In 1870, young German immigrant Jacob Beringer traveled from New York to California in search of prime vineyard land. Born into the business, Jacob had studied winemaking and barrelmaking and then served as cellarmaster in his hometown of Mainz. Frederick Beringer, Jacob's businessman brother, had previously immigrated to New York, but rumors of the prize growing areas of California soon reached Jacob's ears and he was lured to the Napa Valley. There, he discovered the soil types and climate suitable for growing European grape varietals, and the perfect hilly terrain for digging out cool-temperature caves. Additionally, he found a job -- as cellar foreman for Charles Krug.
In partnership with his brother Frederick, Jacob soon purchased his first property, including the vineyard known today as St. Helena Home Vineyard and the house that now serves as Beringer's Culinary Arts Center.
Beringer Brothers was formally established in 1876, followed by the first crush in 1877. The Rhine House -- Beringer's tasting room and a famous Napa Valley landmark -- was begun by Frederick in 1883 as his home.
The Beringer Brothers' wines won their first domestic awards in 1887 and by 1889 had won international recognition at the Universal Exposition in Paris. When Prohibition was enacted, Beringer -- then under the direction of Jacob's children -- was granted a license to continue production of wines for sacramental purposes. Because Beringer continued producing wine throughout Prohibition, producing 15,000 cases in 1932 in anticipation of repeal, it is the oldest continuously operating winery in the Napa Valley. In 1934, under the direction of winemaker and general manager Fred Abruzzine, Beringer became the first winery to offer tours and sales to the public, anticipating then the popularity of the Napa Valley today as a tourist mecca for wine enthusiasts.
Beringer continued to produce a full range of varietals through the war years and into the 1960's, but the modern history of Beringer began in the early 1970's, when Nestle, the global conglomerate, bought it and initiated a new push to increase quality. In 1971 Beringer hired veteran winemaker Myron Nightingale to overhaul operations. Myron was the first California winemaker to produce a botrytised wine in the style of the great French Sauternes, and Beringer's Nightingale, a dessert wine made in very small quantities, is named in his honor.
A re-modernization of the winemaking facility was undertaken by Myron, bringing in temperature-controlled steel tanks and replacing the winery's old barrels with new French oak. He also undertook upgrading and expanding the vineyards because of his belief that great wines begin on the vine.
As a consequence of the better fruit becoming available to him, Myron began making limited production wines, including a 1973 Centennial Cabernet Sauvignon and a 1974 Centennial Chardonnay. Both wines were released in 1976 to celebrate Beringer's 100th birthday. In 1976, Ed Sbragia joined Beringer as Myron Nightingale's assistant and began experimenting with fermenting Chardonnay in small French oak barrels and other techniques not widely used in California at that time. Beringer first acquired Cabernet Sauvignon fruit from the Lemmon Ranch (later called Chabot Vineyard) in 1977. Immediately Myron and Ed knew that they had the makings of a truly distinctive Cabernet Sauvignon, and they kept the lot separate.
After two years in French oak barrels, the wine was still dark, chewy and tannic. Even bottle aging didn't seem to soften its intensity and, with some trepidation, they entered the wine in competition in the 1981 Orange County Fair. It won the gold medal as the best Cabernet Sauvignon in the show, and the limited amount produced was released as Beringer's first "Private Reserve" Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 1978 "Private Reserve" was released in 1981 also, to even greater critical acclaim, but the blossoming success of the reserve wines was stopped by the 1979 vintage, when the Chabot Vineyard's dry-farmed Cabernet Sauvignon vines went through photosynthetic shock, resulting in unripe grapes. No "Private Reserve" was bottled from that vintage, in keeping with the determination to reserve that designation for the product of the finest grapes from the finest vineyards and the most exacting winemaking techniques.