Gideon Beinstock has become known for his amazing Clos Saron wines, but the history goes back much further than that. A long and winding road from growing up in Israel, an artist’s life of painting in Paris, helping to plant the Renaissance Vineyards in the 1970’s, international wine sales, and finally finding his way into winemaking at the very same vineyards he had planted almost two decades earlier. It was there at Renaissance that he began learning his craft and made the first of his incredible wines.
Gideon left Renaissance in the late 1990’s to found Clos Saron, just a few miles down the road, but has always felt a connection to Renaissance, both as a piece of his history, and also as a totally unique and special terroir.
Which brings us to the present: Gideon was given the opportunity to reclaim some of the greatest wines he made during his time at Renaissance! These wines have never left the winery and have been aging perfectly, undisturbed for the past two decades. These wines have amazing provenance … they have sat at the winery since bottling, were selected by Gideon recently, special ordered and shipped directly to us. Since arrival, they have been in temperature-controlled storage.
“Élegance” is the “Claret Prestige”. It is a non-varietal wine, and was meant to be the most elegant, aromatically complex, harmonious wine of the lineup.
About 400 cases of each was produced every vintage between 1995 and 2002 (with a few exceptions). All the grapes for these wines came from a few vineyard sites (referred to as ‘slopes’), which were determined as the best in the vineyard (the “Reserve Slopes” – mainly Slope 1, 16, and 21). (If you haven’t read about the Renaissance Vineyard and why its’ considered the original California ‘cult’ winery and one of the best hidden secrets of wine in California, read this article from Ester Mobley in the San Francisco Chronicle from 2018.)
50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 15% Petit Verdot, & 15% Cabernet Franc
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.