Artesa Winemaker Mark Beringer Declares the 2012 Carneros and Napa Harvest “An Amazing Year for the Consumer”

The California wine harvest has just ended and Winemaker Mark Beringer of Artesa Vineyards & Winery has exciting news for Carneros and Napa Valley wine lovers. The 2012 harvest will be an amazing year for the consumer, and stands out for its consistent ripening and outstanding yields of quality fruit at all tiers.

Beringer notes that the 2012 season started early with an ideal spring. Mild, mellow conditions prevailed to produce full berry clusters through summer, which was generally dry, warm and wholly favorable to maturation. “This year was consistent in all of Artesa’s vineyards,” says Beringer.

“Conditions were so ideal and so stable, many of our varieties ripened in unison. We were bringing in Cabernet Sauvignon with Chardonnay, which is very unusual, and a testimony to this vintage’s even, high quality evolution.”

Beringer already sees that a key challenge for this vintage will be to choose from the range of high quality wine lots: “It is going to be tough to cull things out, everything looks so good. There will be a very wide palette of wines to blend with, and it will produce wines of tremendous complexity.”

Beringer has good news to share for fans of Carneros’ foremost cool weather varieties: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. “Now that we have pressed all of our Pinots, we’re very impressed. It’s exciting quality with incredible fruit intensity. As far as Chardonnay, the acidity is balanced, there’s rich flavor and ripeness, and unlike last year, there’s golden fruit that allows us to press healthy, whole clusters, a sure sign of quality.” As for Cabernet Sauvignon, another benchmark variety of the Artesa winemaking program, Beringer expects this year’s harvest to show tremendous depth of fruit and balance.

What does this mean for consumers? “In the end, it will be another amazing year for wine lovers. All of our wines will be made from the same great fruit, producing real value across our spectrum of luxury wines. Combined with the great acidity, overall balance and consistent character of this vintage, consumers have a lot to look forward to.”

About Artesa Vineyards & Winery

Artesa Vineyards & Winery sits high on a hilltop overlooking the renowned appellation of Carneros in southern Napa Valley. The winery’s roots date back to the 1980’s when the Raventós family, heirs of the Spanish winemaking dynasty Codorníu, began acquiring land in Napa Valley. In 1997 it was named Artesa, from the Catalan word for handcrafted. Today, Artesa focuses on producing small, ultra-premium lots of the varietals for which Carneros and the Napa Valley are best known – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon – and aims to capture the essence of terroir through exceptional winemaking. Artesa hosts thousands of visitors each year in their artfully-designed tasting room. Most of their offerings are sold exclusively at the winery and through their wine club – Club Artesa. Select Artesa wines are nationally represented by Aveníu Brands, Baltimore, MD, a division of Grupo Codorníu.