California Monastery: Wine and Retreats

In a Northern California monastery, 25 monks following the teachings of St. Benedict rise hours before dawn to pray, work the land and make a serious syrah — a full-bodied red wine. The men at the Abbey of New Clairvaux have opened the first Roman Catholic Cistercian winery in North America, though their vineyard has a storied place in California’s wine history.

The 580-acre spread in this tiny town north of Chico was once owned by Leland Stanford — the railroad magnate, California governor and university founder — who ran what was considered the world’s largest winery in the late 1800s, said Aimee Sunseri, a fifth-generation winemaker hired to help the monks start the winery 

Add comment May 25th, 2006