45th Anniversary

1978 - 2023

AN OVERVIEW OF OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS, and REMARKABLE FACTS

Three Secrets Behind Renaissance Winery’s
Unique Position on the Landscape of American Winemaking History.

Unique qualities that immediately distinguish Renaissance from the thousands of American,
French, German, and other International wineries are these three simple factors:

Unique Land: Mountain side 2300 foot elevation, granitic soil, hand harvesting only, and a
small yield per acre focus.

Unique Winemaker Heritage: Legendary founding wine-master Dr. Karl Werner and wife, Diana,
were followed by French/Israeli Gideon Beinstock bringing both heritage and innovation.

Unique Professional & Critical Response to Renaissance Wines: Gold-Medal acclaim through rigorous world-wide wine tasting competition and the resulting response by the community of World-Class wine writers.
Service of Renaissance wines to worldwide Heads of State and International Dignitaries.

Details on Each Factor:

Unique Land:
At 2300 foot elevation, Renaissance Vineyards sits on the Sierra Nevadas’ western slopes.
High altitude offer full sun, above the fog-line, and increased UV light enhances grape’s characteristics.

Vineyard In The Clouds. . .

Winter Snow Covers Our Renaissance Slopes
And Varying Elevations & Contour Terracing Provide Unique Micro-Climates.

  Granitic soil. . .

Decomposing granitic soil is totally different from valley soil and
forces our vines’ root structure into producing absolutely recognizable character
and deep, complex flavors from this exertion. Granitic is also very distinct from
the volcanic soils of the high elevation vineyards of the Napa area.

Harvest

By-Hand Only: it creates very low-yield per-acre and extremely select grape cluster harvest.
Renaissance is primary producer in the North Yuba Appelation unique in its low-yield approach.

Unique Heritage

Dr. Karl Werner, Renaissance Vineyard & Winery’s  Founding Winemaster’s tradition
dates back over 700 years. Born into one of Germany’s oldest winemaking family
estates, Schloss Groenstein, Dr. Werner’s family estate originated by grant from
the descendants of Charlemagne, in 1411.
~~~
Trained at Eltviller and Geisenheim, Dr. Werner later became winemaker for the famed
Schloss Vollrads and Wolf-Erben estates. After World War II, his services were requested
to personally assist Germany’s Chancellor Conrad Adenauer by acting as national wine
director.
Between 1969 to 1976 Dr. Werner consulted with over 40 top California wineries. His
services were engaged by Robert Mondavi and he was the founding winemaker for Ely
Calloway’s  new project carrying that name to world fame when celebrating America’s
200th birthday. . .



“on July 9, 1976, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and his Royal Highness,

Prince Duke of Edinburgh, toasted the President of the United States
at a luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The only wine
served at this bicentennial event honoring the Royal couple's visit to this
country, was Callaway's estate bottled 1974 White Riesling. Her Majesty,
not known to be a wine drinker, requested a second glass! “

Renaissance Served to World G-8 Heads of State Hosted by President Bush ’41, Houston, Texas

President Reagan’s 83rd Birthday Hosted by RNC in Washington, D.C.
Renaissance Chardonnay & Cabernet Served Pres. Reagan, Nancy, and Margaret Thatcher

Unique World-Wide Response to Renaissance Wines:
The Most Competitive Wine Competition in the World?

The International WINE Challenge (IWC in London)

The IWC is accepted as the world's finest and most meticulously judged wine competition which assesses every wine blind and judges each for its faithfulness to style, region and vintage. Throughout the rigorous judging processes, each medal-winning wine is tasted on three separate occasions by at least 10 different judges.  Here wines are submitted by the wine trade merchants, not just wineries. First-growth Bordeaux producers do not enter into competition, but at the Challenge, many of the famous Bordeaux ARE entered and must compete in blind, brown-bag judging.

Renaissance Winery surpassed or equaled these world-famous Top 10 Bordeaux Chateau

in the International Wine Challenge Competition:

Chateau Mouton-Rothschild                 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild
Chateau Latour                                  Chateau Lynch-Bages
Cheatuea Pinchon-Longueville-Lalande

and surpassed or equaled these prominent wineries as well:

Opus One                         Far Niente                 Penfolds Grange
Chateau Cheval Blanc          Chateau Figeac           Chateau Leoville-Barton         Chateau Haut-Marbuzet
Chateau L’Evangile              Chateau Canon          Chatuea Pavie                       Chateau Lagrange

World’s Greatest Dessert Wines (Gault Millau Competition)
Chateau d’Yquem #1   Renaissance #8 (Highest Rated American Wine)

Best Dessert Wine in The USA (Atlanta Wine Summit)
Renaissance #1

Top Ten Most Popular Restaurant Brands of the Year
When Entered into Competition with Renaissance Vineyard & Winery:

Renaissance Winery’s scores in the American Wine Competition put it into Top-Ten status
when compared to these most popular restaurant brands:

Kendall-Jackson     Mondavi Reserve      Grgich Stag’s Leap
Clos du Bois          Cakebread               Beringer Private Reserve


Renaissance Has Been Featured and Favorably Reviewed
in the Following Magazines and Newspapers:

New York Time              Los Angeles Times Magazine     Chicago Tribune
San Francisco Chronicle    Gourmet Magazine                 Sunset Magazines
Houston Post                  London Evening Standard        Wine Enthusiast
Decanter Magazine          Vinum Magazine

Halliday’s Wine Atlas was selected as Wine Spectator Magazine’s Book of the Year  and
Mr. Halliday describes his Renaissance visit:
“If there is a more remarkable vineyard in California, I did not see it. . .
I can only suggest you move heaven and earth to make an appointment,
for you will see both when you arrive.”

Wine Spectator Magazine’s Matt Kramer:
“Renaissance is California’s best kept Cabernet secret”.

Los Angeles Times Magazine’s Robert Lawrence Balzer:
“The Renaissance 1984 Cabernet Sauvignon is like all the first
growth clarets of Bordeaux rolled into one. It has the color and
depth of the Chateau Latour, the fragrance of Margaux, the delicacy
of Haut-Brion, the comlexity of Lafite and the charm of Mouton.”
Note: The 1984 Cabernet Reserve Dbl. Gold Medal 750ml
is available in limited quantities.

Renaissance Wines have been served by U.S. Presidents to British and European Heads of State,
by California Governors, and Diplomatic guests of U.S. foreign missions.

Here's to you, Renaissance Winery!