“They are brothers, they are French, and for them making wine at their BENOM in Paso Robles is a heritage.”
“Arnaud & Guillaume Fabre moved to California for love. For Guillaume, it was his passion for winemaking and farming without limits that brought him to Paso Robles.
This love led him to one of the most prestigious Paso Robles wineries, L’Aventure, and eventually to start his own winery, Clos Solène.”
“Arnaud’s story is much more like that of a movie scene. His move to California was to follow the love of his life, Chloe. This is how the two brothers -Les Deux Frères Fabre- ended up in Paso Robles.”
“As a tribute to the six-generation family legacy in the Languedoc-Roussillon and Bordeaux regions, BENOM harmoniously combines the freedom of winemaking in Paso Robles with the innate talent of the Fabre bloodline.”
“In September of 2023, the Fabre brothers accomplished their goal of acquiring an estate in York Mountain AVA.
This purchase fulfills Arnaud and Guillaume's long-term vision of expanding the BENOM brand.”
“Every bottle of BENOM embodies the Fabre brothers' commitment to their French heritage and passion for Paso Robles. Their approach to winemaking is distinguished by the use of traditional Old World techniques and sustainable practices, incorporating the fruit and creative freedom of Paso Robles.”
“BENOM also sources fruit from the Adelaida and Willow Creek districts on the west side of Paso Robles as well as Edna Valley, Santa Maria, and Santa Barbara. Sourcing fruit allows BENOM a unique opportunity to create wine from a multitude of soil types and sub-climates.”
There is also a Family connection with the Michelin recognized, top-rated restaurant in Paso Robles, Les Petites Canailles.
Arnaud Fabre joins us to uncork all that is BENOM wines.
This is Wing Land, founder of Wahoo's Fish Taco with my brother's Mingo AA. When I want to know what's going on in the world of food, I listen to SoCal Restaurant Show on AM830, K-L-A-A, the home of Angels Baseball. - And welcome back, and thanks for being there. It is the SoCal Restaurant Show, and we're here with you every Saturday morning from 10 AM until 12 noon, right here on AM830, K-L-A-A, the home of Angels Baseball 2024, and you can also catch us on the AM830 Angels app. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show, and we're enthusiastically presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Mates. Earlier in the year, I had a chance to revisit Passa Robles, which regrettably I had not been to in a number of years, and had a chance to catch up on some wineries that I definitely love, but just hadn't visited in a while. And one of my favorites is Benham Wines. There's quite a history that goes along with these wines, and as a colleague of mine likes to say, it is part of what we call the French Connection in Passa Robles, and it is a pleasure to welcome one of the co-owners of Benham Wines. - Our no-fab raid to the SoCal restaurant show. Our no-good morning and welcome. - Good morning, Andrew. Thank you for having me today. - Well, I know this has been a long time coming, as you know, because when I had a chance to revisit you and Guillaume a little earlier in the year at a very wonderful tasting that you did for us, at probably the best restaurant in Passa, which we will discuss in a moment, I reminded you that right before the pandemic, I had a chance to do a tasting with you personally, with my colleague, Corey Solomon, who is the president of the International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association, and we tasted through a lot of your wines, had a wonderful afternoon, really enjoyed chatting with you. I didn't quite really know all the backstory about the Fabrey family being in the winery business in France for six generations, but I got the story and was intrigued, and somehow we never had the chance to get you on the show. So, when I was back up your way earlier in the year, it was a must that I finally got to Le Petite canals tasted your wine again, and then fortunately had you back on the show. So, I know let's, I almost need an org chart here, but let's share with our audience a little bit about what I keep referring to as the French connection, because you and your brother Guillaume have Benham, your brother is the winemaker, but on his own, your brother has close Celine. So, kind of tell us how you got to Passo, and then the very, the different connections to another French winery that it is in Passo, and in terms of your extended family, and how that all ties in to Le Petite. - Of course, of course, yeah. So, you know, first of all, people collect more like the French mafia, some colors and the French connection, but you all obviously started back in France, Guillaume and I are from the Longwood Dock area, so south of France. That's where my family was established. Many generations ago, we are on one for that picture generation with Guillaume included. And so, when I was about 10 years old, my parents wanted to kind of discover another region and take another challenge on their life and experience new stuff. So, we moved to Bordeaux in the late '90s, and bought a property on the right bank of Bordeaux. And at that time, my brother Guillaume, you know, was kind of taking over a little bit, and he obviously wanted to help my parents sell the ones, because back in the days, you know, with the price and all of that, you didn't need a lot of marketing, but now, you know, the production is in the marketing as are important to each other. And so, we had a friend in common that is an ambassador of Petreuse, that knew Stéphane Theo from Leventur in Bass Robles. That was already over there. And so Guillaume was contacting Stéphane and finally got an internship in 2004. Guillaume's goal, again, was only to learn English and spend a few months in Bass Robles and come back to Bordeaux and develop the property. And as soon as he landed there, he copied his family love with the region, and a few months later decided to talk to Solenie's wife. I mean, that was a girlfriend at the time, but talk to Solenie to come to Basso and move here with the idea of creating their own brand down the road. And so, they did it, Stéphane at Leventur hired Guillaume in 2005, and that's when Guillaume, you know, started to really know the region, you know, look at other vineyards and really understand the terroir and how to form. And so, in 2008, he started with his wife, Solenie, a close Solenie, with a small batch of wine, and we were talking about this case, he's a white. The good thing with white and Jose, you're turning around this fashion than red because you age it longer. And so, they started in 2008, close Solenie, and the same year, and that's where the story gets a little bit more infectious in some ways. They got married in France and obviously invited Stéphane and Beatrice, the owner of Leventur, along with the kids, and that's how I met the daughter, Chloe, from Leventur, yeah. And so, at that time, I was a little bit shy, so I didn't really approach her a lot. But then, you know, when I kind of took over a little bit, the property of my parents on the marketing itself, again, I needed to learn English, so I did the same thing as Guillaume. And that's pretty much when Chloe and I got together, and I came here for one internship, and then for a second internship, and then she came back to France for two years, I finished my master in Bordeaux, and then come back here in 2013 to move to Bordeaux, because obviously Chloe loved France, I did love France too. I didn't have a real carier prep for me, and so I'm like, "Oh, let's give it a shot." And so, we moved here in 2013. She obviously started to work for her parents, and then in 2014, I took a job at Law Estate One, and they clearly love with, you know, obviously the hospitality, the marketing, and sales, and I learned a lot of things at this property. And so, a year later, Guillaume and I kind of sit down and were like, "Okay, now that we saw the property in Bordeaux, let's try to do something together. Let's continue the family, we'll get tea. Let's try to have a brand that complements Closolene, but as well, Lavincher. Let's do something more on them. French style, a little bit softer, more approachable wines, more digest wines. Once you can drink younger, with that approach of New World where, you know, when we came here, we were like, "Oh, you can blend Cabernet or Nash, move it." I mean, it's crazy what you can do, so you really have the artistic side of things that you can show to your wines in battle. And that's the most diverse, you know, appellation that I know in California, where you can grow so many different, you know, grapes. And so we started it in 2015 with a batch of 200 cases. And then I stayed by law for two years of what we were making wine. And then in 2017, that's when we opened our doors in Chile, Chile is kind of a urban district of one-to-one, where you have 25 to 30 wineries. So it's not like the up and coming winakers. And so we started to pour once in 2017. We moved to another building in '20s. And then in the meantime, my brother-in-law, so Julian and Courtney, his wife, you know, were living in Las Vegas. Julian was a executive chef. He used to have work at the Cesar College. And, you know, when you have a family of three kids, Vegas, you know, it's kind of a 30-town, you wanna kind of take a step down and do your own thing. And so, Julian was not at the beginning in two-pastel, but then he quickly got into it. And in 2018, they moved to a two-pastel roadways, and then he found his building downtown-pastel, where he bought the building in '18 and started to remodel it and open Lake Jessica 9. And so now we did the family. We have three wineries and a restaurant, which is awesome. Now we just need a hotel. Well, you know, knowing you are now, that probably is in the thought process. No? (laughs) - You know, it's a different business. You know, you know, we are already here, the whole preparet team making wine. Now that we have Julian making food, maybe one of the kids, you know, when they're gonna travel and maybe go to France and doing some shipping hospitality. One of them will be interested in just starting something as a hotel, which will definitely complete the loop. - It would. And just a point I wanna make to our listeners who know that have been following all of this, there is a booming restaurant scene in Passarobles. There are a lot of high-end restaurants there, but the one restaurant that if you're serious about wine and food, that is the must-stop, is this restaurant that our know is talking about with his brother-in-law, Julian. This is a le petite canals. I'm probably not pronouncing it correctly, but I've done pretty well our know so far with most of the French pronunciations, but it's easy to find. It's right on the main drag there on Pasadena. Do make your plans and reservations in advance though, because it's not a huge restaurant and it does tend to book up in advance, but it really is a singular experience. Julian's experience in Las Vegas, he was working in Michelin star restaurants. So his pedigree in food is similar to the pedigree of our know and Guillaume in wine. So you put all that together and it's pretty powerful. I know we're gonna take a short pause here. It's our top of the hour break. We're gonna come back and pick it up on the other side and specifically talk about Benham wines and where you've sourced your fruit and also the newly acquired estate. You are listening to the so-called restaurant show. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Meats, don't wander far.
