At Benevolent Neglect, we search across California from coast to mountains to find standout vineyards that showcase their own unique terroirs. Our wine making philosophy utilizes minimal intervention to highlight the superior fruit that comes from these vineyards.

This land is the source of our vision.

Over twenty years ago we purchased a plot of rugged, untamed ground in the Mayacamas Range just west of the Spring Mountain District. We discovered where vines had been tended by early settlers and with respect for the land, we returned the rolling hillsides to vineyard. Two hundred forty wild acres with sweeping views contain twenty acres of obsessively farmed vineyard blocks, each with its own distinctive imprint. Given the diversity of this impressive land, stewardship and connection are paramount to our endeavor.

Under the guidance of winemakers Francoise Peschon and Elizabeth Tangney, we strive to make a Cabernet Sauvignon that is faithful to the terroir and to our principles as vintners. Our team’s radically modest approach allows for expressive, balanced wines with a sense of place and the ability to age gracefully.

In our pursuit of honest wines that capture the complexity of this magical place, we quickly learned that farming in- house with a full time team was the only path forward. In 2015, we invited our core vineyard crew and their families to live on the property year-round, to share the bond we feel with the land and make it their home. This has yielded a mutual commitment and deep connection to this mountain estate which is at once nature, farm, and home.

– Henry and Vanessa Cornell

Let’s open up lots of fancy bottles of wine to celebrate one of our favorite guys-the one with the cigarettes, the witty jokes and the dramatically late arrivals!

My Goal in Everything I Do is to Bring People Together...Wine Unites Us!

Jean Charles Boisset

Celebrate with holidays with your friends at our annual ADV Christmas Party!

Let’s ring in the new year in style with your ADV friends oysters, champagne & elegence!

A year at the wine club would not be complete without an evening of everyone’s favorite California vineyard-Amizetta. Thanks to Edwina for introducing us to this wonderful vineyard.

Amizetta and Spencer Clark moved to the Napa Valley with one dream: to grow and make world class wines. They recognized that many of the world’s top wines were produced from hillside vineyards in Europe. With this knowledge, they scoured the Napa Valley for hillside property and in 1979 Amizetta and Spencer found their perfect vineyard site.

Their property is a steep, south-facing rocky 40-acre parcel at the base of Howell Mountain in the Conn Valley region of Napa Valley. With an elevation reaching 1,000 feet, the vineyard has panoramic views of Lake Hennessey, Pritchard Hill, and the San Pablo Bay.  The soil consists of red and grey rock strata called “sobrante loam.” Amizetta and Spencer knew right away, this was the ideal location for growing world class Cabernets and Bordeaux varieties.

Spencer decided that the best way to compliment his new vineyard site was to name it after the love of his life. They named the property Amizetta (pronounced am-ah-zet-uh) Vineyards. Amizetta is a name passed down through the family over five generations. The root of the name is “ami” which means friend in Latin.