Lunch at Peju Province Winery

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Our next stop after the CIA was to head into Rutherford and to lunch at Peju Province Winery. Founded in 1982 by Tony and Herta “HB” Peju the winery has been producing red, white and rose wines at their boutique winery.

We were joined by Katie Lewis, Communications Coordinator who gave us the background of the winery and chatted with us as we ate our lunch of sandwiches and salads. (I loved the cantaloupe and prosciutto salad… it solves the issue of how to eat the wrapped cantaloupe/prosciutto by making it all bite-sized and I will make it here at the house when I can keep a cantaloupe for longer than 12 hours) As we were finishing our meal Herta Peju came out, poured Sauvignon Blanc and began speaking about her wines.  Wine, horticulture and art seem to be viewed as kindred spirits at Peju.  The vineyard was already producing wine grapes for when the Peju’s first purchased the property.  Eventually, the family began producing their own vintages beginning with the first block of Cabernet Sauvignon that is known as the H.B. Vineyard.  Soon after, the family’s garage was converted into a tasting room and the winery began to grow.

Currently, the winery produces 35,000 cases annually and has expanded from the original 3o acres to include 350 acres in Pope Valley and 86 acres in Dutch Henry Canyon.  In fact, as the next generation of Pejus have joined the business, sustainability has become a bigger issue.  In the last few years the vineyards have received certifications from the California Certified Organic Farmers, Napa County Green Winery and Bay Area Green Business.  The winery has installed 720 photovoltaic panels atop the winery roof which produces enough electricity to power 40 average homes and will reduce Peju’s electrical demand by 36%.

We were given two glasses with which to taste during our lunch and chat and I used the opportunity to try some of those wines side by side.

For instance, I was able to try the Provence blend alongside the Rose of Syrah. It is remarkable to taste seemingly similar wines and find how different they really are…

More about Peju coming up….

Tags: Peju, Rutherford

This entry was posted on August 10, 2009 at 10:48 am and is filed under Gretchen Neuman, Napa Valley, Road Trip!, Win(e)ding Roads, Wine Bloggers Conference. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.