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Wine Wednesday: Belden Barns

Cheers and welcome to Wine Wednesday! We love Sonoma, we love Rhône varietals (this won’t come as a surprise to most 😉), and we really love the lovely producers of Sonoma who create amazing wines using Rhône varietals. Today, we are spotlighting one of those producers: Belden Barns.

Nate Belden grew up on a horse farm in Colorado, with a deep rooted passion for land and farming, planted at an early age. The start of Belden’s career began in finance, with the farming bug always nagging at him. In 2004, Belden spent a weekend in wine country, where he looked at a farm for sale in Sonoma. This sparked a new dream for Belden, of owning this land and becoming a wine grower. A dream that, at the time, was out of his means. By 2005, the “For Sale” sign on his dream land had been pulled, halting Belden’s vision. After weeks of disappointment, Belden called the property’s realtor, only to find that the sale of the land hadn’t gone through. Not letting the opportunity pass again, Belden put an offer on the site that is now Belden Barns.

Belden Barns is today operated by Nate and his wife, Lauren. The Belden Barns site has a long history of farming and hospitality, which Nate and Lauren uphold to this day. The original vineyard on site was planted by Dave Steiner in the 1970’s, but much of it fell to phylloxera. Today, Nate and Lauren are working to bring this vineyard back to its historical standards; they replanted the vineyard with Pinot Noir, Syrah, Grenache, Grüner Veltliner, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier and are enjoying successful and healthy harvests, while keeping the Steiner Vineyard designate. Along with wine, the Beldens grow fruits, vegetables, and storage crops, with dreams of livestock and a creamery in their future. The couple welcome tastings at their property by appointment only, and host in a rustic dairy barn on site. A can’t miss while visiting? The property’s wishing tree, where guests may add their own wishes.

Try it at the girl & the fig!

Belden Barns, 2018 Epiphany Grenache, Sonoma Mountain