Bennett Valley Cellars is a small family estate built from Italian Veneto roots, founded by Emilio Zanin, who immigrated to the U.S. from Veneto in 1969 and built American Tartaric Products into a major wine-industry ingredient supplier, and his son Luca Zanin, who led the family back to growing rather than supplying when they bought Simpatico Ranch in Bennett Valley. The Zanins farm about 40 acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, mostly at Simpatico Ranch, plus Marina's Vineyard (5 acres, named after Emilio's wife). Winemaker Toni Stockhausen, daughter of Australian winemaking “living legend” Karl Stockhausen, leads the program. The tasting room sits in downtown Sonoma at 127 East Napa Street, where Luca's wife Elizabeth manages hospitality and retail.
BIN 6410 Estate Pinot Noir, Sonoma County: the flagship, launched with the inaugural 2008 vintage; a Gold-medal Russian River-style Pinot with violets, dark berry and mocha.
Estate Chardonnay, Bennett Valley: a richer, barrel-influenced estate white from the cool Bennett Valley AVA.
BIN 5757 Unoaked Chardonnay, Sonoma County: a crisp, stainless-fermented Chardonnay showing pure apple and pear.
Cuvée Marina Sparkling Wine, North Coast: a méthode-traditionnelle sparkling of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.
Marina's Vineyard, source of the Bennett Valley Cellars Pinot Noir, was planted in 2002 to clones 115 and 2A.
Second-generation owners Luca and Elizabeth Zanin pour daily, from noon to 6 PM, at their downtown Sonoma tasting room steps from the historic Plaza, and host private tastings by appointment at Simpatico Ranch, in the heart of Bennett Valley. Winemaker Toni Stockhausen, who first worked for the family as chief technical winemaker at American Tartaric Products, makes the wines in a classical, Pinot Noir-forward style. Total production remains intentionally small: roughly 2,000 cases a year.
