Two Vintages of Grenache from Nicole Salengo

The vineyard speaks ...

Nicole Salengo has been winemaker for Berryessa Gap Vineyards in California’s Yolo County since 2013, making wines that are highly reliant on the sweeping vagaries of each year’s weather and the ageless dependability of terroir. Berryessa Gap Vineyards, in the town of Winters in California’s Yolo County, is owned by siblings Corinne Martinez and Dan Martinez Jr. and Santiago Moreno. Winters lies in the western reaches of the Sacramento Valley, east of lake Berryessa and separated from Napa County by the Vaca Mountains. The wines are 100 percent varietal and see no new oak, only used and neutral French barrels. Alcohol levels tend to be fairly low, so the wines feel eminently drinkable though they all possess a keen sense of structure.