Bacio Divino Cellars

Bacio Divino Cellars (meaning Divine Kiss in Italian), was founded by Claus Janzen in 1993; he initially became interested in wine as a self-appointed “ski bum” while working at an upscale restaurant in Switzerland during the ski seasons. He was 19 years of age when he became a wine enthusiast/collector and started developing what ultimately would become a very trained palate – useful as he is directly involved in all their final blending decisions.

A non-wine related career took hold in real estate with the family ultimately settling near Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. Janzen was a successful salesman for Western Canada’s top commercial real estate firm at the time of Aronovitch & Leipsic. But he continued to explore his passions for wine including joining Opimian, Canada’s largest private wine club and at one point winning a best tasting contest. While his children were young, Claus moved his family to Provence in France and spent one year exploring the region (mostly by bicycle according to his son Kyle) and visiting numerous wineries and meeting winemakers.

Eventually he made his way to Napa Valley; he took what he thought would be a relaxing trip with the intent on visiting several wineries. Already familiar with and a buyer of Caymus wines, on his first trip to the valley he made a point of visiting Caymus Winery and met Chuck Wagner, the owner of the winery. They bonded over a shared passion of wine and Chuck invited Claus to work at the winery for the upcoming harvest. Caymus had recently received excellent exposure in the Wine Spectator and sales domestically were doing quite well. But Chuck was also interested in selling his wines overseas; after hearing this, Claus told Chuck he could help with building overseas exposure for Caymus wines.

Kyle recalls the family selling everything they owned in Winnipeg and putting their remaining possessions in a motor home and spending the next three months slowly driving west to Napa Valley before settling in St. Helena. Claus worked his first harvest in Napa Valley at Caymus Winery and ultimately spent 12 years working there, developing their international marketing program.

While working at Caymus, Claus made his first wine in 1993 – a single barrel of Sangiovese grapes. He blended this with a couple of barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon made by the winemaking team at Caymus Vineyard – 100 cases were their first release. Through Caymus, Claus was introduced to grower Andy Beckstoffer who owned and managed the Georges III vineyard next door. This would be the beginning a long and fruitful relationship with Beckstoffer; he first sold them grapes in 1995 and Bacio Divino now sources fruit from several of his most highly regarded heritage vineyards including still from Georges III as well as Missouri Hopper and To Kalon.

While Claus was the original winemaker for Bacio Divino, he has used several winemakers since the beginning including Nils Venge who introduced them to his son Kirk Venge. Bacio Divino was one of Kirk’s first consulting clients; Kirk continues to make their wine.

Bacio Divino owns 60 acres in total purchased in the late 1990s and planted in the year 2000. This is rugged hillside land with 10 acres planted to vines (all Cabernet Sauvignon) spread out among three unique vineyard sites. The property is in a fairly remote location of the valley located high up above Dutch Henry Canyon east of the Silverado Trail. Their vineyards are well off of the northern part of the Silverado Trail in a secluded part of the region, a rare landscape not often seen by visitors to the valley. The views from their vineyards are fantastic – encompassing rugged forested undeveloped hillside forests with vistas stretching far below into the valley floor.

Bacio Divino produces five labels: the original Bacio Divino (Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese & Petite Sirah), Pazzo (a 5-variety blend first produced in 1999), and Vagabond, a Syrah Cabernet Sauvignon blend. In addition, they produce several vineyard designated wines simply called Janzen including from their own vineyard and from select Beckstoffer vineyards. And Lucie, wines from neighboring Sonoma County (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir).

All their wines have consistently received top ratings by influential wine critics or publications including Robert Parker; he mentioned their original vintage in his Wine Advocate newsletter. And Janzen was originally called one of the “20 new Cabernet Sauvignon labels to watch” by the Wine Spectator.

One of their philosophies is to produce wines which are comfortable to drink in their youth. Case in point is the Pazzo, which means “crazy” in Italian. In the 1990s Claus decided to make a red blend, but rather than create a Bordeaux style blend like other wineries, he decided not to be constrained by the types of varieties used in this wine and instead, initially focus on wine led by Sangiovese. This is a unique blend where varieties and percentages often dramatically. We recall at least one vintage where the white grape, Viognier was included in the blend. The result is an easy drinking, lively wine but with complexity that is extremely popular at bistros and wine bars. It is also very decently priced.

Select Wines
Lucie
2022 Bacio Divino Lucie Sun Chase Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma County. This vineyard is owned by Alex Guarachi, the proprietor of Guarachi Family Vineyard on Atlas Peak in Napa Valley. A number of producers have crafted vineyard designated wines from this property including Guarachi, Merryvale and La Follette. The site consistently produces rich and ripe Californian expressions of the variety. Its elevation of approximately 1,400 feet, placing it often above the fog line certainly helps in this regard. This wine is deep golden in color; the bouquet is intense and well-layered with aromas of glazed pineapple, peaches in light syrup, apricot, butterscotch, creme Brule, melting butter, vanilla, honeyed characteristics including honeycomb, toasted oak and assorted toasted nuts. Its flavors include candied orange peel, popcorn butter, baked apples, baked pineapple, toasted coconut, apricot, peaches in syrup and fully ripe Alphonso mango. Lightly creamy with a rounded mouth feel, this supple texture is complemented nicely by both its rich flavors and medium+ acidity. This wine was barrel-fermented and then aged for 14 months in a combination of new and once used French oak. Natural malolactic fermentation was allowed to complete in approximately 50% of the barrels. While perhaps not quite as rich as the Aubert wines, its aromatic and palate profile reminded us of some of that producer’s bottlings, but for 1/3 to 1/4 the price.

The 2015 Bacio Divino Lucie Pinot Noir was sourced from the famed Bacigalupi Vineyard in neighboring Sonoma County. This is the site of some of the Chardonnay used in Chateau Montelena’s award winning 1973 vintage from the Paris Tasting of 1976. The name of this wine pays homage to Claus’s wife Diane’s middle name – Lucille, or Lucie for short. Both Claus and Diane enjoying drinking both Burgundian Pinot Noir and California Pinot Noir. The 2016 Lucie Pinot Noir is certainly more Californian in style with very forward ripe fruit on the bouquet including raspberry and blackberry complemented nicely with dark and sweet dessert spices along with a hint of cedar. This is an opulent showing – rarely an adjective we use to describe the characteristics of Pinot Noir. The palate offers a supple texture but with a noticeable richness of fruit including ripe cherries and blueberries accompanied by a light but lingering note of dusty tannins.

Pazzo
The 2022 Pazzo, Sonoma County Red Wine is a red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Merlot, Dolcetto and Petit Verdot. This wine is deep ruby and nearly opaque; the generous and fully glass-filling bouquet reveals dark fruited and ripe aromas of blackberry jam, boysenberry preserves, Persian mulberry (one of our favorite fruits – we are growing Persian black and Pakistani black and white mulberries), Satsuma plum, dark cherry and additional layers of dried sage, dried bay leaf, old cedar box and crushed pink peppercorns. The palate is livelier and brighter than expected for a 14.9% alcohol wine. Its flavors include blackberry, boysenberry, plum, red cherries, black currant and a lingering note of dried herbs. The grainy textured tannins linger with a light to moderate grip on the savory, tart and juicy finish. Brightly lit. This wine clearly over delivers for the price point. And in the spirt of its name being Italian, we immediatley thought of pairing this with The Ducati pizza at Tra Vigne in St. Helena.

The 2021 Bacio Divino Pazzo, Sonoma County Red Wine, Call Me Crazy is a blend of 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Petite Sirah, 19% Merlot, 11% Sagrantino and 4% Malbec. 75% of the grapes for this wine are from Sonoma County and the other 25% are from the Janzen’s property on Dutch Henry Canyon. This wine is deep ruby in color with purplish tinges on the rim; the heady bouquet shouts loudly from the depths of its vocal cords. Opulent, ripe and highly expressive, this wine offers aromas of blackberry jam, boysenberry preserves, plum, fig newtons, black licorice, chocolate mint thins, cocoa powder and mocha. The playful and flirtatious palate sports dark flavored fruits including blackberry, boysenberry, plum and cherry. Its flavor profile is clearly about the fruit rather than any overt influences from oak. It is full-bodied in terms of flavor intensity but with a robust structure. Rather, the tannins are felt as gravelly and grainy; their texture parallels the fruit for some time before finally pulling ahead. Juicy finish. Medium acidity. This bottling clearly tips the scales in favor of attractive quality to price point.

Janzen
The 2022 Janzen Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby and nearly opaque; sweetly fruited, the bouquet is a union of both ripe fruits and barrel influences. These scents include mocha, vanilla, blackberry pie, boysenberry, fig jam, baked plums, dark pepper, smoked cedar plank, sage and assorted dark baking spices including nutmeg and cloves. Fruit filling and very expressive, its flavors include blackberry, boysenberry, dark raspberry and red cherry. The grainy and lightly gritty tannins pace the fruit in tandem on the finish, before their textural feel eventually pulls away. Lingers with a light dusty character. Bright at a listed 15.1% ABV, but with a warmth deep in the throat. This wine was aged for 10 months in once used French oak barrels.

The 2016 Bacio Divino Janzen Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon includes grapes from their own vineyard as well as three of Beckstoffer’s six heritage vineyards (the most iconic vineyards in his Napa Valley portfolio). The bouquet is immediately inviting; we simply wrote “smells beautiful”! Its aromas include milk chocolate, dry earth, a hint of old cedar, mocha and a sweetness of fruit including black fig. The palate sports flavors of blueberry, plum with plenty of layers. The finish features long lasting, densely packed and somewhat grippy tannins. Should be very age worthy. This is one of the best value wines you will ever find including grapes from the Beckstoffer vineyard portfolio.

The 2015 Janzen Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Vineyard (Oakville AVA) is 100% varietal. It is deep ruby with purplish tinges on the rim. The bouquet offers loads of fruit including cherry, ripe blackberry along with an accompanying sweetness of baking spice. Its core is built upon layers of flavor. Anchored by a generous helping of fine-grained tannins which taken as a sum of their parts creates a memorable finish with plenty of grip – not a course attrack but a steady firmness on the extended finish. This is an impressive showing, a wine with a ‘wow’ factor which is highly worth seeking out by serious collectors and consumers.

The 2015 Janzen Cabernet Sauvignon To Kalon Vineyard is sourced from both the B and C blocks within this iconic site (a central part of Beckstoffer’s portion of this famed site). Dark garnet in the glass offers up an aromatic depth including black licorice, truffle oil, milk chocolate, cocoa powder, old cedar box and a sweetness of fruit including ripe blackberry. A darker spice nuance shows initially but as the wine breathes the bouquet becomes more pretty featuring additional fruit. A ripeness of fruit initially hit the palate with tannins that are plush, earthy and hold a firm grip on the finish. There is plenty of power in this beauty.

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Incidentally, out of more than 1,200 Napa Valley based wineries/producers and tasting rooms visited with to date, our first visit with Bacio Divino was by far our earliest – in the 6am hour!

Bacio Divino is distributed nationally and perhaps no surprise, is also well distributed internationally including in parts of the Caribbean, Europe and Asia. Their production has grown significantly since the early years when they were making only a few hundred cases.

Their most produced wine is the Pazzo, with a total production of all their wines often between 4,000 and 6,000 cases annually. Locally the wines are found in Napa Valley at several wine shops including Wine Country Connection in Yountville. A limited number of tastings are offered by appointment; inquire for details. For more information, to purchase wine and or to join one of several wine club membership levels (some shipments include older vintages), visit: www.baciodivino.com

Vineyards high up on Dutch Henry Canyon