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Benoni

We like to roll the dice from time to time. But, in 2006, at dinner with Michael Havens in Yountville, we felt like we were counting cards. Michael is one of the true visionaries of the Napa Valley, the first winegrower to realize that the southern part of the valley, with its cooling breezes, was remarkably well-suited to growing Bordeaux varieties and Syrah. He had spent a couple of decades not only identifying the best vineyards, but the best parcels within the vineyards. Over dinner, we hatched a plan.

St. Lukes Estates

We were in a winemaker's cellar in Sancerre when we first tasted St. Lukes. Ten of us were participating in a blind tasting featuring 15 Sauvignon Blancs, mostly from top producers of Sancerre and Pouilly Fume. The wines were all neatly robed in linen. The glassware was Riedel (big ones). We tried to stay away from the fresh goat cheese, but it was no use. That stuff is just too good with world class Sauvignon Blanc.

Dr. H. Thanisch Muller Burggraef

We had packed t-shirts and shorts, a single sweatshirt. But we really needed a parka or two. After the unseasonably warm spring in Northern Europe, things had turned cold and nasty. Our trip to Bordeaux left us shaking our heads, wondering how the French press was going to explain away the mildew that was ravaging the vines. But while much was written about the near catastrophe in Bordeaux, little has been said about the 2007 vintage in Germany, where that bitter summer gave birth to some of the most glorious Rieslings in memory.

RR

Sometimes being first really pays off. Almost 30 years ago Harry Peterson-Nedry began scouting potential vineyard locations in Oregon's burgeoning wine country. He soon discovered what's now called Ribbon Ridge, an ancient, uniform sedimentary hillside at the extreme western end of the Chehalem Mountains. After conducting extensive soil studies, he secured a pristine parcel and planted the first vines on what he called Ridgecrest Vineyards in 1982.