At Villa del Monte Winery, we pride ourselves on producing single-vineyard, single-varietal wines so we want to take a minute to explain to you what this really means.
We source our grapes from a handful of vineyards in these three appellations:
- Cabernet, Chardonnay, and Pinot from the Santa Cruz Mountains
- Syrah and Zinfandel from Santa Clara Valley
- Merlot from Carneros
Single-varietal means that our wines are not blended. The varietal listed on the label, such as Pinot, is what is really in the bottle. 100%. Nothing else.
Single-vineyard means that the grapes are from a particular vineyard. Villa del Monte winemakers John Overstreet and Neil Perrelli understand that the grapes reflect the terroir of the vineyard so it is important to recognize this on the label. Terroir, a French word pronounced tair-wahr and loosely translated as a “sense of place”, means that everything in the vineyard contributes to the distinctive flavor of that particular place. Soil, slope, drainage, elevation and particularly the microclimate (think Santa Cruz Mountains morning fog) influence the aromas, tastes, texture and structure of the finished wine. We also like to give our grape growers credit so we tend to include the vineyard names on our labels.
So, next time, you are enjoying a taste of Villa del Monte wine, you can be assured that we have put a lot of thought into what is in your glass! Enjoy!