Thus, the back label of the 1990 Raymond Burr Cabernet Sauvignon the premier vintage of this vineyard.

Raymond Burr and Robert Benevides had met, as professional actors, in the middle 1950s on the television program which was to make a legend of Burr, "Perry Mason." Motivated in the beginning by friendship, the Burr/Benevides relationship was bolstered and advanced by their individual interest in, and knowledge of, the cultivation and hybridization of orchids. In the next several years this shared hobby began to grow until the obvious resolution was to make it a commercial venture. And so, Sea God Nurseries was born, becoming in the 20-odd years of its life an international presence with ranges in Fiji, Hawaii, the Azores Islands and in Southern California. During this period, the partnership was responsible for over 1,500 new orchids added to the world-wide catalogue.

Simultaneously, Benevides had become Executive in Charge of Production on Mr. Burr’s very successful television series "Ironside" and together they managed an island in Fiji they had bought, where they raised copra and cattle.

In 1976 Benevides, on the advice of his father, had purchased an eminently desirable farm in the Dry Creek Valley and in the following months, as the nine-year "Ironside" drew to a close, Burr and Benevides traveled in northern California, the scene of both their young lives (Burr was raised in Vallejo, Benevides on the Peninsula, both attended school in Berkeley). Benevides took Burr to see his property in Sonoma County.

Around this time, the Dry Creek Valley was in transition; having for a long while produced hops, and then prunes, the area was just beginning to be recognized as the prime terrain for grape-growing that it now is. By 1980 the Burr/Benevides partnership had moved their orchid nurseries to the valley and work on the manzanita covered benchlands began...the clearing, the tilling, the sterilization; the wells dug, the drip-systems installed, the Roman drains, the French drains, the trellises built, the wires strung...all while the two men were actively engaged in the Viacom presentation of the new adventures of "Perry Mason" which over a period of five years was filmed in Denver, Colorado, Paris, France and Toronto, Canada!

The grapes were planted in 1986: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and, for the proprietors, a small section of Port--the bareroot stock imported from Portugal. (The Port, originally intended for family and friends, has somehow found its way onto the Cartes du Vin of a couple of upscale San Francisco restaurants, and in 1996 took Double Gold at the wine fair there.)

In 1990 the beautiful south-facing vineyards produced their first vintage. Carefully hand picked, they were carried down to the Pedroncelli Bonded Winery where they were handed into the wise and gentle hands of John Pedroncelli, a second-generation winemaker and inheritor of the Sonoma tradition. After 18 months in small French and American oak cooperage, the wine was bottled in November, 1992, released in 1995.

Fully matured vines and a perfect growing season in the Dry Creek Valley in 1991 produced a bigger and more complex wine with a potentially extraordinary cellar-life.

By 1992 the vineyards were in their prime -- and Raymond Burr’s health was failing. At a time when he could have legitimately retired to ‘watch his garden grow’ he made -- primarily to protect his 200+ crew -- four more of the six-week-shooting-schedule two-hour Perry Mason television films and found time to watch, to protect, to nurture the splendid grapes. Found time to confer with the winemaker, to taste from the barrels the 1992, and finally, a few days before his death, to watch the harvest.

By some coincidence, and not a little skill, the 1992 Raymond Burr Cabernet Sauvignon is very like the man; big, full of gusto, complex and jubilantly alive. On a television documentary about Northern California wines he made several years ago he remarked that "...probably one of the most important things in a vineyard are the footprints of the grower between the rows..." And if those big, wide-paced footprints are actually no longer visible in the earth, they are imprinted certainly in the memories, and hearts, of the vineyard people.

POSTSCRIPT: Raymond Burr didn’t want the vineyards named for him. But Robert Benevides, his partner, colleague and companion of 35 years, after much struggle and thought, decided that, in this case, the parallels of man and wine could not be separated; it is not so much a memorial to Raymond Burr as it is his living, breathing presence.

Raymond Burr Vineyards
PO Box 678
Geyserville, CA 95441
Phone: 1-888-900-0024    Fax: 707-431-1843
RBurrwine@aol.com

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