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Vineyards European winemakers honor a vineyard that has consistently produced fine wine for centuries by placing the name of the vineyard on the label. Such vineyards have a history that outlives individual growers and wineries. The wines made from their grapes are for those who value the best that a regional winemaking tradition has to offer. Though the tradition is shorter in the Napa Valley, some vineyards here have proven themselves through generations, and in some cases, over a hundred years of consistently producing wines of outstanding quality. As a passionate grapegrower and shrewd businessman, Andy Beckstoffer has sought to acquire vineyards of historical significance whenever they came on the market. Like the great heritage oaks that dot the Napa Valley, these vineyards are coveted treasures to be nurtured and preserved. Beckstoffer has been tending many of these vineyards for decades, ripping out aging and phylloxera-infested vines and replacing them with carefully chosen clones best suited to the microclimates and soils of the vineyards.
Beckstoffer's willingness to experiment with closer vine spacing, his innovative approach to pruning and trellising, and his introduction of drip irrigation have made his vineyards some of the most technologically advanced in Napa Valley. He is now doing the same for the Red Hills area of Lake County, where he owns 1,100 acres. His sustainable agriculture practices give renewed life to time-honored soil and ensure fertile land for future generations.
The acquisition and preservation of historic vineyards is important to Beckstoffer's vision for the future. It is his hope that the European tradition of bottling vineyard-specific premium wine and putting that vineyard name on the bottle will become standard practice in California as it is in France. "I believe the vineyard designated concept is the new definition for the historic 'estate bottled'," he declared.
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