99% Sauvignon Blanc, 1% Sémillon

Food pairings: Roast or grilled chicken, seafood such as seared scallops over a creamy mushroom risotto, pasta in a white sauce, garlicky Mediterranean dishes, spicy food, and lively seasonal fare; it is also lovely on its own.

Winemaking: The 2024 was harvested from mid-August to mid-September, during the cooler night-time and early-morning hours to preserve the grapes' natural aromas and flavors. All the fruit was whole-cluster pressed, and the juice was settled and racked off its lees before fermenting at moderately cool temperatures in stainless steel tanks, using a range of yeast strains chosen to enrich the aromas and flavors of Sauvignon Blanc. The wine then rested on light lees in stainless steel before blending and bottling, which gives just enough richness on the mid-palate to balance the bright, crisp finish that defines the classic Honig style.

Vineyards and terroir: The fruit comes from the family's sustainably farmed estate vineyard in Rutherford, in the heart of the Napa Valley, and from other nearby vineyards; for 2024 the blend is roughly half Napa County and half Lake County fruit. Honig is certified by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance and by Fish Friendly Farming: cover crops feed the soil, sheep "mow" between the rows, hawks and songbirds are encouraged to patrol the vines, herbicides are not used, bees and Monarch butterflies have their own habitat, and solar panels power the winery and vineyard.

Family and history: In 1964 Louis Honig, a San Francisco advertising man, bought a ranch in Rutherford planted with Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon, selling the grapes to neighboring wineries while he dreamed of making his own wine. He passed away before he could, and in 1980 his family made a few hundred cases of Louis Honig Sauvignon Blanc in the vineyard's old tractor barn as a tribute. The wine won a Gold Medal at the Orange County Fair, and Honig Vineyard & Winery was born. In 1984, at just 22, his grandson Michael Honig took over the struggling winery and built it around Sauvignon Blanc, an unconventional choice at the time; he went on to chair California's first Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices. Today the family still runs the winery together, and an all-female winemaking team, led by winemaker Ashley Egelhoff with Kristin Belair, at Honig since 1998, focuses on just two grapes: Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

In the pictures: Sheep grazing between the dormant vines, part of Honig's sustainable farming; and a bee on mustard flowers in the vineyard (photos courtesy of Honig Vineyard & Winery).