A Classic Revisited: Bernardus Lodge

About 20 years ago, at a wine tasting, I met Ben Pon, the owner of a new winery in the Carmel Valley, who offered me a glass of his flagship bottling, a Bordeaux-style red called Marinus. I found it stylish, smooth and well-balanced. In 1999, I learned with considerable interest that Pon had opened a resort in his vineyard. Not far from Carmel-by-the-Sea and just a short distance into the valley, Bernardus Lodge turned out to be ideally located. With 57 suites amid 200 rolling acres, I found it exceptionally appealing. Today, the handsome rooms have a Mediterranean feel, elegant stone fireplaces, French doors that lead out to spacious terraces or balconies, ample baths and floods of California sunlight. A two-acre organic garden provides much of the produce for the superb Marinus restaurant, whose fare is complemented by a 35,000-bottle cellar. On my recent trip, I was gratified to find that Bernardus Lodge remains an outstanding destination in the lesser-known, but well worth knowing, Carmel Valley wine country.