A Family of Wines : The Benzigers Make Glen Ellen a Huge Success

THE BENZIGER family has been involved in the wine trade ever since 1863, when Meinrod Benziger founded Park Benziger Imports in New York, a wholesale importing company. But his descendant, Bruno Benziger, an ex-Marine officer and father of seven, was looking for a way of life that the whole family could share: making their own wine on their own land. In 1980, when son Mike--who had been searching for the perfect California winery site for six years--called his parents about a one-time part of the Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo rancho in Sonoma, that did it. Bruno sold his interest in Park Benziger, and the whole family convened to grow grapes and make wines at their Glen Ellen Winery & Vineyards. Glen Ellen’s Proprietor’s Reserve wines have zoomed the winery’s sales from the small boutique category to one of the state’s largest producers with national distribution. Special-occasion wines from Glen Ellen have been winning medals galore and are marked Benziger Family Selection; the 1984 Glen Ellen Estate Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($9) captured golds and some double golds wherever it was shown. The 1985 edition ($14.50) has the same intensive flavor components, suggesting black pepper, chocolate, wild cherries, blackberries and cassis. “We farm for flavor,” Mike Benziger says. “We’ve learned what each vineyard plot will produce, and we’ve honed our viticultural practices to push the grapes for the best tastes the land can give. We’ll get herbal flavors, green ripe olive tastes, minty spices, berries and cherries.”

Those Proprietor’s Reserve wines are, in Benziger’s words, “deliciously drinkable” and, in our words, great value. If vacation time takes you to the Valley of the Moon, don’t miss the Glen Ellen Winery & Tasting Room.