Hot days, cold nights and bad dirt makes Beringer Vineyards world class.

“Hot days, cold nights and bad dirt are the key ingredients to making world class wine”, described Jerry Comfort, Senior Wine Educator of Beringer Vineyards. Jerry was recently here in Toronto at the Royal York Hotel as part of the Fairmont Presidents Club Napa Valley Vintner’s Tasting. As always Jerry did not disappoint us, always charming and charismatic he told us about the secrets to the wine growing success of Napa Valley. Napa Valley located just 60 miles northeast of San Francisco, is one of the most renowned and most diverse winegrowing regions in the world. Napa Valley may only produce 4% of wine from California but 8% of the states vineyards are found there of which Beringer Vineyards is one of the most respected and known throughout the world of wine.

Caption: Jerry Comfort Senior Wine Educator Beringer Vineyards

Beringer Vineyards one of the legendary American wineries established in 1876 is the 3rd oldest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley. “Even during the failed experiment of prohibition Beringer Vineyards operated producing “holy wine” for medicinal reasons”, laughingly explained Jerry. We were also surprised to learn that Beringer Vineyards is the only winery in the world that has won the #1 red and white wine in the world. Now that’s impressive. We shared a delightful glass of 2006 Beringer Pinot Noir which was lush, full of fruit with a bright backbone and supple tannins as we learned about this world class winery and its famous region.