Why is Chardonnay the Winemaker’s Grape + What a Family Brand Means with Chris Benziger

Natalie MacLean
Jan22nd

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Introduction

Why is Chardonnay the one grape that is equally made in the vineyards and the winery? What’s the difference between biodynamic and regenerative farming? What does it mean to be part of a family brand of wine?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with Chris Benziger

You can find the wines we discussed here.

 

Giveaway

Three of you are going to win a bottle of one of his spectacular wines from California (open to Canadian residents only).

 

How to Win

To qualify, all you have to do is email me at [email protected] and let me know that you’ve posted a review of the podcast.

It takes less than 30 seconds: On your phone, scroll to the bottom here, where the reviews are, and click on “Tap to Rate.”

After that, scroll down a tiny bit more and click on “Write a Review.” That’s it!

I’ll choose three people randomly from those who contact me.

Good luck!

 

Join me on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Live Video

Join the live-stream video of this conversation on Wednesday at 7 pm eastern on Instagram Live Video, Facebook Live Video or YouTube Live Video.

I’ll be jumping into the comments as we watch it together so that I can answer your questions in real-time.

I want to hear from you! What’s your opinion of what we’re discussing? What takeaways or tips do you love most from this chat? What questions do you have that we didn’t answer?

Want to know when we go live?

Add this to your calendar:

 

 

 

Highlights

  • How does the Benziger family’s “flaming hoops” program help to ensure family members are a value add if they work at the winery?
  • How did the 2017 Sonoma County wildfires impact the Benziger Family Winery?
  • Which features can you expect from Benziger California Chardonnay, and how does it best pair with food?
  • What makes the Benziger Running Wild Chardonnay unique and more personal for Chris?
  • What is the concept of regenerative farming, and how does it relate to biodynamics?
  • Why is the Benziger Tribute so versatile, and what’s the story behind the name?
  • What does it mean to Chris to be part of a family brand of wine?
  • In the Museum of Chris Benziger, what three objects would be in the central display?
  • If Chris could share a bottle of wine with anyone outside the wine industry, who would that be?

 

Key Takeaways

  • Why is Chardonnay the one grape that is equally made in the vineyards and the winery?
    • Chris observes that most grapes or varietals are made in the vineyard. The winemaker shepherds them through and tries not to screw it up. But with Chardonnay, you can choose whether it’ll be a beautiful, unoaked, austere, minerally Chablis-style, or a big butter kiss, butter bomb, or anything in between. The Benziger Chardonnay is right at the middle of the teeter totter. It’s not austere, and it’s not overly oaked. It’s got acidity and creaminess from growing in regions that are very cool. When the fog comes in, it gives an extra couple weeks of hang time for the grapes on the vine. So the flavor continuum moves from green apple into white pear peach. It’s a real crowd pleaser.
  • What’s the difference between biodynamic and regenerative farming?
    • Chris explains that biodynamic has some baggage to it, with its associations with farming according to moon phases and other aspects. Regenerative farming takes the farming part of biodynamics, which is incredible. Organic farming is simply the elimination of chemical inputs. All it does is replace all that biological capital back into the soil. So the land never goes fallow. It’s constantly being fed back. Farming is resource intensive. Regenerative farming means giving back so the land is not just restored, it’s better than before the farming started.
  • What does it mean to be part of a family brand of wine?
    • Chris calls critter brands and concept brands that are developed by market research whiteboard wines. A family brand is inherently tied to a family and its name. Chris notes that his father burned the boats in the Roman tradition so to speak when he sold his business and uprooted his family and traveled 3,000 miles to start the winery. In developing the winery, all they had was each other and had to lean on each other through all the challenges from tough finances to wildfire. But they stayed together and as Chris notes, he was hosting Christmas dinner with 50 family members this year.

 

Start The Conversation: Click Below to Share These Wine Tips

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Chardonnay is the one variety that you could say is equally made in the vineyards and at the winery. - Chris Benziger Chris Benziger Click to tweet

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It’s the people and the stories that bring the wine alive. - Chris Benziger Chris Benziger Click to tweet

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Farming is resource-intensive. Regenerative farming replaces the biological capital in the soil so the land never goes fallow. It’s constantly being fed. - Chris Benziger Chris Benziger Click to tweet

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Every bottle of wine, every label, is a story. It’s like a book. - Chris Benziger Chris Benziger Click to tweet

 

About Chris Benziger

Still in high school when the Benziger family moved from White Plains, Chris finished his senior year in wine country. He went on to earn a degree in marketing from the University of San Francisco while spending summers, weekends and every spare moment working at the winery. He officially joined the Benziger Family Winery in 1993. Chris oversees the home ranch and is dedicated to the thriving biodynamic ecosystem of the estate: shepherding the Benziger flock of sheep, tending to the estate vegetable and fruit trees, and producing biodynamic preparations for his vineyards. Chris feels that the only way to communicate the quality of the wines he promotes is by having the soil from the vineyard in which he’s endorsing under his nails. Chris also travels to major markets and promoting Benziger wines around the country.

 

Resources

 

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Thirsty for more?

  • Sign up for my free online wine video class where I’ll walk you through The 5 Wine & Food Pairing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Dinner (and how to fix them forever!)
  • You’ll find my books here, including Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines and Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass.
  • The new audio edition of Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass is now available on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com and other country-specific Amazon sites; iTunes.ca, iTunes.com and other country-specific iTunes sites; Audible.ca and Audible.com.

 

Transcript

Natalie MacLean 00:00:00 Why is Chardonnay the one grape that is equally made in the vineyards and in the winery? What’s the difference between biodynamic and regenerative farming? And what does it mean to be part of a family brand of wine? In today’s episode, you’ll hear the stories and tips that answer those questions in Part Two of our chat with Chris Benziger. You don’t need to have listened to Part One from last week first, but if you missed it, go back and have a listen after you finish this one. By the end of our conversation, you’ll also discover how the Benziger family’s Flaming Hoops program ensures that family members are contributors if they work at the winery. Think no nepo babies. How the 2017 Sonoma County wildfires impacted the Benziger Family Winery and Chris Benziger himself. The up and coming California appellation that should be on your radar. What makes the Benziger Running Wild Chardonnay unique and the fascinating story behind the Benziger Tribute Cabernet.

Natalie MacLean 00:01:13  Do you have a thirst to learn about wine? Do you love stories about wonderfully obsessive people, hauntingly beautiful places, and amusingly awkward social situations? Well, that’s the blend here on the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast. I’m your host, Natalie McLean, and each week I share with you unfiltered conversations with celebrities in the wine world, as well as confessions from my own tipsy journey as I write my third book on this subject. I’m so glad you’re here. Now pass me that bottle, please, and let’s get started.

Natalie MacLean 00:01:55 Welcome to episode 321. Last week I promised to share more of my favourite low and no alcohol wines with you, as well as those that are low in sugar. So here are more of the wines that I featured on various television shows recently, starting with Pure Vision Shiraz from Australia. It’s a smooth, full-bodied de-alcoholic wine. The bonus is that this Pure Vision wine is also organic. It has seductive aromas of ripe, dark berry fruit that would be perfect with a juicy steak. It’s also available from several online retailers, including psalcoholfree.com. Nozeco de-alcoholized sparkling wine from France is made from 90% Muscat and 10% Chardonnay grapes. It offers beautiful aromas of ripe peach and pear. Their Rosé sparkling offers lovely notes of field strawberries. I’d paired these bubbles with a zesty, citrus glazed grilled shrimp skewer, drizzled with fresh herbs and a hint of chili, served on a bed of warm quinoa puff studded with roasted peanuts.

Natalie MacLean 00:03:03 The zesty Trius Sauvignon Blanc has only 3.4 gram of sugar per litre. Wines under 5g/l are considered extra dry. In liquor stores, you’ll see the XD on the shelf card with information about the wine. The range goes all the way up to sweet or S with 45 grams of sugar per litre or more. The Trius Sauvignon Blanc will wake up your senses with juicy citrus aromas and flavours. It’s perfect for seafood or field greens.

Natalie MacLean 00:03:33 I also recommend the Bottega Prosecco Rosé from Veneto, Italy. This sparkling wine offers lovely aromas of fresh field strawberries and watermelon. Even in the middle of winter, you’ll be transported to a summer’s day picnic. This is also a gorgeous gift wine. The bottle is beautiful. The bonus is that the wine only has 11.5% alcohol as compared to most table wines that clock in at about 13 to 14%. nSome wines from warmer climates can even reach 16 to 17%. They also have what I call Baby Bottega 200 mL size, which is perfect when you want just one glass of wine, rather than opening a full bottle. I’d pair this Prosecco with a delicate, pan-seared, herb-crusted halibut served with steamed asparagus tips and a light lemon caper sauce that enhances the wine’s crisp acidity.

Natalie MacLean 00:04:28 Cave Spring Riesling from Niagara, Ontario is another great choice, as this grape is naturally low in alcohol and thrives in a cool climate like Canada. I’d pair this with a Mediterranean-inspired grilled vegetable and quinoa bowl topped with crumbled feta, fresh mint, and a light, lemony vinaigrette that makes every bite sing with flavour. The size of the pour matters as much as the sugar, alcohol, and caloric content.

Natalie MacLean 00:04:55 We need to rethink those fishbowl-sized glasses that can actually hold an entire bottle of wine. And then when you’re done, yes, you can use them for a steam facial. Not really, but it seems that way. That’s why I love the half-bottle size of the Wayne Gretzky Cabernet Merlot. It’s just 375 mL, so it has roughly two and a half glasses of wine. That’s perfect for when you and a friend may only want a glass or so of wine each, and don’t want to open that standard 750 mL bottle. This smooth, full-bodied red blend from Niagara has seductive aromas of ripe, dark berries and plums. Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky donates his proceeds from every bottle sold to the Wayne Gretzky Foundation, which funds children’s hockey programs across the country, builds rinks, and donates equipment. It’s a wine that tastes good and does good for the community.

Natalie MacLean 00:05:50 You can find my favourite low- and no-alcohol wines, spirits, beers, cocktails, and mixed drinks at Natalie McLean low no. know. I’ll also include a link in the show notes as well. I’ll be posting reviews of these wines and their alcoholic versions on Instagram at Natalie MacLean Wine. Connect with me there. I’d love to hear from you about your favourite low- and no-alcohol drinks.

Natalie MacLean 00:06:15 Speaking of delicious wines, three of you will win one of three bottles of the superb Benziger Wines from California. This is open to Canadian residents only because shipping alcohol across borders is still bound up with pre-historic laws. I also still have one copy of Chris Ruhland’s terrific book, Press for Champagne: A Guide to Enjoying the World’s Greatest Sparkling Wine, to give Away. This is open to everyone, no matter where you live. All you have to do is email me to let me know that you’d like to win. I’ll choose the winner, as well as three winners of the wine, randomly from those who contact me at [email protected].

Natalie MacLean 00:06:56 In other bookish news, if you’re reading the paperback or e-book or listening to the audiobook of my memoir – Wine Witch on Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation and Drinking Way Too Much, a national bestseller and one of Amazon’s best books of the year – I’d love to hear from you at natalie@ nataliemaclean.com. I’d be happy to send you personally signed book plates for the copies you buy for yourself or to give us gifts. I’ll put a link in the show notes to all retailers worldwide at nataliemaclean.com/321. The paperback usually arrives within a day or two of ordering. The e-book and audiobook are instantly available. Poof! Okay, on with the show.

Natalie MacLean 00:07:41 So before you rejoined the winery in 1993, the family insisted that you, like other members, had to go out in the world and work for five years so that you could bring something back to the winery. I think that is so great to avoid nepotism or nepo babies, as I call it, or some sort of succession like entitlement. But tell us about the program that you and besides that, when you came back, you had to go through a program called Flaming Hoops.

Chris Benziger 00:08:06 Yeah, that’s our nickname for it because I had to jump through the flaming hoops my brothers were putting in front of me. But it makes perfect sense. And we formalized it because I was the youngest. I was like an early adopter of it, but we really formalized it with my nieces and nephews. What it started off with, during high school, you have to do an internship over the summer. And every week you’d work in a different office or a couple weeks depending. You’d be in the vineyard; you’d be in the winery; you’d be up in accounting; you’d be in hospitality; in the wine lab. You’d see everything. And everybody’s got different talents. You kind of say, oh, I really  like being behind the tasting room. Oh, I love working outside. I’m really good with numbers. And we have all my nieces and nephews. 19 of them. We had one for everything, it seemed like. So that was the start.

Chris Benziger 00:08:52 And then you have to go to college. And then after college you had to go work in the field you were interested in for a minimum of five years and be a value add back to the winery, because we didn’t have a spot for everybody. Not everybody wanted to get into the wine business. But we couldn’t just simply say  oh, we’re going to give you a job because that’s the fastest way to failure, particularly when you have a manager that’s been doing it for a decade and all of a sudden some kid doesn’t know anything is his superior. No way. It’s never a good scene. So they come in and then when they come in, they come at the lowest rung and they work themselves up. And the best part is that person has so much more confidence and they’re not paranoid that I didn’t earn this job. I got the job because of my last name. No, they realized they earned it despite their last name. It’s kind of that way. We want to say, hey, your last name is Benziger. It means you got to work a little harder. You gotta be an example. You’re not given anything.

Natalie MacLean 00:09:52 That’s great, because there’s horrifying statistics out of Harvard in terms of multigenerational, family owned businesses.

Chris Benziger 00:10:00 Yeah, what is it. It’s the first generation makes it, the second generation maintains it, and the third generation spends it.

Natalie MacLean 00:10:06 Yeah, 82% or 88% of family businesses don’t last to the third generation. That is scary, especially when all the pioneers have done so much work. But it hasn’t been all sunshine Skittles for you. Tell us what happened during the wildfires of 2017.

Chris Benziger 00:10:23 It was tragic. The saddest part was it was the rash of wildfires here in Sonoma County on October 10th. There was like nine fires. We had hurricane force winds from the desert. They had a humidity of like 5%, which is incredibly dry. I remember stepping on a leaf that afternoon and instead of leaf going crunch, it shattered like glass. That’s how dry it was. And I had been a volunteer fireman for 26 years out here, so I knew this was a horrible, horrible fire danger. Red flag warnings we call up here. Just waiting for a spark, right? Because it’s October, it hasn’t rained since the following April. So that night when the winds kicked in, it was just like, there’s going to be a wicked fire.

Chris Benziger 00:11:07 Just let’s hope it’s not here. And unfortunately, at about 10:30, my wife looks out the window. She goes, I smell smoke. And then she screamed and I looked out and there was this wall of fire coming right at us. I remember running outside. I was going to jump in my truck to see where the fire was, and it already firebrands are falling in the yard. I was like, oh man, this is bad. We raced around, got my in-laws in their car, got the dogs, the cats, my kid’s tarantula. And we took off. I stayed behind for a hot second to see if I could save the house or the neighbour’s house. It was no way. And I remember sitting there and with the wind buffeting the smoke and the sounds, and in the distance you hear this whistling and then these big flashes of booms, the propane tanks blowing up. I mean, it was so surreal. And, I kept getting hit with sparks and firebrands.

Chris Benziger 00:12:02 So I dove into my swimming pool for a brief second to get wet. Running around, and I’m like, oh my God, my swimming pool. So at the last second, I ran past where I had my wine cellar that I’d been collecting my whole life, and I grabbed as many of my best bottles of wine and threw them into my swimming pool. That’s the only thing that survived.

Natalie MacLean 00:12:21 Oh my gosh. So you came back and they had lived, so to speak, through the through the fire.

Chris Benziger 00:12:27 Yeah. They rolled down to the deep end. But then the pool cover melted and sunk on top of it. I couldn’t get to them for about a month, but when I finally did, they didn’t have labels anymore. But they were all the great bottles of wine that they were to begin with.

Natalie MacLean 00:12:42 Oh, fantastic.

Chris Benziger 00:12:43 It was the one bright spot in a no pun intended in a fire story.

Natalie MacLean 00:12:47 Yeah.Oh wow.

Chris Benziger 00:12:47 My wife wasn’t impressed because she was smart enough to leave the computer, her jewelry box, a little safety box that had all our birth certificates right at the front door. And she said, don’t forget this. And I did.

Natalie MacLean 00:12:58 Oh

Chris Benziger 00:13:00 But then I  go, but remember that. Remember that Bordeaux you really liked?

Natalie MacLean 00:13:05 Yeah. Let’s open it now [laughter]

Chris Benziger 00:13:07 [laughter] It’s there at the bottom of the pool somewhere.

Natalie MacLean 00:13:11 [laughter] Oh my goodness. All right, so you have a few of your wines there to taste and to show us. Where would you like to start? Which one?

Chris Benziger 00:13:20 So let’s start with the Sonoma County Chardonnay.

Natalie MacLean 00:13:22 Okay, cool.

Chris Benziger 00:13:23 It’s great. It’s a California appellation. Now, we moved to California one in 2020 because of the fire. This is a Monterey Bay, has a little bit of Carneros. I love this wine because of all the varieties. Chardonnay is the one variety that you could say is equally made in the vineyards and made it the winery. Most varietals are made in the vineyard and that’s it. And the winemaker shepherds them through. Don’t screw up. But Chardonnay,  you get picking bin of Chardonnay at the crush pad, and it could be a beautiful, non-oaked, austere minerally Chablis, which I love, or the big Butter Kiss, Butter Boom or anything in between. And what I love about this one. This is right at the middle of the teeter totter. It’s not austere, and it’s not overly oaked. It’s got acidity and creaminess from growing in these areas that are very cool. The fog comes in and what it gives is what we call hangtime. It gives an extra couple weeks of hangtime. So the flavour continuum moves from green apple into that kind of white pear, peach. We harvest at night because it’s a thin skinned varietal. We get back and then it goes whole cluster right into the press. So we get that…

Natalie MacLean 00:14:40 What difference does that make, the whole cluster?

Chris Benziger 00:14:42 It just keeps the grape integrity. You’re not. Every time you handle a Burgundian variety, you have the tendency to have the grape skins tear and you don’t want to do them during picking, because then that stuff oxidizes and it can leave bitterness in the wine, particularly Pinot Noir. It’s critical. So we just throw the whole clusters in, then we let the weight of the grape press it, and then we get that beautiful free run into the pan, and then we put that right into oak barrels. But these oak barrels come from Hungary. I love the Hungarian oak for a couple reasons.

Chris Benziger 00:15:14 One, it still made traditionally where they cut the tree down, split it in two, put it into what’s called a rick. It’s a pile of wood. And they let it sit there in the forest for two years, leaching out the wood tannins. And then the wood’s sweet. And then they take that to French coopers and they make that into a traditional barrel. We let it age there. We do the sur lees, the bâtonnage, the stirring…

Natalie MacLean 00:15:38 Of the spent yeast cells, give it that creaminess?

Chris Benziger 00:15:43 Yeah, yeah. Everything sounds better in French, right?

Natalie MacLean 00:15:43 It does.

Chris Benziger 00:15:43 It doesn’t have to be stirred or bâtonnage, right. [laughter]. And so we did that for about eight months and you get this beautiful creamy Chardonnay. The non oak people were like, okay, it’s not in your face. And the people that enjoy oak will go, oh, okay. This has got a nice little bit of that creaminess that they’re looking for. So it’s a real crowd pleaser. I’ve had so much success, particularly in restaurants when it is by the glass. You know, if you have a limited thing, this is one of those Chardonnays that most people are going to be happy with.

Natalie MacLean 00:16:15 And this is the Benziger Chardonnay or the Running Wild Chardonnay that you’re talking about?

Chris Benziger 00:16:20 The Benziger California Chardonnay.

Natalie MacLean 00:16:22 Okay, great. And what would you pair with it?

Chris Benziger 00:16:24 Oh, boy. I always think of lighter summer fare. So salads are dangerous because of salad dressing, but this could go with a fruit salad or Chinese chicken salad, which would be wonderful. Lighter fare. Flakier white fishes. It would be go great with pastas like an Alfredo. Roast chicken. It’s not a wuss, right. It’s got good acidity.

Natalie MacLean 00:16:46  No wussy wines [laughter].

Chris Benziger 00:16:47 Yeah [laughter]. Is that okay to say?

Natalie MacLean 00:16:50 Oh, yeah. Absolutely. No, we’re going to beep that [laughter].

Chris Benziger 00:16:54 We want to have that so this can pair. It doesn’t have a ton of oak. So you know I wouldn’t pair it with something too big. So I would consider it light to medium body.

Natalie MacLean 00:17:03 Awesome. Cool. And then you have another Chardonnay there.

Chris Benziger 00:17:06 Yeah. The Running Wild with the coolest label in the world.

Natalie MacLean 00:17:09 Oh, can you show us that one? Yeah. All right. Right up to the camera there. Oh, I see a cow, and I see something on it. Is it the insects…

Chris Benziger 00:17:16 Butterflies.

Natalie MacLean 00:17:09 Oh, Butterflies. Lovely.

Chris Benziger 00:17:18 This is Daisy. She’s one of my Highlanders.

Natalie MacLean 00:17:21 Okay.

Chris Benziger 00:17:22 Daisy is one of the originals. She’s still kicking. Actually, to be honest with her, her mom was Flower and this is Daisy. So she was born on the ranch. She wasn’t one of the originals. But anyway, it’s called Running Wild because what I said earlier, we let nature run wild. So this is our whole adventure into sustainable, growing, biodynamic, regenerative farming. So it’s called Running Wild. And Daisy represents that with the butterflies to kind of have an image that strikes of a natural setting to make the wine in.

Natalie MacLean 00:17:51 I love that.

Chris Benziger 00:17:52 The coolest part about this, Natalie. Have you ever heard of the Paicines?

Natalie MacLean 00:17:55 No. It sounds like something to do with. Is it a pool or is it the Pisces?

Chris Benziger 00:18:00 So it’s an AVA. It’s an Ava that’s been around for a long time, but nobody knows about it. It is in San Benito County, which, when you think of winegrowing areas, it’s not top of mind. But this is in the northwest corner of San Benito, touching Monterey. So it’s Monterey adjacent. And this is right on the San Andreas Fault. It’s called the Gambian Mountain Range. It’s a coastal mountain range. And limestone and all sorts of other minerals have been working in there. This is right below what’s called the pinnacles, which is a limestone structure. California doesn’t have a lot of limestone, but this place is kind of it’s woven into these vineyards here. And because it’s in the northwest corner, it has a lot of the tendencies that Monterey does.

Chris Benziger 00:18:45 So, Burgundian varietals do extremely well here. It’s like a little sink so that maritime fog settles in this area. So we grow really beautiful Chardonnays and Pinot Noir. Sauvignon Blanc, too, for that matter. There’s not a lot of vineyards down there, but the vineyards that are there are epic. Williams Salyem has their Vista Verde vineyard, which is makes some of their better wines. And then Calera has some vineyards there as well. I’m sure you’re going to be hearing about the Paicines in the future a lot more.

Natalie MacLean 00:19:14 Well, now we know. It’s kind of cool.

Chris Benziger 00:19:17 It’s kind of getting rediscovered, if you will. It’s like, remember Paso Robles like 15 years ago. Nobody knew about it.

Natalie MacLean 00:19:22 True.

Chris Benziger 00:19:23 It is kind of like that. We love it.

Natalie MacLean 00:19:25 Up and coming.

Chris Benziger 00:19:25 With Running Wild, I made this a little bit more in that Chablis style because I really love that style of wine. So we bring this up. What I want to make is a mineral, beautiful racy acidity, creaminess. So this goes full malolactic, right? So you’re getting that gorgeous creaminess in there.

Natalie MacLean 00:19:46 So that’s the conversion of the harsher Malo acids to the softer lactic acids, just for those who might not be aware.

Chris Benziger 00:19:52 But when you think of malo,

Natalie MacLean 00:19:56 Bad. Harsh

Chris Benziger 00:19:57 I think of a green apple. When you bite in a green apple, it’s like, whoa, that’s pretty tart. And then malolactic, it’s the acid that’s in a glass of milk. Much more tame.

Natalie MacLean 00:20:07 Yes.

Chris Benziger 00:20:07 Then the byproduct that is what’s called diacetyl. And that’s the flavour of creamy, that buttery. So we love that. So I want so I go through full malolactic and then after five months I take it out of the barrels and I put it into brand new, spanking new French oak barrels for one month. So what I love about this is you get these kind of almost honeyed pear aromas. It’s the flavour I love. That creaminess that rolls across the tongue and then this acidity that it cuts. So this one, you could kind of do is a double play wine. You could cocktail with it easily, but boy, with food kind of similar to the Benziger Chardonnay. Creamy pastas. Roast chicken. Because that acidity, it pairs really, really well with food.

Natalie MacLean 00:20:57 My mouth is salivating as you’re describing this,  you’re doing your job there.

Chris Benziger 00:21:02 And this was a  real passion project for me. This wine, I want it only to be kind of in restaurants. It doesn’t even have a UPC code. That’s the little jail bar thing you see on the packaging. I really want this to be a special wine. Everything about it is personal, you know, with Daisy on the label, this newly discovered vineyard area and the quality of the wine, I really love how it turned out.

Natalie MacLean 00:21:28 Sounds good. So we should ask for Daisy Benziger, then we’ll just say no Running Wild from Benziger. And you mentioned, in association with this wine and perhaps others, regenerative farming. What is that? Is it beyond sustainable?

Chris Benziger 00:21:44 So biodynamic is regenerative farming. But biodynamic has some baggage to it because biodynamic was part of a cult called Anthroposophy. And it can get a little nutty if you follow it to its endpoint. So regenerative, biodynamic people are probably going to kill me now. Regenerative farming takes the farming part of biodynamics, which is incredible and just makes it what it really is, regenerative farming. Because organics is just the elimination of chemical inputs. What biodynamics does is replaces all that biological capital back into the soil, so the land never goes fallow. It’s constantly being fed back. Because remember farming is resource intensive. Take, take, take, take, take. We’re just giving back. So there’s a new trend that’s called regenerative farming that doesn’t quite have some of the baggage.

Natalie MacLean 00:22:39 So you’re not just going for zero sum or get back to neutral. You’re trying to put back. Give back.

Chris Benziger 00:22:43 Because we’re a family business. I’d be a really bad father, grandfather, if I was leaving my property in a dilapidated state. So I have to leave the property, you know. It’s like the Boy Scouts here in America, you know, or whatever this sign is for camping. Leave it better than how you found it.

Natalie MacLean 00:23:01 Yes. Good motto for life.

Chris Benziger 00:23:03 I agree.

Natalie MacLean 00:23:04 Absolutely. Terrific.

Chris Benziger 00:23:05 Now, the last wine is our Cab. The Tribute.

Natalie MacLean 00:23:08 Okay. Tribute. Oh, wow. I’ve had this one. Well, I’ve had your Chardonnay as well. The Benziger. They’re terrific. Really amazing. And especially for the price points. But tell us about Tribute and maybe is there a story behind it?

Chris Benziger 00:23:22 Yeah, it’s a big story. It’s an emotional story for me. So as I said a couple times during the show, I’m the youngest, and with the youngest, time marches on and my parents have passed away. I lost a brother. And you start to get really nostalgic because I’m the last man standing in my generation. Everybody’s retired or passed on. And I got really nostalgic and a little sad about all these great memories. And they’re not in the business anymore. But I wanted to share with my nieces and nephews growing up in the business. So I said, we’re going to make a wine that’s going to be a tribute to the family. And that’s what this is. It’s a tribute to my family.

Natalie MacLean 00:24:00 Wonderful.

Chris Benziger 00:24:01 Yeah, it’s a little hokey, but it means a lot to me. And also, it could not mean just my family. Whoever picks up a bottle of Tribute, it could be a Tribute to someone in their life. Something to kind of pay it forward sort of.

Natalie MacLean 00:24:14 Absolutely. The message is right there on and in the bottle because as I say, it’s a phenomenal wine, especially for the price.

Chris Benziger 00:24:21 Thank you.

Natalie MacLean 00:24:22 Yeah I mean it’s great for everyday drinking because of the price. But you know if you want to give a gift wine –  graduation, anniversary, birthday, whatever – I mean Tribute, it’s right there.

Chris Benziger 00:24:35 It’s the little engine that could, this wine. First of all, it’s Paso fruit, which was is amazing because it’s very warm down there. And, in that flavour continuum, you move through that coffee, mocha, sour cherry notes. And Paso gets into this beautiful bing cherry, blackberry. These really jammy flavours, which are awesome. This is one of the few wines that I only use American Oak on. And the only reason is because we did oak trials and the French oak just got run over. The American oak, and it’s nice American oak. It’s from the Ozark Plateau in Missouri. It stood up. It had a vanilla quality that when you pair it with the wild cherry, bing cherry flavours.  It’s like an old fashioned cherry Coke. It’s amazing. The aromas on this wine, it just keeps giving and giving and giving and giving. And the tannins are what I call furry tannins. They’re not going to rip the enamel off your teeth, tie your tongue into a bow. And yeah, it’s beautiful aromas, soft tannins. A wine that you could cocktail with but also have with food. And this could, you know, everything from beautiful T-bone burger to a plate of pasta.

Natalie MacLean 00:25:52 Wow. Sounds good. And I love that you’re verbizing cocktail. Let’s cocktail with this wine or cocktail with it.

Chris Benziger 00:25:57 Remember, I come from a boozy branch of the Benziger family [laughter].

Natalie MacLean 00:26:02 [laughter] And even though you’re talking about cherry cola or whatever, those are the aromas. It’s not actually a sweet wine. So if people are kind of listening to this, it’s actually a dry wine, but it’s got all these luscious fruit aromas that are just so ripe.

Chris Benziger 00:26:16 Today with the trends of wine, they’re getting sweeter and sweeter. This is a very serious, very dry wine. And the Chardonnays are, too. They’re below threshold.

Natalie MacLean 00:26:29 Yeah. So even when we say butterscotch or buttery or whatever, it doesn’t…

Chris Benziger 00:26:32  That’s a good thing because sometimes, people want to laugh, but people don’t get it when you’re constantly saying it has cherry and they’re like, where do you put the cherries in? Because you always talk that way.

Natalie MacLean 00:26:41 I used to think that [laughter] .

Chris Benziger 00:26:41 When you hear yourself, you’re like, yeah, okay, that makes sense. I would probably ask that question too, if I wasn’t living in the business.

Natalie MacLean 00:26:49 Or how can something be dry and mouth watering at the same time? It’s because it is fermented to dryness. There is no sugar, but it’s making your mouth water. Oh my gosh, those sound amazing. I think for just the Benziger and the Tribute, because the Running Wild is in restaurants it’s a nice treat to have when you’re out and about. And restaurants, the pricing will be all over the place. But for the two I think. Is it around 19.95 Canadian?

Chris Benziger 00:27:16 Yeah. You got it. it is right around there. And January 18th, I think they’re going to have a release. Daniel, my guy up in Canada, said they’ll be available January 18th. And you nailed the pricing.

Natalie MacLean 00:27:30 Awesome. Well, we’ll make sure this podcast comes out right in time. We’ll whet their appetite. I guess to when you talk about Tribute and your family label Benziger, you know you are a family brand, a story brand. I mean, we see so many critter brands and concept brands that are developed by market research or focus groups or whatever. What does it mean to you to be a family brand or a story brand?

Chris Benziger 00:27:55 I call those whiteboard wines.

Natalie MacLean 00:27:57 Ah, yes.

Chris Benziger 00:27:58 You know, the family thing is. And this is the thing I can’t believe that my dad did, is he sold his business, the house. You know, in that Roman tradition, he burned the boats. He wasn’t going backwards. And that courage just is amazing to me now, as I I’m his age now and I’m like, would I have the guts to do that? I don’t think so. And the other thing with family was we all leaned on each other. We could get into wicked fights and we did. Being five boys, we had a lot of fistfights. But at the end, we always hugged and we always ate together. There was never any of these simmering battles. And unfortunately, the wine business is rife with these family feuds. And for us, it hasn’t been that way at all. We’ve always, at the end of the day, like to hang out with each other. I’m having an our Christmas party over here at my house, and I’m going to have 45, 50 family members. And it’s going to be a blast.

Natalie MacLean 00:29:01 That’s awesome. Wow. Sounds like the Waltons or something.

Chris Benziger 00:29:05 Yeah, and that’s…

Natalie MacLean 00:29:05 Little bit more rough and tumble [laughter].

Chris Benziger 00:29:07 They’re there through thick and thin. And also, it’s like they’re not going to call in sick. I love all my employees, but it’s just that they’re they have that vested interest.

Natalie MacLean 00:29:16 Sure, sure. It’s a calling. It’s a it’s not just a job.

Chris Benziger 00:29:20 And I love it to see it in the next generation. Like my, my niece Jamie. She’s the one who’s a winemaker at Imagery. At 38 years old, she’s just so impressive. International woman winemaker of the year. Best 40 under 40. And she’s not a diva, yet [laughter]

Natalie MacLean 00:29:38 [laughter] I’ll have to talk to her next.

Chris Benziger 00:29:40 Oh, yeah. You would love her. She’s amazing.

Natalie MacLean 00:29:43 Sounds amazing. All right, let’s do a lightning round. Just quick questions, short answers. In the museum of Chris Benziger, what three objects would be in the central display?

Chris Benziger 00:29:54 Oh, the ranch, the property. That would be number one, because that’s…

Natalie MacLean 00:29:59 This is a big museum [laughter].

Chris Benziger 00:30:00 Yes, this is a big museum.  That’s where my soul is. Second, it would be my home garden. Because when I was a very little kid, I knew I was going to do something with plants. It just took me another 25 years to figure out what was going to be grapes.

Natalie MacLean 00:30:13 That’s great.

Chris Benziger 00:30:14 The first time I ever put a seed in the ground and watched it grow, I was amazed that just water and sunshine and that’s it. And the garden is with family and everything like that. Just that still sinking your hands in that warm dirt. Watching stuff grow is just still amazes me to this day. And then lastly, the dinner table. Everything in my family we’ve settled around the dinner table and my mom would cook these meals. She used to cook for all the employees, too. She cooked lunch for everybody.

Natalie MacLean 00:30:42 Like a hundred employees or so.

Chris Benziger 00:30:44 Yeah, hot and a lot, we used to call it. She loved it. She loved to do that. So from biggest to ranch to the garden to the dinner table.

Natalie MacLean 00:30:53 I love that. I love that those nesting dolls back again. Do you have a favourite childhood food that you remember? And what would you pair with it today as an adult?

Chris Benziger 00:31:04 New York pizza.

Natalie MacLean 00:31:05 Ooh. Okay.

Chris Benziger 00:31:07 A slice of pie, baby.  And then for me, I find Pinot is amazing with pizza.

Natalie MacLean 00:31:13 Oh, interesting. I would have thought a big red, but…

Chris Benziger 00:31:16 Yeah, particularly if you’re putting a little sausage on there. Little sausage and peppers. Yikes. It’s so good.

Natalie MacLean 00:31:24 Yikes. That’s a good tasting note.If you could share a bottle of wine with anyone outside of the wine industry, who would that be? Living or dead.

Chris Benziger 00:31:32 Okay, so, I know he’s not that popular right now. But this is purely on the wine side, Thomas Jefferson, because he was the first real wine enthusiast in America. He went to France. And I would love to show him our vineyard today and say, what do you think, Tom? What do you think? Hey, you impressed? And I just read that book…

Natalie MacLean 00:32:02 Jefferson, there’s a couple of books about him.

Chris Benziger 00:31:58 And it’s actually the one about the wine thief, Billionaire’s vinegar.

Natalie MacLean 00:32:02 Yes. Benjamin Wallace.

Chris Benziger 00:32:03 Yes.

Natalie MacLean 00:32:05 The fake bottle of Jefferson wine that people paid…

Chris Benziger 00:32:08 It got me into it. And I read up about his whole 1805 trip through France looking for wine. It’s just fascinating.

Natalie MacLean 00:32:17 I think he was sneaking back cuttings from Bordeaux and planting them in the Monticello.

Chris Benziger 00:32:23 Yes

Natalie MacLean 00:32:28 That is great. Oh my goodness, what great stories. Has there been anything that we haven’t covered that you’d like to mention as we wrap up, Chris?

Chris Benziger 00:32:36 Not off the top of my head. I know you’re a pro…

Natalie MacLean 00:32:39 Thank you.

Chris Benziger 00:32:40 … but I’ve done my fair share of interviews as well, and this is one of the more in-depth, insightful ones I’ve done. You’ve asked all the right questions…

Natalie MacLean 00:32:48 Thank you.

Chris Benziger 00:32:49 …. besides, just like, what’s the state of the wine business?

Natalie MacLean 00:32:53 How are you feeling about this year’s vintage?

Chris Benziger 00:32:55 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly.

Natalie MacLean 00:32:57 Well, I love the stories because, as you say, you’re a story brand. I think anybody who’s really deep into this, it’s the people and the stories that bring alive the actual wine.

Chris Benziger 00:33:07 And and, every bottle of wine, every label is a story. It’s a story. It’s like a book. It is a liquid book, if you will.

Chris Benziger 00:33:14 There’s so much to tell.

Natalie MacLean 00:33:16 Absolutely.

Chris Benziger 00:33:17 And we forget that we’re farmers first and foremost. That’s always kind of. Oh, it’s all the winemaker, the winemaker. Yes, the winemaker is very important. But the grower, because you’re never going to make great wine without great grapes. It just does not work any other way.

Natalie MacLean 00:33:34 Absolutely. And I’m a writer on the agricultural beat [laughter], trying to dig out those farmer stories.

Chris Benziger 00:33:43 Well, I hope to see you live one day soon.

Natalie MacLean 00:33:46 Absolutely. We must do this over a real glass or three of those wines.

Chris Benziger 00:33:50 Next time, you’re going to be out west.

Natalie MacLean 00:33:53 Yes. Either the Vancouver Playhouse. I got to get there, or else the one of the California Wine Fair events.

Chris Benziger 00:33:59 I would love to show you around. Kick the dirt clods as you will, and just see.

Natalie MacLean 00:34:03 Yes. Oh yeah visit the ranch. Absolutely.

Chris Benziger 00:34:05 It’ll be in your top ten most beautiful wineries you’ll ever. And I’ll stake my reputation on that.

Natalie MacLean 00:34:12 Well, you made it sound beautiful. Like a mini paradise, so I would love to visit.

Chris Benziger 00:34:18 Thank you so much.

Natalie MacLean 00:34:20 Well, thank you, Chris. And of course, we can find your wines across Canada. The stocks vary, but just check your local liquor store. Also, you can come to my site because I reviewed all the wines, and I always put links to all of the liquor stores for each review so folks can find them that way, too. And of course, we have listeners outside of Canada. Your wines are widely available in the US and in many other countries. So thank you so much. I really appreciate this time. You actually have been one most eloquent of winemakers that I’ve talked to. I love your stories, so thank you.

Chris Benziger 00:34:54 The feeling is mutual. Really enjoyed it.

Natalie MacLean 00:34:56 All right. Cheers.

Chris Benziger 00:34:57 Cheers.

Natalie MacLean 00:35:03 Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed our chat with Chris. Here are my takeaways. Number one, why is Chardonnay the one grape that is equally made in the vineyards and winery? Chris observes that most varietal wines, those made from one grape, are made in the vineyard. The winemaker shepherds them through and tries not to screw it up. But with Chardonnay, you can choose whether it’s going to be a beautiful, unoaked austere, minerally Chablis style, i.e. northern Burgundy or a big butter kiss, as you say, butter bomb, or anything in between. The Benziger Chardonnay is right in the middle of that teeter totter. It’s not austere and not overly oaked. It’s got acidity and creaminess from growing in regions that are very cool. When the fog comes in, it gives an extra couple of weeks of hang time for the grapes on the vine, so the flavour continuum continues to move from green apple into white pear and peach. It’s a real crowd pleaser.

Natalie MacLean 00:35:54 Number two, what’s the difference between biodynamic and regenerative farming? Chris explains that biodynamic has some baggage to it with its associations with farming according to moon phases and other aspects. Regenerative farming takes the farming part of biodynamics, which is incredible and applies it. Organic farming is simply the elimination of chemical inputs. All it does is replace all the biological capital back into the soil so the land never really goes fallow. It’s constantly being fed back. Farming is resource intensive. Regenerative farming means giving back to the land so it is not just simply restored. It’s better than before the farming started.

Natalie MacLean 00:36:43 And number three, what does it mean to be part of a family brand of wine? Chris calls critter brands and concept brands that are developed by market research whiteboard wines. I love that term. A family brand is inherently tied to a family in its name. Chris notes that his father burned the boats in the Roman tradition, so to speak, when he sold his business and uprooted his family in New York and traveled 3000 miles away to start a winery. In developing the winery, all they had was each other and had to lean on each other through all the challenges, from tough finances to wildfires. But they stayed together. And as Chris notes, he was hosting Christmas dinner this year with 50 family members. Whoa!

Natalie MacLean 00:37:36 In the show notes, you’ll find a full transcript of my conversation with Chris, links to his winery and wines, the video versions of these conversations on Facebook and YouTube live, and where you can order my book online now no matter where you live. If you missed episode 236, go back and take a listen. I chat about the historic Paris tasting that changed the fate of California wines with Mark Gudgel, author of The Rise of Napa Valley Wineries. I’ll share a short clip with you now to whet your appetite.

Mark Gudgel 00:38:03 What happened in France in 1976 is that the walls surrounding the mythology of superior French terroir were razed to the ground, and it was then reinforced time and time again that world class wine is made all around the world: in Australia, in New Zealand, in Chile and South Africa, in the United States. Prior to that, there was very little export market for anything that wasn’t French. And the reason that today you can buy an Argentine Malbec in the grocery store is because of this tasting in 1976.

Natalie MacLean 00:38:35 Wow. I didn’t realize it was so pivotal. But when you put it in that sort of context, I can see how its ramifications spread. What was so amazing was that these wines were tasted blind. No one knew the identity of the wines and they were judged by French experts. It was the French expert saying, California at the top.

Natalie MacLean 00:39:00 You won’t want to miss next week when we chat with Konstantinos Lazarakis, the first person in Greece to have passed the notoriously difficult Master of Wine exams. He is the author of The Wines of Greece and will join us from his home in Piraeus, Greece. If you liked this episode or learned even one teensy tiny thing from it, please email or tell one friend about the podcast this week, especially someone you know who’d be interested in learning more about California wines, particularly those from the cool climate of Sonoma, like the Benziger family. By helping me grow this podcast, you also encourage me to keep going with it. I need your support in this way. It’s easy to find my podcast. Just tell them to search for Natalie MacLean Wine on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, their favourite podcast app, or they can listen to the show on my website at nataliemaclean/podcast.

Natalie MacLean 00:39:58 Email me if you have a sip, tip question, or if you’d like to win a copy of Chris’s Champagne Book or one of three bottles of the Benziger wines, or if you’ve read my book or listening to it. I’d love to hear your thoughts, too, about this episode. Were you surprised about what it takes to farm biodynamic? Have you tried biodynamic wines? Email me at [email protected].

Natalie MacLean 00:40:17 In the show notes, you’ll also find a link to take a free online wine and food pairing class with me called the five Wine and Food Pairing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Dinner and How to Fix Them Forever at nataliemaclean.com/class. That’s all in the show notes at nataliemaclean.com/321. Thank you for taking the time to join me here. I hope something great is in your glass this week, perhaps a delicious Benziger Chardonnay or Cabernet.

Natalie MacLean 00:41:00

You don’t want to miss one juicy episode of this podcast, especially the secret full bodied bonus episodes that I don’t announce on social media. So subscribe for free now at nataliemaclean.com/subscribe. Meet me here next week. Cheers.

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