A San Benito wine-tasting jaunt
The vineyards may not be new — there have been grapes planted on this historic estate since the Gold Rush — but under new owner Christian Pillsbury, Hollister’s Eden Rift Vineyards will release its inaugural chardonnay and pinot noir wines this month. And you can sample them at the winery’s new tasting room in the Cienega Valley appellation of San Benito County, where the vineyard’s neighbors include Calera and DeRose wineries. Consider it a ready-made wine-tasting itinerary, with dining options not far away.
In fact, if you’ve spent time at Josh Jensen’s pinotcentric Calera, you may spot a familiar face at Eden Rift. Cory Waller, Calera’s former assistant winemaker, has taken over the winemaking reins at Pillsbury’s new winery, where the fruit is so well-balanced, Waller says, “Once the fruit is in the cellar, we just try not to mess it up.”
This historic estate wasn’t always Eden Rift, of course. The vineyards date back to 1849 when Theophile Vache, a French wine merchant, planted the first grapes, including one dubbed “Black Pinot.” Within a few years, Vache was doing so well, he opened a wine store in a two-story adobe in nearby San Juan Bautista. (Today, the wine store is a restaurant, the popular Jardines de San Juan.)
Most of Eden Rift’s land is planted with chardonnay and pinot noir, but Pillsbury also plans on producing wine from a 0.7-acre plot of zinfandel that was planted in 1906. “It’s a part of California’s history,” he says. There are plans for expansion, including a new tasting room that will be built this spring. But you can visit the current Eden Rift tasting room to sample the new wines from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday, or by appointment at 10034 Cienega Road, Hollister; www.edenrift.com.
Nearby: Calera Wine Company is open daily at 11300 Cienega Road; www. calerawine.com. DeRose Vineyards’ tasting room is open daily as well at 9970 Cienega Road; derosewine. com. The nearest restaurants are 20 minutes away in Hollister or 25 minutes away in San Juan Bautista, where the colorful Jardines de San Juan will sate any guacamole or taco cravings. Open daily at 115 Third St., San Juan Bautista; www. jardinesrestaurant.com.