Besson s Grenache / Photo by Alex Krause
When wine grapes were planted in 1910 on what’s known today as Besson Vineyard, vineyards sprawled throughout the Santa Clara Valley, from the redwood slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains to the grassy foothills of East San Jose. But suburban development steadily swallowed this landscape, and only the most stubborn vines remained.
These gnarled Grenache vines, located just west of the outlet malls of Gilroy, were purchased in 1949 by the Bessons, a family of shoemakers originally from Savoie, France who owned a Zinfandel vineyard up the road, which still exists, too.
For decades, the roughly 10 acres of grapes were bottled in Randall “Bonny Doon” Grahm’s Clos de Gilroy Grenache and were part of his Cigare Volant Rhône blend.