Bucking the long tradition of Bordeaux-style wines in this valley is a growing trend of Rhône-style wines. For many years, the wineries of Santa Clara Valley have produced wines made from cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, zinfandel and other Italian varietals such as sangiovese and charbono. Without a real focus, our collective winemakers have produced a scatter-gun variety of wines—not really specializing in any one type of grape. Not that this is a bad thing, it’s just different than what many up-and-coming wineries are doing now; specializing in a wine type—specifically, Rhône styles.
