Tour and Tasting at Byington Winery

Byington Winery, Santa Cruz Mountains
Tasted Saturday, January 23, 2010 by Rob MacKay with 675 views

Introduction

Byington is a 10000 case/year winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains that began operations in 1990 with the release of their 1987 Estate Pinot Noir. Situated atop the Santa Cruz Mountains on 95 acres of which only 9 acres are planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Flight 1 (6 Notes)

  • 2008 Byington Liage 89 Points

    USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz County

    The 2008 "Liage" is a blend of 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Viognier. Slightly floral with crisp, green apple flavors and a nice finish. Our favorite of the lineup we tasted.

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  • 2007 Byington Chardonnay 85 Points

    USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

    Good fruit but also a substantial amount of oak. Creamy texture with a smooth finish. If you are not a fan of buttery, oaked up Chardonnay then you would not like this. However, if that's your style preference then at $15, this is a pretty good deal.

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  • 2006 Byington Pinot Noir Van der Kamp Vineyard 86 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Mountain

    Lots of dark berry fruit and a slightly smokey overtone. Well balanced and tasty but has a slightly short finish.

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  • 2004 Byington Cabernet Sauvignon Chelle Mountain Vineyard 74 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

    By far, our least favorite of the lineup. Way out of balance and downright nasty. Tipping the scales at a whopping 17% alcohol, this wine would be better served for cleaning out infected wounds. Average at best and that's being generous. The winery is trying to sell these off as 'economic stimulus wines'. Perhaps if they have them as the last wine of the day that people taste when they are already blitzed they might get a few people to buy some.

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  • 2005 Byington Merlot Messina Vineyard 84 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

    Fruity and rather simple but still tasty enough to enjoy. Mild oak influence and a smooth finish. A decent wine but at nearly $30, quite overpriced.

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  • 2004 Byington Cabernet Sauvignon Signature 87 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

    The Byington 'Signature' Cab is supposed to be their best Cabernet Sauvignon. At $50 a bottle you can do MUCH better. However, they are currently selling these at 2 for $50 which makes them a slightly better deal. The wine shows some decent earthy elements, black fruits and licorice on the palate and mild tannins on the finish.

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Closing

The one unfortunate part of the tour and tasting is that we didn't get to taste any of the wines that Byington produces from their own estate grapes. Everything we tasted was from grapes that they source from other locations. We would have liked to have tasted their estate wines as well as they are normally much better then what they produce from outside sources.

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