Tribute, a Bordeaux blend produced from 100% estate grapes grown at the Benziger Family Ranch on Sonoma Mountain,is the first Demeter-certified Biodynamic® wine from Napa and Sonoma Counties and one of the first in North America. Biodynamics is the highest form of organic farming in the world. It goes beyond the elimination of chemicals to represent a complete and wholistic system of agriculture that views the farm as a living organism intimately connected with its environment. The goal of a Biodynamic wine is
not perfection, but rather to truly and authentically reflect the variety, vintage, place and passion of the people who make it.  Demeter is a third party certifier of traditional Biodynamic practices and the oldest such agency in the United States. Certification, the ultimate guarantee of tradition and purity in the production of agricultural products, is extremely difficult to achieve and must be renewed annually.

VINIFICATION: The biodynamically grown hillside fruit was picked at the height of maturity and cold soaked for five days before the indigenous yeast fermentation. Maceration of 18 – 23 days was employed to develop the flavors and subtle tannins. The wine was pressed directly to barrels in November where malolactic fermentation was initiated by existing microbes in the barrel.  The wine was barrel aged in French oak for five months, blended, then returned to barrel for an additional 14 months.

VINTAGE: 2001 may be remembered as a comeback vintage.  After cool and late vintages from ‘98 through
‘00 we welcomed a warmer, earlier harvest.  The growing season began with a late frost that damaged
grapes in locations where frost usually isn’t a concern. Once over that hurdle the growing season was
much improved, bloom saw nearly perfect conditions for fruit set and we had a long, warm summer. Like
so many harvests, 2001 had its ups and downs - a heat spike in late August and early September drove
sugar levels ahead of flavor development and all varieties were looking like they would ripen at once.  On September 9th things cooled down through the end of the month which allowed flavors to develop in red varieties and gave time to harvest early reds. On the 1st and 2nd of October the heat came back to push the late reds over the hump. The last lots of grapes were crushed by mid-October to mark the earliest finish since 1997 and with similar quality. Across the board the 2001 vintage produced rich ripe wines with great intensity and structure.

AROMA: Blackberry, plum, boysenberry.