Wine Family Spotlight 12

Beaucanon Estate is located on the historic Longwood ranch , a property that was once part of Yajome Land Grant and belonged to Captain Salvador Vallejo, brother and associate of General Mariano Vallejo founder of Sonoma and “military commander and director of colonization on the northern frontier. The Grant covered 6652.58 acres and was first given to Damaso Rodriquez, a retired ensign from the first Calvary division of the Company of San Francisco which petitioned the Mexican government in 1838. Wine growing only started in the late 1970's when chardonnay was planted.

Today Longwood is owned by the de Coninck family, a 9 generation wine merchant originally from the right bank in Bordeaux that can be traced back to 1740.

Louis de Coninck, the winemaker, carries on the wine making history of the family. Trained from age 18 in Saint Emilion, he joined his father Jacques in Napa Valley. His wines display finesse, complexity, structure, mouth-feel and the luscious flavors of Napa Valley fruit. Like all great winemakers, Louis excels at highlighting the natural characteristics of perfectly ripe fruit and the "terroir." The wines are aged in carefully selected French and American Oak barrels for 9-24 months. They are concentrated, richly flavored and balanced when young but will further improve with maturity.