At the 2007 California Mid-State Fair Bella Collina Wines Placed:

• Best of White Wine at the 2007 California Mid-State Fair:

2006 California Mid-State Fair 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon SILVER

2006 California Mid-State Fair 2005 Viognier BRONZE

2006 California State Fair 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon SILVER

2007 California Mid-State Fair 2006 Viognier SILVER CLASS WINNER

2007 California Mid-State Fair 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon SILVER

2007 California Mid-State Fair 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon BRONZE

2007 California Mid-State Fair 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon HONORABLE MENTION


At the 2007 California State Fair Bella Collina Wines Placed:

2007 California State Fair 2004 Cabernet Sauignon, Lot 2 GOLD

We placed 2nd out of 94 Cabernet Sauvignon wines entered.

2007 California State Fair 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Lot1 GOLD

2007 California State Fair 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Lot 1 SILVER

2007 California State Fair 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Lot 2 SILVER

2007 California State Fair 2006 Viognier BRONZE

2007 California State Fair Bella Collina Wine Label BRONZE




At the 2007 San Joaquin CountyFair Bella Collina Wines Placed:

2007 San Joaquin County Fair 2006 Viognier, Filtered BRONZE SECOND IN CLASS

2007 San Joaquin County Fair 2006 Viognier, Unfiltered HONORABLE MENTION

2007 San Joaquin County Fair 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Lot 1 SILVER

2007 San Joaquin County Fair 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Lot 2 SILVER




Here's what some of our recent visitors thought of our wines:

Hi Roberta,
Congratulations on your awards! We think your Cab is one of the smoothest Cabs from California and very worth the awards.
We hope everything is going well for you in Paso.

Lloyd and Rhonda, Michigan

HI Roberta,
Congrats on all the awards your wine has won. How fantastic!! We are looking so forward to trying your award winning vino.

Anna and Lance, California

Roberta Weideman, is not only the owner of Bella Collina, but also the winemaker, with Ryan Horn, of the Vintner Vault, as her consultant. Ryan was the Associate Winemaker with Justin, in Paso Robles and has great expertise in the making of fine wine.

We use fine, new Nadalie French Oak barrels as well as neutral barrels for a 50/50 blend of pure Cabernet and Viognier wines with the Viognier in Stainless Steel Tanks.

Our award winning vineyards produce hand-crafted, exceptional wines.

Bella Collina's Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard produced wine earned 90 points at the California State Fair in Sacramento from one judge and 87 points from two judges giving us a Bronze Plus.

At the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, we won the Silver Medal for the Cabernet and a Bronze Medal for the Viognier.

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
One of the keys to Cabernet's success at Bella Collina is its high resistance. Many etymologists believe that Cabernet relates to the Biturica grape that the Roman poet Pliny recorded in the year 71 A.D. as being planted in Bordeaux because of its hardiness. Cabernet Sauvignon is a brash, vigorous vine that grows easily in a variety of different soils all over the world. It survives cold winters and buds late. However it does need dry, well-drained soils and lots of sunshine to ripen properly. The key to producing good quality Cabernet is to control its growth. It grows extremely easily, producing lots of leaves and shoots, and therefore needs to be pruned quite severely and hedged during the summer months. Cabernet produces small, round berries that are thick skinned and blue tinged. This can be crucial at the end of the growing season when rain can risk piercing and rotting the grapes and diluting the juice. Its thick skin also means the variety is not attacked by insects. In the past, the disadvantage of Cabernet Sauvignon was its relatively low yields. Yet today, in our search for quality, this characteristic has become more of a virtue.

VIOGNIER
Both Chardonnay and Viognier share tropical fruit flavors and a creamy mouthfeel. Even with little or no wood aging, Viognier can be as full-bodied as an okay Chardonnay, but has much more distinctive fruit character. It also has a typically deep golden color, as well as rich and intense flavor. The main attraction of Viognier is its potentially powerful, rich, and complex aroma that often seems like overripe apricots mixed with orange blossoms or acacia. With a distinctive and sweet aroma-flavor profile Viognier is nevertheless usually made in a dry style and seems to appeal more to the typical Chardonnay drinker. The distinctive Viognier perfume holds up even when blended with a large portion of other grapes. The fruit usually has very deep color, but is somewhat low in acidity. As California wineries experiment with Viognier-Chardonnays, Viognier-Chenin Blancs, and Viognier-Colombards, this may be the grape's ultimate destiny, as a blender.