About Renaissance Wines

Founded in 1978, Renaissance wines are best known for their uncompromising expression of terroir and distinctive style. Estate-bottled wines are handcrafted in a traditional European style. The Sierra Foothills vineyard is organically cultivated. Elevations range from 1,700 to 2,300 feet. After 30 years of extensive experimentation, Renaissance now focuses on limited production of the Bordeaux and Rhone families of varietals.

Renaissance Wine Tasting

Rare Bottle to be Served!

As one of the gold-medal wineries who have brought international recognition to North Yuba as a wine region, Renaissance has been bottling wine for over 30 years. "We make thousands and thousands of bottles a year and 99.9999 percent are the standard 750 liter bottles," says RVW president Greg Holman.

"But occasionally, especially in the 90s, we put aside some large format bottles" he explains, "and these are very sought after by serious wine collectors." The special bottle that will be served at the Wine Tasting is a 18-liter format, called a Melchior. This is equivalent to 24 regular sized wine bottles! It contains a premium 1999 Zinfandel, long ago sold out in regular bottle size.

The advantage of larger format bottles is that it slows down the maturation process of the wine due to the lower ratio of air to wine. This means wine connoisseurs can savor special vintages much longer. Renaissance also has wines in magnums and double magnums, in 6-liter Imperials and 9-liter Salmanazars. Many of the large-format bottles have Biblical names such as Solomon (20 liters) and Methuselah (9 liters), a tradition that was started long ago in France. Melchior, for example, was one of the 3 Wise Men. RVW even has one 30-liter Melchizedek; that´s 40 bottles of wine in one bottle!

Because of modern manufacturing methods, there are only a couple of sources for the bottles, and the larger ones cost a couple of hundred dollars for the bottle alone. The Melchior that will be served on February 16 is valued around $1,600.00.

Renaissance Vineyard & Winery Wine Tasting, New Year 2013

   RVW Tasting is a Fundraiser for The Alcouffe Center

Renaissance Vineyard & Winery is holding it´s Second Anual Wine Tasting on Saturday, February 16 as a fundraiser for the Alcouffe Community Center. A selection of RVW´s premium award-winning wines and hors d´oeuvres will be served in the beautiful lakeside tasting room on the vineyard property at 12585 Rice´s Crossing Rd. in Oregon House. $15 or $25/couple. Noon to 4:00 pm. Information 692-2476.