BENOVIA WINERY

Wine Warehouse is excited to represent Benovia Winery, a special, small production, family-owned winery in the heart of the Russian River Valley.

Located just east of the famed Russian River, Benovia Winery produces some of the region’s most expressive Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Only 16 years old, Benovia is a rising star and has already garnered a following among critics and Pinot Noir enthusiasts who vie for its limited production single vineyard wines. The winery’s distinctive name was created by blending owners Joe and Mary’s father’s names, Ben and Novian.

For a Benovian, labor is life, and life is fulfilling. Winemaker and co-owner Mike Sullivan grew up tending his family’s vines on Sonoma Mountain. Proprietors Mary Dewane and Joe Anderson were both raised on hard work by their fathers, Ben Dewane and Novian Anderson. Hard work brings its own rewards, they would say. Be the best at what you do. Surround yourself with good people, and let them get to work. And never, ever produce anything that wouldn’t make you proud. Here in the Russian River Valley, we are all part of a close-knit community that finds joy in purpose. Happiest during harvest, when friends join on the sorting line and the winery and vineyards are buzzing with activity and camaraderie. After years of humble, hard work, they believe that they are creating something truly beautiful that draws people together.

SUSTAINABLE & ORGANIC WINEGROWING:
PLACE AND PURPOSE

Each wine is an expression of a place that is deeply meaningful. Every year, each of the three estate vineyards follows its own seasonal rhythms, resulting in a remarkably unique flavor profile. Our three grower partner sites are farmed by family and friends who share our belief that viticulture should be practiced with reverence and integrity.

The Vineyards

ESTATE VINEYARDS:
In building Benovia, the team searched for and acquired three different estate-farmed vineyards in three very different microclimates, and then custom designed and planted most of the acreage so they could create three distinctly nuanced estate vineyard Pinot Noirs at the heart of their portfolio: Cohn Estate, Tilton Hill Estate and Martaella Estate vineyard wines. Each of the vineyards is sustainably farmed.

Tilton Hill Vineyard:
Winemaker Mike Sullivan took two years to find his ideal “cold climate” location and Benovia purchased and developed the Tilton Hill property in Freestone, just east of Bodega Bay. Benovia’s Tilton Hill Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir grows on a ridge that used to be home to an apple orchard.

Cohn Vineyard:
In 2002, Joe Anderson and Mary Dewane purchased the vineyard, which was planted in 1970 and remains one of Sonoma’s oldest Pinot Noir vineyards. It is renowned for producing legendary wines for esteemed Pinot Noir houses such as Kosta Browne and Williams Selyem, but is now the star of Benovia’s estate vineyards, producing fruit for Benovia’s Cohn Vineyard Pinot Noir.

Martaella Vineyard:
Benovia’s largest estate vineyard, Martaella, surrounds Benovia Winery in the heart of the Russian River Valley and produces Benovia’s spectacular, bright, complex Russian River Valley Chardonnay alongside the Martaella Russian River Pinot Noir.

Meet the Faces behind the brand.

MARY DEWANE, VICE CHAIRMAN
Mary’s contagious energy rubs off on everyone at Benovia.  Her enthusiasm for wine, boundless curiosity, and genuine affection for others epitomize the term “Benovian.”

JOE ANDERSON, CHAIRMAN
Joe’s watershed wine moment occurred in 2002, when Burt Williams poured him a glass of 1993 Williams Selyem Cohn Vineyard Pinot Noir. Profoundly moved by what he had tasted, Joe later purchased the venerable Cohn Vineyard, the oldest Pinot Noir vineyard in the Russian River Valley.

MIKE SULLIVAN, WINEMAKER & CO-OWNER
As a winemaker, Mike listens. He listens to the vineyard, to what the grapes are saying, to nature unfolding each year, and to the wine during fermentation. “At Benovia I only have one job: to create wines that capture the essence of this place and this time, and for me, no wine reflects its place and time more than Pinot Noir.”

BENOVIA WINES