonathan Keller to acquire Comtes Lafon Sancerre.

2006 R&B Cellars Sauvignon Blanc – 100% Sauvignon Blanc: 70% Rutherford Bench, 20% St. Helena, 10% Healdsburg. This superb wine is a combination of Sauvignon Blanc from both Sonoma and Napa regions of California, each bringing its own distinct characteristic to the blend.

In a daring style, winemaker Kevin Brown blended 2006 Rutherford Bench Sauvignon Blanc fermented in stainless steel with 2006 St. Helena and Healdsburg barrel fermented Sauvignon Blanc. The combination of these two areas (and fermentation styles) yielded a wine with exceptional varietal character and flavor. The Rutherford Bench was completely tank fermented to maintain crisp citrus tones. The two Napa Valley lots received 80% new oak to add structure, complexity and creaminess. The wine was gently cross flow filtered, making the wine eminently drinkable upon release. The vibrant, crisp Ruby Grapefruit from the Russian River combines with the exotic citrus tones of Mandarin and Blood Oranges from the Napa Valley fruit. The resulting wine is complex yet elegant. The combination of vineyards and appellations also brings out a wonderful mineral character typical of Sancerre from France.

Contact Jonathan Keller to acquire R&B Cellars Serenade in Blanc