By Ben Antonius | Daily Republic | May 31, 2009
FAIRFIELD - It started, perhaps ironically, in Napa Valley.
That's where Steve and Linda Tenbrink, scions of a longtime Suisun Valley farming family, met vintner Abe Schoener, who has built his reputation on a style of experimental winemaking aimed directly at challenging long-held Napa traditions.
Between them, Schoener and the Tenbrinks have formed a relationship that is putting Suisun Valley grapes on their grandest stage yet.
'We are trying to really build the Suisun Valley into being a well-known place that is as good, if not better, than Napa,' Linda Tenbrink said.
These days, Schoener works in Suisun Valley as winemaker at the Tenbrinks' fledgling vineyard. Through an agreement with the family, he also uses their winery for a side effort called Scholium Project, a nationally-recognized undertaking. Its wines have been variously described as 'bizarre' and 'fascinating.'
'Half the wines it makes in any given year are exquisite. The other half are shocking and sometimes undrinkable,' the New York Times reported after a Scholium tasting at the Suisun Valley winery.
In years past, that level of attention would have been an unheard-of development, but it is a welcome one. Growers in the valley have long argued that they were held back not by the quality of their grapes or the skill of their winemaking, but by the lack of prestige afforded to the appellation compared to the adjacent Napa and Sonoma valleys.
It's an assessment both the Tenbrinks and Schoener share.
For his part, Schoener isn't sure how much Scholium Project is doing to actually raise the profile of the region. He only uses Suisun Valley grapes in one of Scholium's many wines, a petite sirah called Babylon. He also said the area is starting to get attention without his help, noting a recent high-profile review of a Suisun Valley wine called Manifesto!
'To some degree the wines of Suisun Valley . . . are becoming better known on their own,' he said. 'It is also true that I had the wine writer of the New York Times visit the Tenbrink winery and taste for two hours. That probably wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the Scholium Project.'
The Tenbrink family -- who also produce tomatoes, peaches and walnuts -- has grown wine grapes for more than a decade. However, it wasn't until recent years the family explored producing wine themselves.
See the complete story at the Daily Republic online.
