Santa Rosa winery hosts tastings and rents out two cottages for overnight stays.
Vineyard manager Chris Kangas explained the nuances of vine tendrils during a June 2026 tour of Benovia Winery‘s Martaella Vineyard. “When the tendrils are growing like this, it’s like a flag saying, ‘I’m happy,’” he said.
Small-Vine Viticulture
“We practice small-vine viticulture,” Kangas continued, in response to a question about the tightly spaced vines, à la Burgundy. “We do it so we don’t ask too much of the vines and don’t [need to] give them too many inputs, such as water and fertilizer.” The vines appear to be thriving under this regimen.
As we toured the vineyard, a glass of Rosé of Pinot Noir poured by GM Josh Trowbridge in hand, the view of Mt. St. Helena in the distance kept distracting me. The setting is remarkable.
Three Estate Vineyards
Our tour preceded the tasting that comes with a stay at one of Benovia’s two cottages (see below). The current menu focuses on Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs from Martaella and two other estate vineyards, Tilton Hill, in the Sebastopol Hills, and Cohn, where Benovia’s owners, Joe Anderson and Mary Dewane, live. The couple established the winery in 2005.
The cottages, production facility, and Ranch House hospitality space are all at Martaella, less than 8 miles from downtown Santa Rosa. Martaella, named for Anderson and Dewane’s mothers, Martha and Eleanor, has the warmest weather of the three vineyards, and its wines tend to be more opulent. In most vintages, those from the other two are more structured.
Old-Vine Pinot, Zinfandel, Too
You don’t hear that much about old-vine (50-plus years) Pinot Noir in these parts, but the earliest Cohn vines, which were planted in 1970, qualify as such. The hillside vineyard was split more or less evenly between Pinot Noir and Zin because one owner at the time loved the former, the other the latter.
Napa and Sonoma Cabernets
Benovia is known for Chardonnay and Pinot, but the Cohn Zinfandel is terrific. The winery added Cabernet Sauvignon to the portfolio in 2018. The next year, the Napa Valley bottling came from an unnamed Oakville vineyard. Sonoma County’s high-elevation Cooley Ranch supplied the fruit for the other one. Both are quite fine.
Hot Tubbing with a Vineyard View
Cheers to hot tubbing at Benovia Winery’s Pinot Cottage. It’s one of two overnight rentals at Martaella. The Pinot Cottage, which sleeps four, has all the mod cons, including an updated kitchen and two bedrooms: one with a shower-tub, the other with a large walk-in shower.
Photographer William Wong and I enjoyed hot tubbing with a vineyard view and strolling through the vines before departing the next morning. While on-site, we saw quail, jackrabbits, hummingbirds, and the resident birds of prey patrolling for gophers and other pests.
As mentioned above, a stay at the Pinot or nearby Chardonnay cottage includes a complimentary tasting.
Why go: superlative Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; vineyard tours (another takes in the winery); cottages for overnight stays.
Info
3339 Hartman Ln., Santa Rosa 95401
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