California vineyard catches a bear with expensive taste eating pinot noir grapes
The harvest this year at one Northern California vineyard might be a little bit smaller.
Navarro Vineyards in Mendocino County shared a video on Facebook that shows why: Local bears have been helping themselves to the Anderson Valley winemaker’s grapes — in this case, a male bear going after some alluring pinot noir.
“Navarro’s taste-tester is back to ‘get it when the gettin’ is good,’” vineyard workers said in a Facebook post on Monday. “We’ll be ready to harvest these grapes in the next few weeks, so hopefully this big guy leaves some for us.”
The vineyard said their burly guest was munching grapes at the high-elevation vineyards. Time stamps on the clips suggest the footage was captured in late August and early September.
Aaron Bennett, a second-generation co-owner of the vineyard, said in a Facebook message on Wednesday that there are at least three bears in the area — the male bear caught in the grape-munching act, as well as a mother bear and a cub that the vineyard’s foreman has seen.
“We’ve been with the bears for years, every fall eating apples and grapes,” Bennett said.
But there are no hard feelings — in fact, Bennett shared a photo that he said shows one “of the ladders we have to allow them access into (the) vineyard.”
Bears aren’t the only ones who enjoy Navarro’s pinot noir.
According to the vineyard’s website, Wine Enthusiast Magazine described its 2016 pinot noir as “elegant, easy to drink and well balanced. It shows plenty of jazzy cherry flavors, light spice and rhubarb accents and a smooth mouthfeel backed by light tannins and acidity.”
The vineyard’s tasting room is on Highway 128 in Philo.
This story was originally published September 25, 2019 at 9:32 PM with the headline "California vineyard catches a bear with expensive taste eating pinot noir grapes."
