Spring 2014
Sculpterra Bella Collina Nunno Wine Storage rockstar winemakers Buona Tavola’s Chef Varia HammerSky Vineyard & Inn • Epoch Estate Wines Robert Haas • Paso Robles Wine Region of Year • Birra Matt Brynildson • Zinfandel Festival Weekend • Eric Connolly • Ron Johnson
J. Lohr’s Weekend Events
Friday, May 16 | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
BBQ Buffet by Me and The Hound Start the weekend right with passed Appetizers at our Friday. The Buffet Dinner offers: your choice of salad and includes scalloped potatoes, JD’s Famous Grilled Chicken, Tri-Tip carving station and house-made cookies for dessert! Enjoy music by Night Run all night. Price includes one - 375ml bottle of: 2012 J. Lohr Estates Riverstone Chardonnay 2011 J. Lohr Estates Los Osos Merlot 2011 J. Lohr Estates Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon
$55/person
$45/Wine Club
reservations required
J. Lohr Estates 375ml bottles
❦
Sunday, May 18 | 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Buffet Brunch by Cahoots Catering Our 2014 Wine Festival Sunday Brunch stars Prime Rib! Make room for Asparagus and Goat Cheese Tart, Peruvian Quinoa & Forbidden Black Rice Salad, Yukon Gold Potatoes with Roasted Garlic and Bacon, Waffle Bar, Fresh Fruit, Fresh Berry Trifle, Coffee and O.J. Select J. Lohr wines by the glass $50/person
J. LOHR PASO ROBLES WINE CENTER 6169 Airport Road (off Hwy 46 East) 805.239.8900 TASTING DAILY 10AM – 5PM
$45/Wine Club
reservations required For complete menus visit jlohr.com/events For reservations, email kim@jlohr.com or call 805.239.8900 @jlohrwines
Rock Star Winemakers Kevin Healey & Sherman Smoot....................10 Brock Waterman.............................................12 Brian & Stephanie Terrizzi..............................14 Jim Norman...................................................16 Terry Culton...................................................18 Jeff Branco.....................................................20
CONTENTS
Spring 2014
FEATURE: Nunno Wine Storage.....................24 FOOD & WINE: Buona Tavola’s Chef Varia......28 FEATURE: Epoch Estate Wines.......................30 FEATURE: HammerSky Vineyard & Inn..........32 Paso Robles Area Wine Tasting Map...............36 ART: SCULPTERRA - John Jagger’s Legacy.......38 ART: Unique Paderewski Fest Zin Label........40 FEATURE: 22nd Annual Zinfandel Festival.....42 FEATURE: Rhone Rangers Honor Haas...........44 FEATURE: Paso Robles Wine Region of Year..46 Birra: Brewmaster Matt Brynildson..............50 FEATURED: Sommelier - Eric Connolly............54 FEATURED: Garagiste Ron Johnson...............56 FEATURED: Lodging - Bella Collina.................58 Calendar of Events..........................................60 Reference........................................................63 North County Wineries and Tasting Rooms
VINO Central Coast Edition
Published by the Paso
North County Olive Oil Tasting
Wine Country Tours, Transportation & Lodging
Robles Press
5 Winter 2014
VINO is published quarterly by the Paso Robles Press. All rights reserved, material may not be reprinted without written consent from the publisher. The Paso Robles Press made every effort to maintain the accuracy of information presented in the magazine, but assumes no responsibility for errors, changes or omissions.
Publisher:
Jeremy Burke publisher@pasoroblespress.com
Editorial: Editor
Brian Williams news@pasoroblespress.com
Contributors
Allyson Oken, Hayley Thomas, Luke Phillips, Paula McCambridge, Laura Ness
Advertising: Sales
Brad Koyak, Carmen Burton, Sheri Potruch, Steve Fairchild
Art & Design: Mike Lyon
Cover Photo:
Photo courtesy of the Epoch Wine Estates
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Winemakers For this issue — we give you six more Rock Star winemakers.
W
e strive to highlight different winemakers, with different wines and give you a glimpse into their lives; after all, winemakers are people too; they just get to spend their time, and often make their living, with wine.
This issue’s Rock Star winemakers are Sherman Smoot and Kevin Healey of Bella Luna Winery, Brock Waterman of Brochelle Vineyards, Stephanie and Brian Terrizzi of Giornata, Jim Norman of Norman Vineyards, Terry Culton of Peachy Canyon Winery and Jeff Branco of Rotta Winery. After you read about our Rock Star winemakers, stop by and check our their wines and tasting rooms; you never know when you’ll get the chance to meet the winemaker in the tasting room.
Ke y She vin Heale ot rman Smo
8
Bro
ck Waterman
Terr y Culton
Jeff Branco
B ri an a nie nd Stepha Terrizzi
Jim
Norman
9
Winemakers
Winemakers
Kevin Healey and Sherman Smoot Veterans Let Mother Nature Do the Work Laura Ness VINO
I
t all started with two guys sitting around drinking wine, fantasizing about the next stage in their already exciting careers. Sherman Smoot and Kevin Healey grew up together in Paso Robles, and are lifelong friends who served in Vietnam and survived to tell the story. Healey was working in the wine industry (at Pesenti) and Smoot had just retired from commercial aviation, after flying for Continental for 28 years. Says Smoot, “I’d decided to purchase 4.5 acres in Templeton and thought it would be a nice plot for vines. Kevin pointed out we wouldn’t make much money just selling grapes, so he says, ‘Let’s do a winery!’” That was back in 1991, and the rest, as they say, 10 Spring 2014
is history. Smoot, who is the president of the Estrella Aviation Museum in Paso, was a fighter pilot in Vietnam, an occupation that steeled him to deal with harrowing situations, and one that caused a lifetime addiction to adrenaline. He’s the crazy coot who scared the bejeezus out of people when he crashed at the Reno air races back in 1998, and who takes to the skies in a totally jacked up Russian aircraft, a YAK 11, named “Czech Mate.” The thing started out with 750hp, but now makes 3,000hp, meaning it’s a “full-blown, knock-down racer,” in Smoot’s words. The name “Bella Luna” is courtesy of Smoot’s daughter, Carly, who came to his rescue on the way home from school one day. Healey and Smoot had been kicking around names for the winery, which they
Published by the Paso
Robles Press
had decided would focus on Italian varietals. “We had all kinds of goofy names, like ‘L’Avion Sauvage,’ which translates to ‘crazy pilot,’ but it was French, and that wasn’t going to work,” Smoot says. “We even toyed with ‘Smoot & Healey,’ but thought it sounded too much like Bartles & James. So Carly says, ‘Remember the movie ‘Lady & The Tramp’ where the dogs are sharing the spaghetti and the old Italian Chef comes out and starts to sing? Why don’t you call it Bella Luna?’” Smoot admits the varietal inspiration comes from his Italian stepdad, Dominic Marietta, who instilled in him a love of wine and food, especially high-acid-food wines. Because Smoot’s a big fan of Super Tuscans, they are growing sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon on the property. Their
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Central Coast Edition
Bella Luna first release was 2001. They buy Paso zinfandel because it’s Healey’s favorite, and they also source one of Smoot’s favorite varietals, Barbera, from Ron Siletto’s vineyard in Tres Pinos. Smoot admits he really wanted to concentrate on Paso Robles fruit, but Siletto has something seriously special. “It’s the best Barbera in California, to my way of thinking. Kenny Volk talked Ron into planting oddball varieties back when he was still at Wild Horse,” Smoot says. “We just got some of the Brunello clone of sangiovese from Ron in 2011. It’s been in barrel for two years. I might let it sit in bottle, like the Italians do, for a year before we release it. That Barbera, though, is so stellar. We pretty much leave it alone and let Mother Nature take care of it!” Winemaker Healey pretty much follows that philosophy in his winemaking. He uses all native yeast and all French oak. He got into the wine biz by working with renowned dry farm expert, Mel Casteel, in a vineyard in Adelaida back in the ’70s. Healey then went on to Pesenti Vineyard and Winery, where he was steeped in the art of head-training mature zinfandel vines. Here, Healey also struck up a long-lasting friendship with Frank Nerelli, Pesenti’s winemaker, and worked as Pesenti’s vineyard manager and assistant winemaker for some 19 years until the winery was sold to Turley in 2000. Bella Luna Winery is Healey’s baby now, and he has become one of the most sought-after consultants, specializing in the art of dry farm viticulture, something everyone may be practicing before too long due to the drought. Bella Luna Winery makes about 1,500 cases, just enough, as Smoot says, to take care of their two families, and to keep their wine club members, called the Bella Lunatics, happy. Their most profitable venture, though, has been their “Fighter Pilot Red,” a 100 percent dry-farmed zinfandel they sell to the Navy with great success. “Our first vintage, we made about 200 cases, and it sold out in two months,” Smoot says. “I said to Kevin, ‘Crap! We should have made more!’ There isn’t an aviator out there who hasn’t heard of it by now.” The back label says, “This wine is named in honor of those courageous aviators who have put themselves in harm’s way — You
VINO Central Coast Edition
Photo courtesy of Bella Luna Winery
Bella Luna Winery makes about 1,500 cases, just enough, as winemaker Sherman Smoot says, to take care of their two families, and to keep their wine club members, called the Bella Lunatics, happy.
truly have a flavor for life the protected will never know.” A portion of the proceeds go to the Tail Hook Education Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation that grants scholarships to the children of military personnel. Smoot goes on to admit, “It’s the only label we have that’s professionally printed. All the others are handwritten. But that’s our style. We’re pretty low-key around here. We don’t have a 10 million dollar tasting room and all that BS. I know we should be open one more day a week (presently Friday thru Monday), but this is literally a two-man operation!” Besides, he adds, “I’m supposed to be retired!”
Photo by Brad Koyak/VINO
Bella Luna Winery winemakers Kevin Healey and Sherman Smoot grew up together in Paso Robles, and are lifelong friends who served in Vietnam and survived to tell the story. They started Bella Luna Winery in 1991.
Bella Luna Winery is located at 1850 Templeton Rd., in Templeton. For more information, call (805) 434-5477 or visit www.bellalunawine.com.
Published by the Paso
Robles Press
11 Spring 2014
Winemakers
Winemaker
Brock Waterman A Heritage Of Zinfandel Laura Ness VINO
W
inegrower Brock Waterman paid attention in class at Cal Poly. One of the lessons that really resonated with him came during an irrigation class where the professor stated, “I know most of you have no interest in water. You take it for granted. But mark my words, water will become a huge issue in California. It’s critical that you pay attention.” Waterman, a 4-H kid from the Central Valley town of Clovis, where he grew up surrounded by fig orchards, most certainly did. He hates figs of any kind to this day. But, planting pinot noir in 1993 at Cal Poly helped shape his focus in viticulture and he ended up getting a degree in Agriculture as well as Finance. He rode the latter 12 Spring 2014
to a significant financial nest egg, and along the way began experimenting with brewing beer, which imprinted in him the mantra of “Cleanliness is next to Godliness!” Meeting a city gal from SoCal, Michelle, now his wife, whose girlfriends liked to frequent Napa, he ended up, as he says, “geeking out,” talking to winemakers at Napa Valley wineries while the gals tasted. Pretty soon he figured out that this is what he wanted to be doing for a living: staying in the wholesale mortgage business forever was simply not an option. The couple began looking for vineyard sites in Napa, Mendocino, Sonoma, Temecula and finally Paso. In 1997, they found a 20-acre hilly parcel on the westside off Lake Nacimiento Road with compacted clay soils. It became their zinspiration. In their late 20s, the couple became the
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29th bonded winery in the region. They continued to work their day jobs, she until 2001, he until 2005. Back before kids, they spent a lot of time on airplanes, opening up markets from Chicago to the Carolinas, from Florida to Hawaii. They still maintain relationships with the brokers they originally signed back in the early days, and occasionally take the boys, Bryson and Braden, with them on sales trips. Brock is very passionate about zin: “It’s really America’s grape. It’s California’s grape. No other state can grow it. I really wanted to pay homage to where we live and the fact that zinfandel is so much loved. And it lends itself to different sites. Our style has been compared with Turley’s, and I think Paso zins in general are big, fleshy and fruit-driven. People who tend to drink
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Central Coast Edition
Brochelle Vineyards
Photos courtesy of Brochelle Vineyards
Brock and Michelle Waterman began looking for vineyard sites in Napa, Mendocino, Sonoma, Temecula and finally Paso. In 1997, they found a 20-acre hilly parcel on the westside off Lake Nacimiento Road with compacted clay soils. Their two sons Bryson and Braden are also involved in the winemaking process.
zins are real wine drinkers, not collectors. Real people!” Recognizing there is life beyond zin, Brock planted petite sirah and Alicante Bouschet fairly early on, figuring they might be aces here. And Rhones do really well, so he planted grenache and mourvedre. For a number of years, he purchased Napa cabernet sauvignon, until the 2010 vintage, which proved difficult across the board for cab, especially in Napa. “It simply made no economic sense to continue the program,” says Waterman. “Rhones rule in Paso, whereas it’s hard to make cabernet extraordinary here.” In addition to the estate vineyard, Brock manages a neighboring syrah vineyard and also farms for another couple, with 28 total acres under his care. He’s learned a lot about tending vineyards from his visits to Australia, where he says they have no water and no labor. He’s pretty much dry-farmed his vineyards from the
VINO Central Coast Edition
time they were established, except for 2006 and 2013. He’s quite excited about his “anniversary blends,” which began with the winery’s 10th in 2008. He took the best 10 barrels of the lot and blended them into a single barrel, which he let age for six months before bottling in some attractive packaging. Thus was born the “Ten” anniversary blend, a concept that proved so popular, he’s been doing it ever since. For 2013, he’s working on “15.” “I guess this proves we have tenure in this business!” he says. In 2012, both sons expressed interest in making their own wines, and thus was born the concept of “Sibling Rivalry.” Brock says Bryson came to him and said he wanted to make a syrah; at the same time, Braden decided he wanted to make a blend of petite sirah and zin. Both boys helped pick, sort and punch down their own wines that will be bottled in spring. Michelle is busy making the
Published by the Paso
labels. When the wines go on sale, 1 percent of the proceeds will go to their college funds, and the rest will be donated to a charity chosen personally by each boy. Says Brock, “I wanted to make sure that they choose a cause that is personally meaningful to them.” Waterman also has a mobile bottling line business. “I simply had to have control of the entire wine production process, and for me, that included bottling.” So he purchased his own line and now makes it available to other wineries that really care about getting that critical part of the process done properly. Brochelle wines are available for tasting Thursday through Mondays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at their tasting room on the eastside of Paso, on Tuley Road, where they share a warehouse building with two other wineries, Barrel 27 and Hug Cellars. “We began looking for a tasting room manager before we even settled on a space,” says Waterman. They found a real gem in Shelbi Wilson, a cheery Paso native who worked at The Pony Club and at Jada Winery prior, and whose mother, Pam, works for Caliza. Waterman heartily recommends the wines of Epoch, Herman Story, Linne Calado, Caliza and Booker, feeling they all share a passion for Rhones as only Paso can produce. “It’s like a big fraternity off campus,” says Waterman. “We all beat to a different drum.”
Brochelle Vineyards is located at 2320 Tuley Rd., in Paso Robles. For more information, call (805) 237-0519 or visit www.brochelle.com.
Robles Press
13 Spring 2014
Winemakers
Winemakers
Brian and Stephanie Terrizzi Keeping Italian Inspiration in California-crafted Wines Paula McCambridge VINO
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rian and Stephanie Terrizzi of Giornata are inspired by the great wine tradition of Italy and also motivated by Brian’s escape from the soul-crushing world of cubicles he inhabited in his past life as a financier. Brian draws comparisons to that work life with the cult classic 1999 movie, “Office Space,” a spoof of the confines of the cubicle world that was more fact than fiction — “Yeeeeah, did you get that memo?” That world where workers are separated from the earth by layers of asphalt, cement, glass, suits and ties is far removed from the one where the Terrizzis now live in the heart of California’s Central Coast. They, along with their 8-year-old twin
14 Spring 2014
daughters Aida and Kate — both named for grandmothers — now live their lives close to the ground. Their wines are created from all-Italian varietals grown in local soil. They raise a pig each year while a friend raises a cow followed by sharing their locally grown, well-cared-for meat with each other. They get wheat from a farmer friend to mill their own flour and are looking for a good corn varietal to grind their corn to create polenta; they make their own honey and olive oil, too. Everything the family does is connected to everything else, making their superior wines, not their stand-alone success, but one example of their thoughtful lives. “In the European model, wine is a part of life,” Brian said. The Terrizzis recently planted their own three acres of grapes — they’re people who
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appreciate even small victories and often wrap them in humor — Brian’s humor is dry, and Stephanie’s is often accompanied by infectious laughter. “We planted our three-acre estate,” Stephanie said, laughing, fist pumping the air. The wine they make is under their Giornata label, though Brian, along with winemaker Chris Brockway of Broc Cellars also created Broadside, recently featured in the New York Times. Giornata is not only grown from Italian varietals, but also follows Italian winemaking traditions, including storage in giant terra cotta pots called amphora or in a botti, which is a wooden container that holds 11 barrels worth of wine. Both amphora and botti were shipped to the United States from Italy.
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Giornata The amphora, which visitors are welcome to view when they visit the winery, were a tradition in early Italy before winemakers mostly switched to wooden containers in the 1600s. “There are places in Eastern Europe where they never switched to barrels,” Brian said. “About 20 years ago, there was a movement in Italy to bring them back. These were the first in California, along with AmByth Estate.” Brian worked in Italian wineries when he first began exploring the industry, and the couple makes a trip back each year to research the trade they love so. “We try to get to Italy every year,” Stephanie said. “We want to understand the history, the food and the culture. We try to meet with two producers each day, the most traditional and most modern we can find. It’s the most eye-opening experience.” Though they learn from the masters, their philosophy is their own. “We’re not about copying them, but taking these traditions and modernizing them, customizing them for this region,” Brian said. “With us, it’s about more than building our own winery in California — there are people who create an estate and a big winery that people have to drive out to. In Italy, this is more common. I like this sort of urban winery.” Brian has worked across the state and in Italy — “Clean Brian, cleeeean,” Stephanie imitates Brian’s Italian co-workers as they yelled to him when he cleaned the tanks. Stephanie has worked in wine across the state, including a stint at Gallo up in Healdsburg. How many people can say they learned to drive a tractor at Gallo? The Terrizzis say their winery is built on their hard work and drive and is all part of their dream, which relies on their plan. They have day jobs; they borrow money from the bank, they say. They face the same struggles anyone does, and they’re willing to put in the work to make Giornata grow. “If your dream doesn’t have some fear attached then you’re not dreaming big enough,” Stephanie said. Brian said, “It’s sort of a utopian vision — I think if it’s something we care about and we can do it on limited resources then maybe it can serve as a model for others. It’s an interesting way to live and goes much deeper than selling wine.”
VINO Central Coast Edition
Photos by Paula McCambridge/VINO
Everything the Terrizzi family does is connected to everything else, making their superior Giornata wines, not their stand-alone success, but one example of their thoughtful lives.
Giornata is located at 470 Marquita Ave. in Paso Robles. To make an appointment, call 434-3075. For more information on Giornata, go to www.giornatawines.com.
Published by the Paso
Robles Press
15 Spring 2014
Winemakers
Jim Norman and his better half Lilalee are toasting their successes and big plans for the future of Norman Vineyards.
Winemaker
Jim Norman Hot Rods and Big Reds Allyson Oken VINO
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onster reds, glistening chrome, classic rock, V-8 twin turbo, fast bikes and family that just won’t quit — all trademarks of Norman Vineyards. Known for their Monster Zinfandel, this tight-knit crew of wine, car and motorcycle enthusiasts enjoy making big, bold reds. Jim Norman and the crew at Norman Vineyards are the rock stars of the wine industry, occasionally spending several months out of the year on the road touring with rock shows, monster truck
16 Spring 2014
rallies, motocross, motorcycle rallies and other extreme sporting events. The idea being that they are bringing their wine to an audience of everyday people and not just the privileged few that travel to Paso. Jim described the winemaking process as a symphony playing a sustained crescendo. “This is how I look at it, wine is like a symphony and we make our wine bigger than life - exceptional wine - like a symphonic orchestra holding a crescendo,” said Norman. “We think of ourselves as artists, the rock stars of wine, because we spend so much time over the years on the road. We have hosted wine events at Bike
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Week, Napa Dragsters. We toured with Poison and many more events. It’s not about what people do for a living. They deserve a good glass of wine whether they are in leathers or a suit. Going to a region like Paso and buying from big producers is like buying a can of soda with a $100 markup, but here at Norman you can find great wine for a great price.” The tasting room is next door to Jim’s auto shop where he works on the classics. On any given day, visitors can find him wrenching on his friend’s 1960s red Camaro and tasting some of their outstanding wines with tasting room manager Lilalee, a.k.a. the Wine Goddess.
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Central Coast Edition
Norman Vineyards legacy of his family. “This is a family business and thanks to dad’s efforts, I have the same wonderful team of people to work with that have been with us through thick and thin,” said Art Norman. “We are Norman Vineyards, not just me. For me, it is all about humor, camaraderie and family — that is what makes Norman Vineyards a great place to be.” Norman and his family continue to make wine for the masses as Jim says. They like catering to the untapped markets like the rock-in-roll wine tour.
They have some plans for expansion of the tasting room, including putting in a window to the shop so people can watch as the cars are being restored. Jim’s parents, Art and Lei, founded Norman Vineyards in 1971. Art quickly became a pioneer in the industry and is one of the founders of the Paso Robles American Viticulture Area. After a few years of trying out different professions, from radio personality to roadie, Jim came back to his roots. And for the last five and a half years, he and his father had the pleasure of working side by side every day. Jim is proud he can continue the
The tasting room is located off of Airport Road at 3502 Dry Creek Road, Suite B1 in Paso Robles. For more information, visit www.normanvineyards.com or The big reds are the specialty of Norman Vineyards with their outstanding Cabernet and Zinfandel. call 237-0138.
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Winemakers
Winemaker
Terry Culton Seeking a Zin With Complexity From Start to Finish Luke Phillips VINO
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hen it comes to winemaking, Terry Culton is a self-made man. Culton, currently making wine for Peachy Canyon Winery in Paso Robles, actually got his start in another field altogether. After graduating from Humboldt State University with a degree in psychology, Culton went to work for Humboldt County as a social worker, but quickly found out the job wasn’t for him. “I was really ready to do something different,” he said. Culton says he finally settled on winemaking as a career after visiting a winemaker friend of his in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley wine region and seeing the kind of environment where winemakers work. “He asked me to come by and have lunch, and I noticed that his office overlooks these beautiful vineyards, while mine overlooked the welfare parking lot in Eureka,” Culton said. Culton said he ended up on the Central Coast because his wife wanted to attend Cal Poly and he immediately started looking for work in the wine industry, sending resumes out to all 22 local wineries listed in a Paso Robles Wine Festival brochure he found. That first year Culton worked the harvest at Creston Manor Winery and began to learn the craft of winemaking as he went. “I learned by dragging hoses and having worked the harvest,” he said. “People were a little more accepting of that in the 90s, of hiring people who had worked at winemaking, but didn’t necessarily have a degree. I learned by doing and worked with some really good people.” Culton says he soon started working on the production end of things and ended up working at Wild Horse Winery for Kenneth Volk, who Culton says became one of his early mentors. After honing his craft with Wild Horse for three or four years, Culton returned to the Anderson Valley where he worked for Edmeades Winery and eventually headed farther north to the Willa-
18 Spring 2014
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Robles Press
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Central Coast Edition
Peachy Canyon Winery
Photos courtesy of Peachy Canyon
The Peachy Canyon Winery Old School House tasting room is located at 1480 N. Bethel Rd., in Templeton.
mette Valley, where he worked for most of the late-90s. Culton returned to the Central Coast in 2000 and spent four years making pinot for Calera Wine and then the next 10 years making pinot noir for Adelaida Cellars. After putting in his two weeks notice with Adelaida, Culton says that Josh Beckett at Peachy Canyon found he was “a free agent basically” and wasted no time offering him a position as winemaker. Culton says that Beckett put him in charge of making wines for Peachy Canyon so he could concentrate on making wines for the family’s other label, Chronic Cellars. Peachy Canyon has a long history of producing fine zinfandel and Culton says he’s working hard to continue that tradition. Culton says the winery produces seven different single-vineyard zinfandels, each producing about 500 cases of wine. “So they’re real special lots of wine,” he said. “It’s really fun to showcase those vineyards.” The grapes are hand-sorted, fermented with yeast and put into Hungarian and American oak barrels to age. Culton says the different vineyards produce wine with a huge variety of flavors, from fruity to peppery spice and everything
VINO Central Coast Edition
in between. “They’re all very different,” he said. They’re all a blast. It’s like having a bunch of different spices and you can put them all together and try to make a really exciting wine.” Culton says his favorite of this year’s zinfandels comes from Clevenger Ranch Vineyard, but he’s also praised those from Baily Vineyard and Snow Vineyard as well. “Snow is the pinot-est of them all,” he said. “It’s not this huge zin — it’s really elegant and doesn’t have a super dark color. It’s just layers and layers of flavors.” Culton says he’s currently undertaking the process of tasting samples from the 2012 harvest and attempting to blend them into something special. Culton says he tastes a sample from each barrel and pays close attention to the flavors from start to finish. “We’re trying to fill the holes,” he said. “When I taste a sample, I want there to be something at every stage. If I feel a flat spot, I’ll change the blend.” In addition to gaining complexity by blending wines from different vineyards, Culton says some of the complexity also comes from picking the grapes at different stages of their development, which affects
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the acidity, sugars and fruitiness. “If you did it all at once, it would cut down on your options and the flavor profiles you have the potential of getting,” he said. Culton is also preparing to release two new blends under his own label for the very first time. He says he’s working on a small batch of two Rhone varietal blends — a grenache blanc and a bone-dry rosé, which will be released under the Culton Wine Company label later this year. “I’ve always made wine for other people, so it’s fun — even if it’s just a little — to do something on my own,” he said. “Of course, I do take Peachy really seriously and I’m glad to be here working for the Becketts. They’re really good people.”
Peachy Canyon Winery Old School House tasting room is located at 1480 N. Bethel Rd., in Templeton. For more information, call (805) 239-1918 or visit www.peachycanyon.com.
Robles Press
19 Spring 2014
Winemakers
Winemaker
Jeff Branco Happy to be Back in the Saddle Laura Ness VINO
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inemaker Jeff Branco has taken a long, twisted, somewhat circular path to Paso from his east coast roots in Rehoboth, Mass. After attending college at Clarkson in the frigid tundra of northern New York state, he got a job with a high-tech company. He insisted on going to England, where he could drink French wines. He had a method to the madness, having been bitten by the wine bug courtesy of an earlier stay in France with a college girlfriend who was doing a year abroad at the Sorbonnes. Jeff 20 Spring 2014
quickly fell in love with both French wine and French in general. He has a gift for languages, a gift that would serve him extremely well. After putting up with high tech for a couple of years, he decided to dive into the wine world of Bordeaux. Good thing he was adept at French, because he would need it as only the third American to achieve a Masters degree in enology and viticulture at the esteemed “Faculté d’œnologie” in Bordeaux, first directed by Ulysse Gayon, a student of and assistant to Louis Pasteur. Branco notes that in France, the two disciplines are never separated as they are
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here in the U.S.: one studies both together, because the French believe firmly that is the secret to making extraordinary wine, in fact, even ordinary wine. Jeff learned to make wines in the 800year old Bordeaux tradition, where it might take years to convince a French vigneron to make the slightest change in a barrel program. He was privileged to work with grapes from vineyards continuously in production since the year 1200: kind of a trippy thing to ponder. California is truly the Wild West when it comes to winemaking, as Branco found out when he was persuaded by Justin Baldwin to come to America to make wine in some
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Rotta Winery godforsaken place he’d never heard of. One day, Jeff got a call from a fellow winemaker in Bordeaux who was hosting an American winemaker who couldn’t speak French: he needed a translator. That winemaker turned out to be Steve Glossner, who was working at JUSTIN at the time. Fortuitous, indeed. Glossner told Branco he really needed to move to California, where he could make wine however his heart desired. “Seriously, you can plant whatever you want, and do whatever you want!” Glossner told him. Branco was both mystified and intrigued. The year was 1998, and the place he had never heard of was Paso Robles. Branco recalls using up every bit of change he had in a payphone in Bordeaux, making arrangements to come visit this New World winery, called Justin. He came out with his French girlfriend at the time and walked right into harvest during one of the wettest, coldest harvests ever. But he was sort of used to that, coming from France, and he quickly began crafting some fine Bordeaux blends for the next five years. He jokes that the place went from 2,000 to 15,000 cases using dental floss, and he took it from 15,000 to 65,000 using duct tape. It exhausted him. He eventually moved back east to help raise his daughter, Elina, during which time he continued to make wines from Paso Robles and the east coast on a consulting basis. After a 10-year hiatus from Paso, Branco was back. Again, Justin Baldwin played a key role in his return to the once backwater region he’d helped put on the map. Only
VINO Central Coast Edition
this time, he was coming back to help overhaul the oldest label in the region, Rotta Vineyards, founded in 1908. In June of 2013, Branco became the winemaker of record at Rotta, where former Justin GM, Jason Shorrock, is now managing partner. Branco is very excited about the chance to craft Bordeaux style blends once again. Plus, he gets to make zin, clearly the region’s emotional favorite. Rotta’s 20-acre vineyard, a steep patchwork of angles and attitudes, is planted with cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and zinfandel, most of which are dry-farmed and head-trained, with many between 30 and 50 years old. The winery currently produces about 5,000 cases of wine each year, but Shorrock wants to up it to 20,000. Branco certainly knows how to do that, and tasting through the barrels at the site, it’s totally clear that is not only possible, but quite probable. Fortunately, Branco has some amazing stuff in barrels for 2013. Even though most barrels were still not through malolactic fermentation when he tasted through them in early February, the flavors were quite promising, and he created some pretty serious blends that might just take this venerable old brand into new uncharted territory. Pause a moment to reflect on the fact that what we consider “old” would make most French vignerons chuckle. They’ve been making wine for centuries, since before Charlemagne. Paso is indeed still the Wild West of winemaking, and it’s great to have Branco back in the saddle again, as we celebrate the year of the horse.
Photos courtesy of Rotta Winery
Rotta is one of the oldest wineries still in operation in Paso Robles. This photo shows how the winery looked in the 1950s, long before an earthquake devastated the building in 2003.
Some of Rotta’s zinfandel vines are between 30 and 50 years old.
Rotta Winery is located at 250 Winery Rd., in Templeton. For more information, call (805) 237-0510 or visit www.rotttawinery.com.
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Robles Press
21 Spring 2014
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Feature
Nunno Wine Storage
Always Looking to Evolve Nunno Wine Storage Expands Facilities, Services Luke Phillips VINO
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eed a place to store a few thousand barrels of wine? Look no further than Paso Robles business Nunno Wine Storage & Services. The business, which started as a steel building manufacturer in the 1970s, has been offering clients climate-controlled storage space for cases and barrels of wine for the past three years. Now, in addition to expanding their facilities, they’re beginning to branch out to offer winemakers even more services and will even be launching their own wine label in the near future. Nunno Operations Executive Cindy Lewis says the business started in 2011 with an 8,000 square-foot metal in24 Spring 2014
dustrial building and had clients waiting to move in cases of wine the first day they were open for business. “We hit the ground running as soon as we got our license,” Lewis said. “Twin Coyotes Winery was our very first client and the day we got our license they moved their cases into our facilities.” The company received a great response from an eager client base and within the year they nearly doubled the size of their facility to 15,000 square-feet. Nunno finished another expansion project just a few months ago, again doubling the size of the facility to 30,000 square-feet, and now provides storage space for everyone from small vintners up to some of the largest winemakers in the region.
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Nunno’s storage facilities are state-ofthe-art, each with its own separate air-conditioning unit that keeps the climate inside at an ideal 58 to 61 degrees, depending on the time of year, Lewis said. The storage units also make use of passive cooling units that automatically sense when the air outside falls to a certain temperature and uses fans to pull in the cool air and push out warm air, saving a large amount of energy over traditional air-conditioning units. The storage facilities also have back-up air-conditioning units that kick in automatically if the first unit fails and send an alarm message to warehouse staff. “So nothing is ever in any danger from heat,” Lewis said. “We have full-time ware-
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Central Coast Edition
Nunno Wine Storage
Photo by Brad Koyak/VINO
Nunno Wine Storage & Services, which started as a steel building manufacturer in the 1970s, has been offering clients climate-controlled storage space for cases and barrels of wine for the past three years.
house staff and they monitor that pretty close.” To make things more convenient for their clients, Nunno also started to add new facilities and equipment including a crush facility and equipment for bottling, racking and blending wines and adding sulfites or other additives. Nine of the crush facility’s tanks are alternated between different proprietors and have been utilized by some of the most prominent winemakers in the region, leading to Nunno’s next foray into the wine business. “We had all these great winemakers working out of our facility,” Lewis said. “A lot of the smaller vinters have these fabulous wines but they didn’t have anybody to distribute them.” Nunno started by selling wine for Sextant Wines but quickly started distributing for several more clients including Norman Vineyards, Pianetta Wines, Stephens Cellars, Cuatro Dias and more. “We picked up all these really wonderful labels, but we were really kind of thoughtful about it,” Lewis said. “We tried them
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all and if we didn’t like the wine we didn’t do it. We wanted to go to the marketplace and say, ‘These are some great wines that are not represented because they do small lots.’” Soon Nunno will be among those small winemakers as they prepare to launch a label in the coming months. Lewis says the wine has been crushed and is currently being filtered and worked on by their partner Tom Bear, of Solanan Cellars. “We’ll go to market with our own cab this year, which is exciting,” Lewis said. Lewis says the cabernet may end up becoming a red blend, but will be very drinkable and will most likely be marketed as a value brand. “It’s just enough to get our feet wet,” she said. Above all, Lewis says that Nunno strives to provide convenience for their clients and loves to accomodate winemakers who are “constantly fussing” with their wine. She says clients are provided with a key code that will grant them access any time they need it and unlike most other facilities,
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they are never charged fees for taking small amounts of wine out of storage. “If it’s just a couple of cases, we don’t charge,” she said. “Our philosphy is not to nickel and dime them to death. Our motto is ‘service simplified’ so you can concentrate on making great wines.” Lewis says the company has been lucky enough to have clients who communicate their needs and help lead the way, requesting certain items or sevices that Nunno strives to provide. “We were very fortunate,” she said. “You know that saying, ‘It’s better to be lucky than to be smart.’ Our philosphy is that we may not be the best, we may not be the smartest, but we’ll try the hardest. Our clientele have been so supportive and great to work with and kind of helped get us over the learning curve.” Nunno Wine Storage & Services is located at 3502 Dry Creek Rd. in Paso Robles and can be contacted by phone at (805) 238-6801. You can find Nunno online at www.nunnowinestorage.com. 25
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Spring 2014
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food & Wine
Featured Chef
Buona Tavola’s Chef Varia A Lifetime Love Affair With Food Laura Ness VINO
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hef Antonio Varia has had a love affair with food for his entire life, and he makes no bones about it. His father was a chef, yet it was his dear late mother that became his inspiration. “She had a heart condition, and was not well, so often she would be on the couch telling me what to do in the kitchen. I learned how to make risotto, listening to her saying, ‘don’t burn the onion! Not too much stock! Now add wine! Keep stirring!’ That’s why I love to make risotto. It is for me the ultimate comfort food.” Born in Piemonte, Italy, Varia 28 Spring 2014
worked as an apprentice in Northern Italian restaurants and in Europe’s finest hotels. He honed his skills on the Princess Cruise lines, and as executive chef in several award-winning Los Angeles eateries. In 1992, Varia opened the first Buona Tavola restaurant, which means “The Good Table,” in downtown San Luis Obispo to rave reviews and has been delighting the discerning palates of Central Coast residents with an inventive Northern Italian cuisine ever since. The esteemed Zagat Survey gave it the highest ratings of any restaurant in the county, calling it “superb dining” with “great wine” in a “charming setting...one of the best between Los Angeles and San Francisco.”
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A decade later, Varia opened a second Buona Tavola in downtown Paso Robles, on Spring Street, a short walk from the Paso Robles Inn. “I saw Paso Robles growing with wine everywhere. It was blooming like a young flower in springtime!” he explains. Buona Tavola Paso Robles offers a full bar, superb Northern Italian cuisine and impeccable service in a quietly elegant setting, and is open for both lunch and dinner. It’s a favorite of locals and visitors alike, and everyone loves the gregarious Varia as much as they love his food. “I like to keep busy, or maybe I am just crazy!” Varia laughs, when asked what it’s like owning two restaurants. “Sometime you need to go out on a limb!”
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Buona Tavola
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Buona Tavola Chef Antonio Varia prides himself in using the area’s freshest seasonal ingredients in every dish served at his dining establishments, every day of the week. The same cuisine is available for offsite events, including private parties, weddings and wine dinners.
Varia prides himself in using the area’s freshest seasonal ingredients in every dish served at his dining establishments, every day of the week. The same cuisine is available for offsite events, including private parties, weddings and wine dinners. Varia first came to the US on Jan. 2, 1987, to work for an Italian company that had restaurants like Prego and Chianti Cucina in Southern California. He met his wife, a lawyer, when her secretary suggested she go have dinner at Varia’s restaurant. “I will never forget those spinach and ricotta-stuffed tortellini! Neither will she. We have been together ever since.” Married 25 years now, the couple bought a ranch in Creston in 1989 where they still live and raise pigs for Varia’s other business, a salumeria called Alle-Pia, named for his mother, Maria Alle-Pia. Says Varia, “I was very close to my mother and she passed away in 2010. It was our tradition in Italy to make salami each winter with our entire family. I thought using her name would be a nice way to honor her memory.” The business began June 9, 2011. Varia jokes, “I remember all the old dates. I just don’t know what I ate yesterday!” All the salamis and sausages under the Alle-Pia label at its Atascadero location are made from fresh, natural pork without nitrates or hormones, and most are made with wine, adding even more flavor. All products are locally sourced and USDA inspected and approved, in distribution in 36 states, and featured at Williams Sonoma. Chef Varia’s team makes six kinds of
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salami and six flavors of sausage including: Barolo — A robust, traditional salami infused with Barolo wine. Cacciatorino — A traditional picnic salami, featuring juniper berries and Chianti wine. Calabrese — A drier, spicy salami. Great on pizza! Finocchiona — A classic Tuscan-style salami with wild fennel seeds for a traditional bold flavor. Sopressa — Cayenne pepper and Paso Robles Zinfandel wine add a little kick! Varia is especially proud of the Sopressa Salami made with locally produced Paso Robles zinfandel wine. He says zin is the perfect mate for the cayenne pepper that adds a zesty flavor without being too hot or spicy. Tartufo — A salami made with black summer truffles, imparting a delicate gourmet flavor. Nostrano Italian Salami — And there’s a new artisan salami called “Nostrano,” which means “our own” in Italian. Nostrano is mild in flavor and features white wine and coarse black pepper, following a Piemontese recipe.
with red wine, cayenne pepper, sweet paprika and white pepper. Salsiccia al Finocchio — Pork sausage with white wine, fennel seeds and white pepper. Ruspante — Chicken and turkey sausage with roasted bell pepper, white wine, orange zest, Italian parsley, garlic and natural spices. Pizzaiola — Pork with sun-dried tomato, white wine, garlic, capers, oregano and black pepper.
Alle-Pia also makes six different sausages: Cotechino — Pork with garlic, black pepper and white wine, traditionally served at holiday celebrations. Luganega — Authentic pork sausage with white wine, white pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. Luganega Piccante — Spicy pork sausage
You can order the entire line of salamis and sausages on line at the website — www.allepiasalumi.com. Gift boxes of salamis are available in two sizes, and include Varia’s condiments.
Published by the Paso
For more information on Buona Tavola Paso Robles, call (805) 237-0600 or visit www.btslo.com.
Robles Press
29 Spring 2014
Feature
Epoch Estate Wines
Brick-By-Brick Restoration Epoch Estate Wines Reconstructing Historic York Mountain Winery Hayley Thomas VINO
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he folks at Epoch Estate Wines know that historical reconstruction is not for instant gratification seekers. Led by architect Stephen George, the winery is taking the long view as it moves — very slowly and meticulously — forward on its newest project: A brick-by-brick disassembly and restoration of historic York Mountain Winery, located on York Mountain Road in Templeton. “Every piece of [the original structure] was photographed in detail and numbered with chalk so that our team could easily go back and see where piece 33 was in relation to piece 34,” said George. “In a historic stone piece from 1882, every stone was numbered and there was a grid created on the face of the stone…this way, we can
30 Spring 2014
piece it back together exactly the way it was.” Once completed this spring, the structure is slated to house the new Epoch Estate Wines tasting room as well as a museum featuring relics and photos. A nearby stateof-the-art winery is also planned for construction. According to winery owners Bill and Liz Armstrong, the new facility will be used to process grapes sourced from the iconic Paderewski Vineyard — fitting, as the location was once a favorite winemaking facility of Polish statesman and early Paso Robles zinfandel producer Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Known widely as the first winery on the Central Coast, York Mountain Winery was a popular stop between Paso Robles and the coast before the construction of Highway 46. First named Ascension Winery, the structure was erected in 1882 by Andrew
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Jackson York. According to historical records, each brick was hand-formed on site and enormous beams sourced from a dismantled Cayucos pier were used to construct the building. The 2003 San Simeon Earthquake severly damaged the building, leading to a condemned status. George — who has garnered multiple state and national awards for his similar historical reconstruction of Epoch Estate Wine’s Denver headquarters — is determined to bring the forgotten piece of old Paso Wine Country back to life. “The whole project is exciting for me — the historical building is going to be extremely special,” said George. At this point, George said his team has received the first round of building comments and construction is anticipated to begin in a few weeks’ time. If the team obtained a permit by mid-February, the new tasting
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Epoch Estate
Artist renderings of the what the newly-restored York Mountain Winery tasting room is slated to look like according to architect Stephen George.
room could officially open for business in April or May, 2014. Six months ago, George said the group began the long task of taking apart the condemned structure. Now, George is putting the pieces back together in a way that will boost staying power, yet maintain historical accuracy. “The majority of the building was built in 1910, and the brick, because it was made on site, does not have a lot of structural integrity, said George. “Our primary goal was to use strategic disassembly, where you take things down piece by piece in a way so that they can be re-used in the future.” George said the key pieces — like the original 1882 stone, hand-made brick and heavy timber — has all been carefully cataloged and stored. Next, the materials will be
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cleaned, reinforced and rebuilt into the structure, recreating an authentic feel. An additional 1,200 square feet, which is slated to include bathroom facilities, will be tacked on to the roughly 7,500-square-foot building. George said it was important to add on to — rather than alter — the historical space. “If you added bathrooms and mechanical rooms into that existing footprint, it would really jeopardize the way it feels, and that’s why we are going a bit larger,” said George, adding that the project is similar to his award-winning work in Denver. “I feel that the rebuilding of this historical winery will be of the same caliber and will garner the same attention,” he said. For more information, visit www.epochwines.com.
Photos courtesy of Epoch Estate Wines
Known as the first winery on the Central Coast, York Mountain Winery will be reconstructed by Epoch Estate Wines and architect Stephen George. An opening is slated for this spring. 31
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Spring 2014
Feature
32 Spring 2014
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Central Coast Edition
HammerSky Vineyard and Inn Featured Winery
HammerSky Vineyard and Inn Where Earth Meets Sky, And Hollywood Meets Vine Laura Ness VINO
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Photos courtesy of HammerSky Vineyard and Inn
VINO Central Coast Edition
hat the gods have already made perfection can scarcely be improved upon but in the case of Doug Hauck, Cosmetic Dental Surgeon in Newport Beach, buying a sweet piece of property in Paso spawned the development of an amazing wedding venue and resort that is the envy of the region — HammerSky Vineyard and Inn.He should know something about engineering perfection. He’s made his living improving the looks of folks from Kobe Bryant to Bob Dylan. Let’s not forget he started his career as a fashion designer for Ralph Lauren, and worked in the Hollywood film biz. Says Hauck, “I’m an entrepreneur. I love wine and I have a decent palate. I was looking for a winery parcel that had a mature vineyard. I saw this property on Google maps, an old house on a
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major wine trail with a water source. It had older vines, 15 years old at the time, both Bordeaux and Zin. It was perfect.” The beautiful house, which was 104 years old when Hauck purchased the parcel in 2007, was a Mennonite preacher’s dwelling. Hauck read the book that the preacher’s ten kids wrote about their experiences growing up there. It has certainly connected him to the place in a very visceral way. Hauck, who with his wife, Kim, purchased the property in the Templeton Gap intending to create a wedding/ event space that was consistent with the old farmhouse. They commissioned a post and beam Yankee barn to be built in New Hampshire. It was shipped in pieces to the Paso Robles site, at which they conducted an official barn raising. The old farmhouse itself has been transformed into something that Scarlet O’Hara might enjoy throw-
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ing tantrums in: alternatively, you can easily see Leonardo DiCaprio toasting his guests from the lawn in “Great Gatsby.” Doug says the place is “restored country on the outside, and LA chic on the inside.” The couple’s sense of style, which can only be called “eclectic,” is especially evident in the tasting room, which stands at the edge of a park-like lawn dotted with white oaks and picnic tables. The clean lines of the smooth, steel-troweled walls of the snow-white structure create a startling contrast to the rustic, rural setting. Completed in 2011, it melds the refined aesthetics of both Doug and Kim Hauck. Just under a 1,000 square feet, it creates an airy space for wine tasting, and you can peak into the barrel room with its red and black Continued next page>
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accents. Tall windows and glass doors emit natural light, while allowing sweeping views of the Merlot vines that border the lawn and café-style seating on the patio. Doug describes the winery tasting room as “Floridian” — it’s built into the vineyard, with 360-degree views of the stunning landscape. The Hauck’s oriented the windows to incorporate views of a centuries-old valley oak, affectionately known as “Uncle Dan.” Named for the couple’s two sons, Hamilton and Skyler, the winery focuses on big blended wines that are meaty and beefy, dark and extracted, and have a long lingering, sinus-tingling finish. Doug describes HammerSky wines as “Couture-crafted wines for the senses,” and you will find this descriptor on the very elegant wine labels. The wines, which are Bordeaux and Zin, have edgy names like “Party of Four,” “Red-Handed” and “Naughty Princess.” The soils here, primarily shale, linne Calodo 152, limestone and calcareous sandstone, encourage the vines to root deeply. It also imparts a balanced minerality that makes the resulting wines full of texture. As Hauck says, he wants to create wines of “pure distinction.” He believes that increasing the oak program will help propel scores to the level he would like to achieve. At this point, he’s not settling for 91s and 92s. If you’re looking for a venue for a wedding or other event, the Haucks invite you to consider their historic farmhouse and barn, set amidst a working vineyard, as an incomparable setting for an elegantly romantic event that everyone is sure to remember. The farmhouse is available to rent yearround, even if the only event you plan to conduct is winetasting, while sitting in your armchair and reading a book. The tasting room is open Thursday-Sunday or by appointment. Doug and Kim Hauck, and their friendly staff, welcome you to indulge in the unique ambiance of HammerSky, where Hollywood truly does meet Vine. HammerSky Vineyard and Inn are located at 7725 Vineyard Dr. For more information about the winery, vineyard or use of the property, call (805) 239-0930.
34 Spring 2014
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VINO
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Award-Winning Estate Wine in a Stay-Fresh package There’s a lot to be said about
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Art
Featured Art of Sculpterra
John Jagger’s Artistic Legacy Lives on at Paso Robles Winery Paula McCambridge VINO
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culptor John Jagger, who sadly died last June 2013, left an artistic legacy across the world, which certainly includes Sculpterra Winery and Sculpture Garden in Paso Robles where he was artist-in-residence. “Jagger was a master of his craft,” said General Manager Kyle Coots. “He was a world-renowned sculptor. The doctor and John Jagger really hit it off. They met at the ABC Church in Atascadero.” The doctor is Dr. Warren Frankel, who along with his wife Kathy and their three children, moved to Paso Robles from the San Fernando Valley in 1979. Meeting Jagger was a boon since he was late in his life and agreeable to becoming the winery’s artist-in-res-
38 Spring 2014
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idence until his death at the age of 84 last June. The sculpture garden he and other artists created is a favorite among guests. “I think it’s amazing,” said Tina Rizzo who brought her husband, Ken, to the winery to view its art in February. “I was invited out here for a hospitality event and I just had to bring my husband to see the sculptures and meet the people — they’re so friendly and nice.” The Rizzos are new managers at the Paso Robles RV Ranch. “This is the first time I’ve been out here,” said Ken. “That one right there [the Puma] is my favorite so far. It really is just amazing.” The Puma is a 20,000-pound single slab of granite. Jagger oversaw the work that was
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Sculpterra
conducted in China. A nearby Mammoth is a 17,000-pound single piece. In fact, it was Jagger’s goal, said Coots, to use one slab of granite for each of those pieces. The one exception is Golden Morning, which is a giant, whiskered cat with an extended leg. That extended leg is what posed the challenge and required a second piece of granite to complete. Other Sculpterra artists include Robert Bentley, a master blacksmith. Bentley was responsible for all the ironwork that can be seen at Atascadero’s Carlton Hotel. Les Toma did the landscape design and others. Dale Evers, a longtime Sculpterra favorite is beginning his stint as the winery’s artist-in-residence. Sculpterra is located at 5015 Line Road in Paso Robles. For more information, call 226-8881 or go to www.sculpterra.com.
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39 Spring 2014
Art
wine label design
Featured WINE LABEL BY Hy Blythe
Unique Paderewski Fest Zin Label Part of Pioneer Museum Exhibit
This original shipping crate was used by Ignacy J. Paderewski Vineyards and was donated along with this bottle of wine by Hy Blythe.
Paderewski Zin Label: Specifically designed for the first Paderewski Festival in 1993 by Hy Blythe, this label is a great piece of Paso Robles history. Allyson Oken VINO
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idden among the amazing artifacts of the Paso Robles Pioneer Museum is a unique piece of local history. A wine label designed by local historian Hy Blythe in 1993 sits in an original Paderewski Vineyard shipping crate for all to see. Bonnie Nelson, vice president of the Pioneer Museum Board, explained why the exhibit is important to Paso’s wine heritage. “This is an exhibit devoted to Paderewski, who was credited with planting the first zinfandel grapes to Paso Robles,” Nelson says. “Many of the artifacts were donated by Hy Blythe, who owned a portion of the original Paderewski Ranch and studied him extensively. This wine bottle and the original Paderewski wine shipping crate were part of his donation and very nice additions to the collection. The label on the bottle is a unique patented design created by Hy to commemorate Paderewski’s legacy at the first festival in 1993.” This label is a wonderful memento of the first time Paso celebrated Paderewski’s
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legacy with a music festival. It is fittingly a zinfandel wine bottled in 1993 with a picture of Paderewski at his piano for the center art. The design has an antique quality with an almost sepia background coloring and distinctive black linear framing. The center art is a black and white photo of Paderewski with some artistic additions such as Paderewski’s signature and a passage of music. The label reads “Paderewski Festival March 20, 1993, Winemakers’ Collective Blend.” Imagine row after row of freshly planted zinfandel grapes sweeping a desolate countryside, adding flecks of color. That was Paso Robles in the early 1900s after the first of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski zinfandel grapes were brought over from Europe giving way to a trend that would bring Paso Robles zinfandels to the world. Paso Robles still celebrates this trend and the influence this man had on a now exploding wine industry. The first time the Paderewski Festival was hosted was in 1993 — that year it was a joint celebration during the zinfandel festival. The Paderewski Festival started out small and in recent years has gained international notoriety, debuting many musicians and
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wines through the years. The wine label was not Blythe’s only contribution to the celebration and commemoration of this noted historical figure. Blythe also proposed the design and construction of a life-sized bronze statue of Paderewski in 2012. It was put in place in the heart of Paso Robles Downtown City Park as part of the Paderewski Festival celebrations for that year. Paderewski was a famous concert pianist and Polish statesmen that began coming to Paso in 1915 to enjoy the local hot springs and its healing properties. According to the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, Paderewski made Paso zinfandel famous. He bought roughly 2,000 acres of property in West Paso in the 1920s and planted zinfandel and petite sirah. Paderewski named the property Rancho San Ignacio Vineyard and later joined with York Mountain Winery in the 1870s to make his wine. Today, Epoch Estates Wines owns 65 acres of the original Paderewski Vineyard and is producing award-winning wines from the property’s fruit. To see the unique exhibit that is home to the wine bottle and label that kicked off the firstever Paderewski Festival, visit the Pioneer Museum. It is open Thursday to Sunday 1 to 4 p.m. To learn more, visit www.pasoroblespioneermuseum.org or call 239-4556.
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Feature
Zin-fully Sinful Festival
22nd annual Zinfandel Festival Weekend Kicks Off March 14 Allyson Oken VINO
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aso Robles takes pride in knowing its history and revels in the opportunity to share it with others. The 22nd annual Vintage Paso: Zinfandel and Other Wild Wines weekend is a classic example of how the wine region pays homage to the grape that arguably put it on the map. A celebration of the heritage grape of the region takes place March 14-16 with 120 wineries participating by hosting
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tastings, dinners and entertainment. Paso wineries will be putting their best bottles on the table this year. With Turley Wine Cellars known for its beautiful oldgrowth zinfandel grapes and Eberle Winery with its 35-year legacy of award-wining wines, each providing visitors with unique experiences during the celebratory weekend.
Turley Wine Cellars Turley tasting room manager Malani An-
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derson says that this will be an exclusive chance to taste from their library collection and enjoy a wonderful dinner. They will be hosting events from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on March 14. From 1 to 2 p.m., March 14, there will be a tasting seminar with a presentation by Christina Turley, “Old Vines Young Minds.” “We are going to pull from our library of wines that go back as far as 1997,” Anderson says. “Then we will host a dinner featuring chef Jeff Scott that will be paired with six new wines for tasting. We source
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PASO FESTIVAL WEEKEND
Contributed photo
Part of Eberle Winery’s celebration during Vintage Paso: Zinfandel and Other Wild Wines weekend will be a dinner in their wine caves.
our grapes from Ueberroth, Dusi and Pesenti. Without these three families, we would not be able to produce such amazing wines in particular zinfandel. Turley’s 2011 Zinfandel was listed 12th in the world by Wine Spectator in 2013, Anderson says. “It is described as being big and bold with velvety elements and is primarily sourced from 70-year-old vines growing on the Dusi property,” she says. This is a great chance to taste some stellar wines that are not always available to the public. Reservations are a must for the dinner as it sells out every year. To find out more about Turley and to make a reservation, visit www.turleywinecellars.com or call (805) 434-1030.
Eberle Winery
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Eberle Winery is celebrating 35 years of fine winemaking in Paso Robles, making them the longest continuously run family-owned winery in the region. They will be pulling out all the stops for this year’s Zinfandel festival. “It’s one of the best wine festivals in the West,” says Marcy Eberle, wife of Eberle co-founder Gary. “Join the Eberles and gang for three days of great food and wine...and especially, great zin!” Friday, March 14, Eberle welcomes Ballard Inn chef Budi Kazali for a dinner in the winery’s ever-popular wine caves. Kazali has garnered many accolades, including winning Central Coast magazine’s Ultimate Chef Competition in 2009. The Ballard Inn was named the best restaurant
in Santa Barbara County by the review guide Zagat, which praised him for his “sophisticated Asian-inflected New French fare crafted from fresh ingredients.” Now that he is a local celebrity with a TV show, “The Inn Crowd,” his food and personality are in the spotlight more than ever. There will also be barbecue bites by Gary and Marcy Eberle and friends from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 15. The crew fires up the barbecue for a complimentary tasting of ribs, sausage and tri-tip. Sunday, March 16, the winery will have barrel samples as well as complimentary wine tasting and cave tours, all day. Eberle is located at 3810 Highway 46 East in Paso Robles. For more information about any of the events at the winery, call (805) 238-9607 or visit www.eberlewinery.com. 43
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Spring 2014
In The news Inspiration
Rhone Rangers Honor Haas Tablas Creek Founder Found Success Through Unwavering Passion, Determination Hayley Thomas VINO
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ablas Creek founder Robert Haas, 86, has not slowed down one iota since attempting — in vain — to retire more than two decades ago. Energetic, prolific and always looking at the whole picture, you can find Haas is in the vineyard nearly every day, cogs turning ever so steadily. “He started Tablas Creek in his 60s, theoretically, as a retirement project; He is constitutionally incapable of retiring,” said son and Tablas Creek General Manager Jason Haas with a chuckle. “He is incredibly dynamic and willing to experiment, and still comes up with more new and good ideas than anyone I have ever worked with.” The Rhone Rangers recently announced Haas as their 2014 Rhone Rangers Lifetime Achievement Award honoree. The accolade marks the second-ever of its kind to be awarded by the national organization: The first went to Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard, of whom the phrase “Rhone Ranger” was first coined. Haas will receive the award on April 5 at the Rhone Rangers’ annual gala held in San Francisco. “The fact that this award would go to my father is really a recognition of the impact that Tablas Creek’s arrival in Paso has had on Paso Robles, but also the Rhone community in general,” said Jason. “That community is huge. There are 280 wineries in Paso Robles and 250 of them are doing work, at least in part, with Rhone varieties; there are more than 1,000 [Rhone wineries] in California.” Though Haas’ wine career began with Burgundy and Bordeaux varietals, his relationship with the Rhone is long and rich, indeed. The Tablas Creek founder made his first buying visit to Chateauneuf-du-Pape in 1967, looking to build relationships with Rhone producers. According to Jason, Haas visited 44 Spring 2014
Photo courtesy of Tablas Creek Tablas Creek Founder
Robert Haas will be awarded the Rhone Rangers Lifetime Achievement Award during the Rhone Rangers’ annual gala held on April 5 in San Francisco.
Beaucastel on that trip, “convinced” Jacques Perrin to let him taste through the cellar and selected a swath of barrels he would bottle and market under the “Pierre Perrin” label. Haas’ connection with the Rhone developed alongside a lasting friendship with producer Jacques Perrin and his two sons, Jean-Pierre and Francois. “For an American market still largely unaware of the Rhone Valley, my dad devised a marketing strategy of personalizing Beaucastel, and made dozens of trips
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around the United States with Jean-Pierre and Francois, promoting both the flagship Chateau de Beaucastel estate and their growing collection of wines under the La Vieille Ferme and Famille Perrin labels,” said Jason. The brands are still a cornerstone of Vineyard Brands, the importing company Haas founded. Jason said his father’s friendship with the Perrin brothers — and their shared belief that Rhone grapes they worked with in France would thrive in California — led them to begin a search which would eventu-
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Tablas Creek ally lead to Paso Robles and Tablas Creek. “Several of the places that they looked at seriously — notably Sonoma, El Dorado and Santa Ynez — have become major contributors in the Rhone Ranger movement, but they settled on Paso Robles, which has become its epicenter,” said Jason. “[Looking back] from 1990, when there was negligible acreage of Rhones in the county, there are now more acres of grenache blanc, roussanne, syrah and counoise in San Luis Obispo county than any other, and more acreage of viognier, grenache and mourvedre than any other coastal or mountain county. The focus that the partners’ decision to buy land in Paso Robles brought to the region — as an area for high quality wine grapes, but more specifically as a great home for Rhone varieties — was enormous.” Jason said that the American Rhone movement was also greatly bolstered by the fact that growers began to import cuttings from France, making them openly available to other vineyards and wineries. “More than 600 vineyards and wineries
have purchased Tablas Creek stock since we began selling it in 1996,” said Jason. “This new high-quality vine material both gave the Rhone movement a direct and dramatic boost and had an indirect effect, spurring the nurseries already in California to build new partnerships to themselves import quality new French clonal material.” Jason helped found the first Paso Robles chapter of the Rhone Rangers about ten years ago, inviting the executive director and president of the board to the area. He said about 40 wineries turned up to the first informal gathering — many more than he anticipated. “We had pretty good consensus in the room that this was the right place to do the Rhone Rangers in Paso Robles,” he said. “There are now 47 wineries in this chapter, which is far and away the largest [chapter] that the Rhone Rangers have.” Jason said he recognizes the fact that the popularity of the Rhone in California cannot be credited to one single winery. “We’re far from the only winery who has tried to make our name on blended wines —
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and the paradigm is far from broken — but the winery’s insistence in the early years, when the market was telling us again and again that what it wanted was varietally-labeled wines, on sticking with what we felt was the best expression of our grapes, land and place, was one piece in creating space within that paradigm for alternatives.” Jason said he recently sat on an industry panel discussing the future of the proprietary blend. A singular thought dawned on him. “I couldn’t imagine that panel even existing without the work — over the last two decades — by wineries like Tablas Creek, and stubborn proprietors like my dad,” said Jason. “He is someone who is willing and able to look at a situation and figure out what the best long-term path is forward, even if it goes against conventional wisdom or what other people around him are doing. He’s very much focused on the long-view and willing to be patient.” For more information on the Rhone Rangers, visit www.rhonerangers.org.
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In The news
Wine Country Cleans Up Nicely
Paso Robles is 2014 Wine Region of Year Gary Eberle, Austin Hope, Paso Wine Man in Attendance at Star-studded Wine Enthusiast Magazine Wine Star Awards Gala held in NYC Hayley Thomas VINO
P
aso Robles Wine Country took center stage during Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s 14th annual Wine Star Awards gala, winning the coveted Wine Region of the Year award and adding a touch of small-town charm to the swanky, black-tie evening. Held on Jan. 27 at The New York Public Library, the event honored outstanding achievements in the wine and spirits realm. PRWCA Executive Director Jennifer Porter accepted the award alongside association board chairman Austin Hope of Hope Family Wines. Also in attendance were PRWCA Director of Communications Chris Taranto, Eberle Winery’s Gary 46 Spring 2014
Eberle, JUSTIN Vineyards and Winery Winemaker Scott Shirley and Vice-President of Marketing David Bowman; Hearst Ranch Winery partner Jim Saunders and national sales manager James Budda; Steve, Cynthia and Lawrence Lohr and Jeff Meier of J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines; Hope Family Wines marketing manager Whitney Hrdlicka and winemaker JC Diefenderfer; Mike Mooney of Chateau Margene, Villa San Juliette General Manager Hillary Trout, Winemaker Matt Ortman and Linda Parker-Sanpei of Parker Sanpei Lifestyle Public Relations. Nearly 500 attendees attendees gathered at the historic Fifth Avenue locale, including special guests like Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Antonin Scalia.
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Master of Ceremonies Adam Strum, Chairman of Wine Enthusiast Companies and editor and publisher of Wine Enthusiast Magazine, kicked off the night with a tribute to Peter Mondavi Sr., recipient of the American Wine Legend award. The award for European Winery of the Year went to Rioja’s Marque de Riscal, while the New World Winery of the Year was awarded to Australia’s Penfolds. American Winery of the Year went to Sonoma’s Rodney Strong. When it came time to announce Wine Region of the Year, a lighthearted and humorous mood prevailed, thanks to the newest one-minute Paso Wine Man video. The short film was screened during the ceremony as “Paso Wine Man” actor Casey Biggs looked on from the audience.
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Wine Star Awards
Paso Robles Wine CountryAlliance Communications Director Chris Taranto said the event featured an impressive range of top industry professionals. He noted that the event itself began with the Paso Wine Man Zinfandel video – setting the tone for the evening. “We had quite the contingent of Paso Robles people there with us,” said Taranto. “It was amazing to be there among editors from Wine Enthusiast Magazine and to be able to meet that editorial team as well as a host of interesting people from around the world.” The PRWCA team also spent its time in New York wisely, hosting a top-notch media dinner at Gramercy Tavern with winemakers Gary Eberle and JC Diefenderfer. Taranto said the association also attended meetings with O, Esquire and Travel & Leisure magazines, as well as the Food Network. “We were on the move constantly,” said Taranto, who also conducted a consumer tasting of Paso wines in Maryland. “Making these connections are an investment that may take a little time, but that time is very well spent.” As for the gala awards ceremony, Taranto said it was a proud moment for the many Paso Robles industry professionals in attendance, as well as the many back home. “As a group, we were among many of the iconic personalities of the world’s wine community,” he said. “Being recognized with others who have had so many great achievements was absoutely awesome.” For more information, visit www.pasowine.com.
Photo courtesy of Little Films
48 Spring 2014
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Beer Feature More Than Hops, Yeast and Water
Firestone Walker Brewmaster Matt Brynildson Tells His Story Through Beer Hayley Thomas VINO
B
efore Firestone Walker Brewing Company earned household name status, before brewmaster Matt Brynildson’s own name became synonymous with the bearded wizard Merlin, and certainly before earning top honors at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival (for the third time) last October, Brynildson was not unlike the bulk of young students at Michigan’s Kalamazoo College: Passionate, determined and preoccupied with beer. “I was studying pre-med, but when I finished class for the day, I wasn’t sitting there geeking out on anatomy — I was reading brewing books,” said Brynildson. “Brewing was my hobby and my passion; I was fixated, just nutty about it.” One look around the twenty-something’s college pad would have easily confirmed it. Brynildson and a brewing partner in crime had rigged up the garage with a full-on home brew setup, complete with an impressive collection of about half a dozen whirring refrigerators. A European foreign exchange tour — highlighted by a lineup of frothy, life-changing pints — solidified the student’s love affair with hops, yeast and malt. “One day, I just realized that
if you can make your profession your passion, and vice versa, what a perfect world it could be,” said Brynildson. “There was that first wave of home-brewing excitement — the time was right.” With personal encouragement and borrowed knowledge courtesy of late Bell’s Brewery brewer Rob Scalla, Brynildson made the leap into the emerging world of craft beer. Armed with a degree in chemistry, the eager home brewer began work at Kalamazoo Spice Extraction Company (KALSEC Inc.), where he performed research and development on hops for the brewing industry. Soon, Brynildson was bolstering his knowledge at Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology in Chicago. Now in his late 30s and a first-time father, Brynildson’s eyes light up when he speaks of those formative years. KALSEC Inc. owner Paul Todd, along with Stroh’s former brewmaster Rudy Held, served as powerful mentors. “Rudy was this classic, attention-to-detail brewer…if you gave him a home brew, he would tell you it was ‘alright,’ but he’d also give you about ten things you need to fix,” said Brynildson with a laugh. “With brewing, just like with music, you never feel like you perfect your art, and there is always something to learn.” In 1995, Brynildson fed that ever-growing hunger for knowledge at Chicago’s Goose Island
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Matt “Merlin” Brynildson. Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Brewmaster. For the past 14 years, the brewer has put his blood, sweat and tears into the Paso Robles-based frothy favorite.
50 Spring 2014
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Firestone Walker Brewing Company brewery, which boasted a fully operational laboratory, but no one to man it. There, Brynildson quickly climbed from cellarman to head brewer – a testament to his internal drive to succeed. During his post, Goose Island grew to serve eight regional states with an output of 50,000 barrels. Although success was sweet, Brynildson said it was around that time that he began to fray on the edges. Looking back, he can now chuckle at the fact that his tenacious tendencies got the best of him. He was working long hours and striving for greatness – basically, burning the candle at both ends. “At one point, I called up a travel agent and said, ‘I need a plane ticket to somewhere,’” said Brynildson with a belly laugh. “So, I packed my backpack, sandals and told everyone I was getting away for a week or three and headed off to Jamaica.” It was the late 90s and Brynildson was searching for more than a place far from nippy weather and relentless, 15 hour workdays: He needed to find his true self — his personal brewing identity. Brynildson said that, above all else, he knew he wanted tell his own story through beer. “There’s a story to be told, and a life beyond just water, malt, hops and yeast,” Brynildson added. “Maybe the story is as important as the beer…[Firestone] beers like Velvet Merlin or Union Jack have found their own life.” But before the brewer could write his own future, he had to make a leap of faith. An amiable split from Goose Island and a big move to California soon changed the trajectory of his life. Straight off the plane, Brynildson went to work for SLO Brewing Company, which was then looking to expand from its single downtown San Luis Obispo Garden Street operation to a broader market. Brynildson soon found that he would need to take two steps forward and one step back. “I left a perfectly good job in Chicago and moved to California by myself, only to realize we couldn’t revive the patient, so to speak,” said Brynildson. After a year at SLO Brew, in which Brynildson was credited for revitalizing the brewing program, the business ground to a halt. The brewer could have packed up his
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things right then and there, but was compelled to stay. A native of rural Minnesota, Brynildson said he felt connected to the Paso Robles area — the people and the land. “I had gone out to Nacimiento Lake and had beers and I thought, ‘Are you kidding me? I can live here and make beer?’” said Brynildson. “It definitely sold the deal.” It was lucky, then, that in 2000, the brewer was tapped by Firestone Walker Brewing Company owners David Walker and Adam Firestone. The craft brewers had outgrown their small Santa Ynez Valley location and acquired SLO Brewing Co.’s former facility, located on Ramada Avenue in Paso Robles. “Matt sort of fell in their lap…so Adam and David ended up with this amazing brewmaster to boot,” said Firestone Publicist Christopher Weir. Firestone Walker Brewing Company, which released its first beer in 1996, was ready for a new, charismatic leader. The operation began in a small facility at the Firestone Vineyard estate in Santa Barbara County and, over the past 15 years, has
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grown steadily. Despite this growth, the majority of Firestone beer is still consumed on the Central Coast, according to Weir. The company’s tagline, “It’s what we drink around here,” appears to ring true. Fans of the company applaud the fact that a swath of ales are selectively fermented in the Firestone Union oak barrel brewing system, which incorporates 65-gallon medium and heavy toast American oak barrels. More than a decade on, Brynildson likens his day-to-day job to coaching a professional sports team. There are a lot of moving parts to keep an eye on: Firestone Walker encompasses a high-tech beer-making facility, tasting room and the popular Taproom restaurant. Plans are currently in the works to open a Southern California location in Venice Beach. “We have the brewhouse that’s taking grain in, producing wort and hopping that, the cellar department working on fermentation — we have a lab that works on quality control yeast and packaging, and my job is
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51 Spring 2014
Beer Feature
Firestone Walker Brewing Company
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to make sure that everyone understands the story and exactly what it takes to get the beer to the finish line,” said Brynildson. That’s not to say that the brewer doesn’t enjoy rolling up his sleeves. “Physically brewing beer is this awesome opportunity to forget about the rest of the noise that’s going on,” he said. “I’m often super jealous of the guys who get to go through these zen-like, methodical moves of making beer…and when I get the chance to do it, it just feels so good.” The brewer’s passion has translated into unprecedented wins at prestigious competitions. Last year, Brynildson traveled to Munich to accept the top honor at the European Beer Star competition for the second straight year. In 2012, he and Firestone Walker Brewing Company earned top mid-size craft brewery honors at the bi-annual World Beer Cup for a record fourth time. Most recently, Firestone Walker took top mid-size craft brewery honors at the Great American Beer Festival for a third time. This year is looking fruitful for the 52 Spring 2014
brewer: Firestone Walker will produce 30 percent more beer as well as four new releases in 2014, including two collaborations, a low alcohol IPA dubbed Easy Jack and a Belgian-style Saison. The brewery is also set to bottle sour beers for the first time from its Barrelworks facility in Buellton, which opened last year. “It’s all just clicking, and as long as it continues to flow, we’ll keep going,” said Brynildson. “That isn’t so much a reflection so much of my talents, but the fact that we put together this amazing team of people... Adam and David have been the perfect owners. When we met, they had a different philosophy of ‘Let’s make one or two beers really well and just stay in the Central Coast and be the home-town favorite,’” the brewer said. “Double Barrel Ale was their original beer, and what they based the company around. Now, you look at the company and we have beers everywhere from 805 to Wookey Jack and everything in between — and all of these things are working, and it took an openness from the ownership to make that happen.” Where once the brewer may have struggled with knowing just when to relax,
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Brynildson said he makes sure to step back and enjoy his life — whether it be hiking with his wife Alison or hanging out with newborn son Mateo. More than anything, he said he’s thankful for his family, forged by both blood and beer. “My managing team has pretty much been with me for over 10 years now, and that’s what I am most proud of,” said Brynildson. “All the awards and everything are great, but the fact of the matter is that I have been able to keep talented people close to me.” As for what the brewer plans on doing next, it’s anyone’s guess. Matt “Merlin” Brynildson is known to make magic happen again and again. “Adam and David always come to me and ask, ‘What do you want to make next?’” said Brynildson. “That’s the best thing a brewer can hear.” For more information, visit www.firestonebeer.com. The brewery tasting room is open Monday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and located at 1400 Ramada Drive in Paso Robles. Tour inquiries can be directed to (805) 225-5911.
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Featured sommelier
Eric ConNolly
Featured Sommelier
Second Press Sommelier Lets Paso Wines Shine Eatery Boasts Wine Country Cuisine With City Park View Laura Ness VINO
I
t sits above the park with a view no other restaurant in downtown Paso can quite match. This makes the place a tad less visible than if it were at street level, but once inside, there’s no denying it has a commanding perspective on the town square. The decor is classy and open, with a hip vibe, a beautiful gleaming bar that overlooks the downtown city park, a sleek glass kitchen in the back, and a menu that serves to impress with its combination of things you expect, and things you don’t. The wine list is like that, too. If you expect mostly local wines, that’s what you will get, indeed. Sommelier, Eric Connolly, says that 80 percent of the list is comprised of Paso Robles labels, with nearly 100 percent of the reds being from the region. He ventures out to other areas, like the Santa Lucia Highlands, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria to find whites. He also serves Bristol Cellars cider on tap, along with local craft beers from the Central Coast. Owner John Clarizio, who has over 20 experiences in the restaurant industry, named the business for the fact that this historic building was once home to the Paso Robles Press newspaper. More recently, it was occupied by the Meritage Wine Tasting Lounge, which closed in 2012. Second Press printed its first edition menu in November of 2013, and is beginning to hit its stride. Clarizio still owns the Stillwater Grill in Santa Barbara, but wanted to connect with California’s wine country. Teaming up with Executive Chef Ryan Swarthout, with his background in cuisine forged at Deborah’s Restaurant at JUSTIN, as well as at local favorites Robert’s and Estrella restaurants, gave Clarizio the impetus to establish 54 Spring 2014
Second Press Wine Bar and Eatery. They totally remodeled the existing space, adding a new kitchen, bar, wine cellar and dining room, all modern, sophisticated and comfortable with rich fabrics, dark woods, warm colors and vibrant accents. The menu was crafted by Swarthout and features seasonal local produce and meats to impart dishes with unique flavor combinations. The style is contemporary wine country cuisine, and boasts interesting dishes like fried brussell sprouts with smoked goat cheese fondue and apple cider reduction, purple potato salad, baked parmesan artichoke dip, rosemary chicken beet salad, coconut clams, seared wasabi Ahi sandwich and citrus poached lobster pizza with lemon cream sauce, husk roasted corn, brie cheese and micro cilantro. They also source local Angus beef for their Press burger, which is served on a toasted brioche bun, fresh-baked just down the street, and slathered with garlic aioli. You can add cheddar, blue cheese or gruyere for an additional buck, and another buck gets you bacon. If you’re really starved for protein, add a fried egg. You’d need something sufficiently meaty in the beverage department to tackle that kind of dish, and perhaps one of the popular local blends, like Peachy Canyon’s “26,000,001,” a combo of zinfandel, syrah and petite sirah, or LXV’s grenache, mourvedre and tempranillo (made by winemaker, Amy Butler), might be a nice mate, especially if you added gruyere and bacon. Then, there’s always the 2007 Alec Spencer “College Fund,” made of cabernet franc, petit verdot and sangiovese, or “The Master,” by Stanger, a creative assemblage of cabernet, syrah, malbec and tempranillo. Connolly got his his start working harvest at JUSTIN, followed by gigs in the tasting room at Tablas Creek, then back to the restaurant at Justin, then off to French
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Photo by Laura Ness
Sommelier, Eric Connolly, says that 80 percent of the list is comprised of Paso Robles labels, with nearly 100 percent of the reds being from the region.
Laundry and the Michael Mina Group, an experience he describes as “cutting edge, bright, savvy and totally dialed in.” He learned a lot in his time there, especially while building the wine list at RN74 in San Francisco. Returning to the Paso area, he brought much of that to bear in developing the Cass House wine program in Cayucos, then at Robert’s and now, Second Press. Connolly says he loves learning about new local wines, and meets new winemakers practically every week. If you like albarino, check out local microbrand, Lazarre. Because there are so many microwineries that don’t have tasting rooms, Second Press opens their front courtyard to garagiste wineries on Friday and Saturdays, from 5 to 8 p.m., hosting pop-up tasting rooms where people can sample and buy from these artisan producers. They do the same for beer, with pop-up breweries. They’re planning to add local food and olive oil producers to the pop-up lineup as well. Connolly feels Second Press is right on the money and right on time in a town that needs exactly this kind of hospitality infrastructure to support the tremendous tourism the wine industry has brought. Says Connolly, “When I first started working in the wine business here back in 2003, Paso was on its way. Now, there’s no question: we’ve arrived.”
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Get Off the Beaten Path – Experience the Difference! Specializing in Dry Farmed Zinfandel, Barbera and Barbera Dessert Wine
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Feature
Featured Home winemaker
Garagiste Negociant: Ron Johnson Of Maison et Vigne Laura Ness VINO
Y
ou don’t have to be a formally trained winemaker to make good wine, as home winemaker, Ron Johnson, realtor, will quickly prove, if you ask for a sip of his “Melange Rouge,” a delicious blend of cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot and a touch of primitivo. The lanky, easy-going Atascadero resident who hails from Colorado, has long been a wine aficionado. He chuckles that most people don’t even know what a négociant is: that’s what he calls himself. 56 Spring 2014
Simply put, it means someone who buys grapes from smaller growers, then makes wine and puts his or her name on it. Johnson credits two things with spurring his quest for wine knowledge. One was a cruise where they splurged on a bottle of Silver Oak and were amazed by the character and balance. The other was buying a few bottles of Caparone Nebbiolo which they managed to lay down for 10 years. Opening that wine was a head-turner for Johnson. “It really opened my eyes to what a mature wine could taste like. Until then, I had never really understood the concept of ‘aged to the point of perfection.’”
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His wife, Kathy, has both feet in the wine business, and has for a long time. She works as an enologist at Baker Wine & Grape Analysis in Paso Robles, with prior stints at Meridian and Sylvester. Jokes Johnson, “There’s no excuse for me not to make clean wine: I get my chemicals for free!” Ron’s “day job” is realtor, specializing in vineyard properties. His business name is Home and Vineyard, so it was natural that he would call his brand “Maison et Vigne,” the French version of his realty company. Visits to France cemented his love of French wine, and in particular, his appreciation of Bordeaux blends. So, he decided to
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Central Coast Edition
Maison et Vigne
make some wine for himself. It didn’t take long until the hobby started getting a wee bit out of control, but that hasn’t stopped him from picking up a few pounds of interesting fruit to experiment with each harvest. “I have more wine now than I know what to do with,” says Johnson, a diabetic who has to work out extra hard and extra long to keep things under control. Maintaining a healthy diet, daily exercise regimen and drinking plenty of water helps keep the machine running smoothly. Johnson describes his winemaking style as quite French. “I try to make wines that are not so fruit forward. I don’t make the kind of wines we seem to like here in the U.S.: some of them are very enjoyable but they’re like eating jelly. I want to go for balance instead.” At first, he tended toward making reds only, but a trip to France three years ago introduced the Johnson’s to a very floral
VINO Central Coast Edition
white wine with lots of melon aromas and flavors. This was finally a wine that Kathy liked. It turned out to be muscat blanc, typically made in a sweeter style, but this was dry. He decided he had to make some, and searched hard to find grapes, finally scoring about 200 pounds worth at Lucas & Llewellyn in Santa Barbara. His 2012 Dry Muscat turned out to be a Double-Gold medal winner in the Amateur Winemaking category at the Orange County Fair: not bad for a first attempt at making a dry muscat, which was actually his first attempt at making a white. Anybody who knows anything about the wine business knows that making a good, clean white is far harder than making a decent red. For 2013, he made a few gallons of sauvignon blanc and muscat. Asked what his best red wine effort has been, he quickly points to his 2012 “Melange Rouge,” which is 55 percent cab-
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ernet sauvignon, 35 percent petit verdot and 10 percent primitivo. The latter was added to bring out the richness of the texture and pump up the mouthfeel. This wine scored Platinum in the Home Winemaking category at the California Mid-State Fair, and golds at both the American Wine Society and the Orange County Fair. Johnson has also made a 100 percent petit verdot, which is one of his favorite varietals: he sources it from the El Pomar area. “A little petit verdot in a blend makes a huge impact: you’d think 100 percent would be too much. But it makes a really nice wine on its own.” Still, blends are his favorite and his forte. “When you find a good wine you really enjoy, with lots of flavors and a balance that is really appealing, it is like listening to an orchestra versus a single instrument. There is just so much to appreciate.”
Robles Press
57 Spring 2014
Lodging
Photos courtesy of Bella Collina
Featured Lodging
Bella Collina: A Beautiful Bed and Breakfast on a Beautiful Hill Laura Ness VINO
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ineyard mother and Bella Collina B&B proprietor, Roberta Weideman, talks lovingly to the vines that surround her spectacular home and guest house every day. She can’t get enough time with them, these beautiful creators of the fruit she turns into award-winning wines under the Bella Collina Weideman Vine-
58 Spring 2014
yard label, with the help of Ryan Horn of The Vintner Vault in Paso Robles. Both Roberta and the vines enjoy breathtaking 360-degree views of the Santa Lucia Mountains, all behind gated seclusion, just a mile from downtown Paso Robles. It’s a beautiful hill, indeed, hence the name, which means just that in Italian. Most of her fruit, tannat, tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon and viognier, goes to her two best customers, winemaker Ken
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Volk and a cardiologist from Texas, who has twice won the coveted “Grand Star” at the Lone Star International Wine Competition in Texas with her grapes. She knows that her vines appreciate the loving care she and her vineyard manager, Jason and his crew put into caring for them. “The crew pretty much has adopted my vineyard,” she says happily. Weideman’s family, whose roots go back to England, has been in this country for
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Central Coast Edition
Bella Collina more than 400 years and were primarily grain farmers. They arrived in Massachusetts, moved on to Ohio, Iowa and then Oklahoma. As she says, enthusiastically and with passion, “Farming is in my blood and I love it!” Hospitality also runs thick in her veins. She enjoys running her little inn, really a charming farmhouse with two bedrooms, ideal for a family or two couples, beautifully furnished with antiques from all over the country. The pie safe from Pennsylvania is exquisite, as is the china cabinet that displays her grandmother’s lovely china. One bedroom has a queen and the other a double, and both are adorned with Italian linens, air dried and then ironed personally by Roberta, who appreciates those subtle touches that turn a stay into a memory. Original art work adorns the walls, and the guest house has StarBand satellite TV, free in-room movie selection, as well as old-fashioned board and card games. Weideman especially enjoys families with small children, watching them delight in her pool and running about the lovingly landscaped property, which she and her husband, Walter, a retired Lockheed scientist, purchased in 2000. They moved from a beautiful colonial Williamsburg-style home in Saratoga, to this place she felt was
meant for them from the moment she laid eyes on the prime, Westside 14-acre gated property where they built a splendid Palladian villa surrounded by vineyards and olive trees, and roses. Roberta loves her extensive rose gardens that bring her and her guests endless visual delight. “I can’t imagine how we were so lucky to acquire this beautiful property,” she says. But it’s the vines that are her main focus: she refers to them as her babies. The Weidmans planted the cabernet sauvignon vineyard in 2000, followed by the viognier block in 2001. Then came tannat, tempranillo and more viognier. It’s a warm and sun-drenched spot, and Weideman says that her cabernet vineyard ripens earlier than any other in the area. She notes that her fruit is in high demand, but she remains loyal to her original customers. Besides, she’s had experience with people who haven’t been so scrupulous in their dealings. She has a word of warning to wineries that don’t adequately value their vineyard partners: “If you don’t pay a grower, your license can be revoked.” Roberta loves to cook: it centers her. Asked what she likes to make for breakfast, and her reply is a cheerful and immediate, “Anything you want!” She particularly loves
making blueberry pancakes and quiche, and she watches the Food Channel religiously and is enamored of trying popovers stuffed with scrambled eggs and sausage. You might ask her to give that a try. And then, there are the award-winning wines. The Viognier is amazingly perfumey and heady, a rich, voluptuous girl with bouncy curls and curves to match. It’s no lightweight! Neither is the Cabernet, which proves rich, dense and chocolaty. If you have never tried Tannat, this one is exquisitely light on its feet for a varietal typically known for its massive tannins and bruteforce purple fruit. The piece de resistance, though, is the Tempranillo, as cheery, sunny and playful as this gated piece of paradise. Its red-fruited charm begs for tapas, or perhaps, just a plate of Manchego cheese, olives and seeded crackers. The wines are available for sale and enjoyment at the inn. Weideman also grows and produces award-winning olive oil from the olive grove on the east side of the hill. All these agricultural duties keep her blessedly busy. Says Roberta, “I’ve never had a manicure or pedicure in my life! I don’t need to impress anybody!” For more information on Bella Collina, call (805) 227-4685 or visit www.pasoroblesbellacollina.com.
Roberta Weideman especially enjoys families with small children, watching them delight in her pool and running about the lovingly landscaped property, which she and her husband, Walter, a retired Lockheed scientist, purchased in 2000.
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59 Spring 2014
calendar
MARCH 2014 Live Music Saturdays
Broken Earth Winery will host guitarist Luke Bryon at the winery from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, March 8. Wine is available by the glass or bottle for purchase. Food will be available from Gusto Cafe. For more information, call 805-239-2562 or visit www.brokenearthwinery.com.
Saturday Live at Vina Robles
Vina Robles Winery will host Cinder Jean and Robert Thomas from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, March 8 at the Vina Robles Hospitality Center. Wine is available by the glass or bottle for purchase. For more information, call 805-227-4812 or visit www.vinarobles.com.
Saturday Live at Vina Robles
Vina Robles Winery will host Melody Klemin from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, March 22 at the Vina Robles Hospitality Center. Wine is available by the glass or bottle for purchase. For more information, call 805-227-4812 or visit www.vinarobles.com.
Live Music Saturdays
Broken Earth Winery will host husband and wife guitar duo Pasion Gitana at the winery from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, March 22. Wine is available by the glass or bottle for purchase. Food will be available from Gusto Cafe. For more information, call 805-239-2562 or visit www.brokenearthwinery.com.
Paso Wine 101
Off Road Fiesta
This seminar — 4-6 p.m. Friday, March 28 — from First Crush Cellars provides guests a wonderful introduction to Paso Robles wine country, its wines, and how to taste them. The presentation gives guests an overview of how terroir influences wine taste and learn how wine is made, along with learning how to evaluate wines. Price is $30 per person; $24 for Crush Club members. For more information, call 805-434-2772 or visit www.firstcrushcellars.com.
Vineyard Tour and Barrel Tasting
Broken Earth Winery will host BanjerDan at the winery from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, March 29. Wine is available by the glass or bottle for purchase. Food will be available from Gusto Cafe. For more information, call 805-239-2562 or visit www.brokenearthwinery. com.
Vintage Paso: Zinfandel and Other Wild Wines
Chef Jeffery Scott and Lone Madrone winemaker Neil Collins have put their heads together to create a unique presentation of the art of Food and Wine Pairing from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 29. Price is $60 per person. For more information, call 805-238-0845 or visit www.lonemadrone.com.
WiVi Central Coast
Sommelier, restaurateur and author Shelley Lindgren from SPQR and A16 in San Francisco joins SummerWood Inn and Winery Executive Chef Kelly Wangard for an epicurean experience from 6-8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 29. The evening includes a cooking demonstration — Making Fresh Mozzarella, small bites paired with SummerWood wine and a book signing. Prices is $140 per person or $240 per couple. For more information, call 805-227-1111 or visit www.summerwoodwine.com.
Riverstar Vineyard is hosting an Off Road Fiesta — bring your off road toy, truck, motorcycle, rock crawler or whatever else you would like to show off from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m on Saturday, March 8. Free taco bar and music from a live KJUG DJ. Wine is available by the glass or bottle for purchase. For more information, call 805754-5335 or visit www.riverstarvineyards.com. Join Wild Coyote Estate Winery owner/winemaker Gianni Manucci for a vineyard tour and barrel tasting starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 8, 22 and 29. Price is $15 per person; free to Coyote Pack Club members. For more information, call 805-610-1311 or visit www.wildcoyote.biz.
Vintage Paso: Zinfandel and Other Wild Wines Weekend will be held March 14 through 16. More than 130 wineries will offer a selection of barrel tastings, winemaker dinners, vineyard tours, laidback barbecues, live music and much more. For more information, go to www.pasowine.com.
WiVi is a wine industry conference and trade show focused on the Central Coast that begins on March 19. It features a one-day trade show and two days of concurrent sessions focusing on regional viticulture, enology and wine marketing topics that are essential to keeping your business on top of today’s competitive wine market. The seminars will feature today’s industry leaders addressing current topics relevant to grape growing, wine production and marketing on the Central Coast. The trade show will bring suppliers from across the nation that want to showcase their products and services at a time and place that’s convenient and accessible for California wine grape growers and winemakers. For more information, call 805-434-3331 or visit www.wivicentralcoast.com.
60 Spring 2014
Published by the Paso
Live Music Saturdays
Paso Robles Pairings
Indulge: A Food and Wine Experience
Mitchella Vineyard And Winery Crab Feed
The Mitchella Vineyard And Winery Crab Feed — all-you-can-eat Dungeness crab with salad, bread and a glass of wine — is from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, March 29. Price is $50 per person; $40 for wine club members. For more information, call 805-239-8555 or visit www.mitchella.com.
Robles Press
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Central Coast Edition
Upcoming events
From the Barrel
Coyote Cantina Dining
From the Barrel — 7-10 p.m. Friday, April 4 at Santa Margarita Ranch — is one of the most unique events that celebrates the end of Prohibition. It features some of the finest bourbons, ports and barrel-aged beers paired with bites from outstanding chefs and music to benefit Woods Humane Society. Price is $80-$100 per person. For more information, call 805-595-4000.
April dinner at Wild Coyote Estate Winery — 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 12. Price is $125 per couple; $95 per couple for Coyote club members. For more information, call 805-610-1311 or visit www.wildcoyote.biz.
Art After Dark Paso
This seminar — 4-6 p.m. Friday, April 18 — from First Crush Cellars provides guests a wonderful introduction to Paso Robles wine country, its wines, and how to taste them. The presentation gives guests an overview of how terroir influences wine taste and learn how wine is made, along with learning how to evaluate wines. Price is $30 per person; $24 for Crush Club members. For more information, call 805-434-2772 or visit www.firstcrushcellars.com.
The first Saturday of each month, downtown businesses and wineries hold artists receptions with live music and wine tasting as part of ARTS Obispo/San Luis Obispo County Arts Council. Many wineries offer free snacks and some offer free wine tasting. It will be held on April 5 from 5 to 8 p.m. For more information, call 805544-9251 or go to www.artsobispo.org.
APRIL 2014 Saturday Live at Vina Robles
Vina Robles Winery will host the Pam Smith Trio from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, April 5 at the Vina Robles Hospitality Center. Wine is available by the glass or bottle for purchase. For more information, call 805-227-4812 or visit www.vinarobles.com.
Vineyard Tour and Barrel Tasting
Join Wild Coyote Estate Winery owner/winemaker Gianni Manucci for a vineyard tour and barrel tasting starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 5, 12, 19 and 26. Price is $15 per person; free to Coyote Pack Club members. For more information, call 805-610-1311 or visit www.wildcoyote.biz.
Wine Tasting 101
Learn how to taste and evaluate red wines with First Crush Cellars owner/winemaker, Becky Zelinski from 4-6 p.m. Friday, April 11. Learn the wine tasting basics and sharpen your palate. Class features a selection of Paso Robles wines that exhibit traditional varietal characteristics. Price is $40 per person; $32 for Crush Club members. For more information, call 805-434-2772 or visit www. firstcrushcellars.com.
Pop Up Art Bar
J Dusi Wines will be the host of a Pop Up Art Bar from 6-8 p.m. Friday, April 11. The cost is $50 per person and includes all materials — a 16-by-20-inch canvas, paints, brushes, aprons, easels, tables, chairs, etc. Granada Bistro from SLO provides the Gipsy Caravan bar stocked with wine, beer and snacks. The first glass of wine is included in the workshop fee. For more information, call 805-226-2034 or visit www.jdusiwines.com.
VINO Central Coast Edition
Paso Wine 101
Earth Day Food and Wine Weekend
The eighth annual Earth Day Food and Wine Festival main event will take place on Saturday, April 12 at 2 p.m. at Castoro Cellars in the meadow in Templeton. More than 200 purveyors of sustainably produced foods and wine will be on-hand. A Farm to Fork Diner and Tour will take place on Friday, April 11 at JUSTIN Vineyard and Winery in Paso Robles and a Weekend Wine Down will take place Sunday, April 13. For more information, call 805369-2288 or go to www.earthdayfoodandwine.com.
SIP for Smiles
The Tolosa Children’s Dental Center, a nonprofit children’s dental clinic, will hold SIP for Smiles on Thursday, April 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. The event will raise money for the nonprofit that has been providing dental service for children in San Luis Obispo County since 2003. For more information, call 805-238-5334 or visit tolosachildrendental.org.
Sixth annual Wine 4 Paws
The Sixth annual Wine 4 Paws fundraiser will take place on April 26 and 27 throughout San Luis Obispo County. Pet-loving wine drinkers can help their four-legged friends by visiting any of the participating wineries throughout the weekend when a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Woods Humane Society. Print a free map/passport from the website, or grab one at any participating winery during the event. Get the passport stamped when you help generate a donation and you’ll be entered in a raffle. For more information, go to www.wine4paws.com.
CABs Of Distinction
CABs of Distinction, the newly formed Paso Robles CAB (Cabernet and Bordeaux) Collective, will bring together the region’s most sought-after collection of cabernet sauvignon and red Bordeaux wines for an afternoon of tasting on Saturday, April 26 from 2 to 5 p.m. at River Oaks Hot Springs in Paso Robles. Attendees will enjoy exclusive access to winemakers through a grand tasting of the appellation’s finest Bordeaux varietals — those which can compete on a global stage. Additional CABs of Distinction events are planned April 22 through 26 at locations across the Paso Robles AVA. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to www.PasoRoblesCab.com.
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61 Spring 2014
Call (805) 438-3120
www Margariita-A www.Margarita-Adventures.com Adventures com Find us just one minute from Highway 101 at 22719 El Camino Real, Santa Margarita, CA 93453
north county
Wineries & Tasting Rooms
15 degrees C Wine Shop & Bar — 624 Main St. Ste.101, Templeton • 805-434-1554 • www.15degreescwines.com Adelaida Cellars — 5805 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-8980 • www.adelaida.com Alta Colina Vineyard & Winery — 2725 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles • 805-227-4191 • www.altacolinawine.com AmByth Estates — By Appt. Only • 510 Sequoia Lane, Templeton • 805-305-7355 • www.ambythestate.com Ancient Peaks Winery — 22720 El Camino Real, Santa Margarita • 805-365-7045 • www.ancientpeaks.com Anglim Winery — 740 Pine St., Paso Robles • 805-227-6813 • www.anglimwinery.com AronHill Vineyards — Lunch served daily • 3745 Highway 46 West, Templeton • 805-434-3066 • www.aronhillvineyards.com Arroyo Robles Winery — 1317 Park St., Paso Robles • 805-226-5454 • www.arroyorobles.com Asuncion Ridge — 725 12th St., Paso Robles • 805-237-1425 • www.asuncionridge.com August Ridge Vineyards — 8790 Highway 41, Creston • 805-239-2455 • www.augustridge.com B&E Vineyard — 10000 Creston Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-4815 • www.bevineyard.com Barr Estate Winery — 6950 Union Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-2505 • www.barrestatewines.com Barrel 27 Wine Company — 2323 Tuley Court Ste. 110, Paso Robles • 805-237-1245 • www.barrel27.com Bella Luna Estate Winery — By Appt. Only • 1850 Templeton Road, Templeton • 805-434-5477 • www.bellalunawine.com Berardo Winery — 3280 Township Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-9432 • www.ajbvineyards.com Bianchi Winery — 3380 Branch Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-9922 • www.bianchiwine.com Black Hand Cellars — 766 Main St., Ste. B, Cambria • 805-927-WINE • www.blackhandcellars.com Bodegas Paso Robles Winery — 729 13th St., Paso Robles • 805-237-3780 • www.bodegaspasorobles.com Bon Niche Cellars — By Appt. Only • 2627 Golden Eagle Way, San Miguel • 805-286-7798 • www.bonniche.com Booker Vineyard — 2640 Anderson Road, Paso Robles • 805-237-7367 • www.bookerwines.com Brian Benson Cellars — 2985 Anderson Road, Paso Robles • 805-296-9463 • www.brianbensoncellars.com Brochelle Vineyards — 2323 Tuley Court #130, Paso Robles • 805-237-0519 • www.brochelle.com Broken Earth Winery — 5625 Highway 46 East, Paso Robles • 805-239-2562 • www.brokenearthwinery.com Calcareous Vineyard — 3430 Peachy Canyon Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-0289 • www.calcareous.com Caliza Winery — 2570 Anderson Road, Paso Robles • 805-237-1480 • www.calizawinery.com Caparone Winery — 2280 San Marcos Road, Paso Robles • 805-467-3827 or 805-610-5308 • www.caparone.com Carina Cellars — 3525 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles • 805-252-0860 • www.carinacellars.com Carmody McKnight Estate Wines — 11240 Chimney Rock Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-9392 • www.carmodymcknight.com Cass Winery — Lunch served daily • 7350 Linne Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-1730 • www.casswines.com Castoro Cellars — 1315 N. Bethel Road, Templeton • 805-238-0725 • www.castorocellars.com Cayucos Cellars — 131 North Ocean Ave., Cayucos • 805-995-3036 • www.cayucoscellars.com Cellar 360 — Picnic lunch available • 7000 Highway 46 East, Paso Robles • 805-226-7133 • www.cellar360.com Cerro Prieto Vineyard & Cellars — By Appt. Only • 3432 Las Tablas Willow Creek Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-8448 • www.cerroprietovineyard.com Changala Winery — 3770 Willow Creek Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-9060 • www.changalawinery.com Chateau Lettau — 840 13th St., Paso Robles • 805-603-4434 • www.chateaulettau.com Chateau Margene — 6996 Peachy Canyon Road, Paso Robles & 4385 La Panza Road, Creston • 805-238-2321 or 805-238-3500 • www.chateaumargene.com Chronic Cellars — 2020 Nacimiento Lake Drive, Paso Robles • 805-237-7848 • www.chroniccellars.com Cinquain Cellars — By Appt. Only • 6404 Independence Ranch Place, San Miguel • 805-400-5978 • www.cinquaincellars.com Clautiere Vineyard — 1340 Penman Springs Road, Paso Robles • 805-237-3789 • www.clautiere.com Clavo Cellars — 315 Main St., Templeton • 805-226-0174 • www.clavocellars.com Clayhouse Wines — 849 13th St., Paso Robles • 805-238-7055 • www.clayhousewines.com Croad Vineyards — 3700 Vinedo Robles Lane, Paso Robles • 805-226-9899 • www.croadvineyards.com CrossLynn Estate — By Appt. Only • 1436 Brambles Court, Templeton • 805-434-9838 Cypher Winery — 3750 Highway 46 West Templeton • 805-237-0055 • www.cypherwinery.com D’Anbino Cellars — 710 Pine St., Paso Robles • 805-227-6800 • www.danbino.com Dark Star Cellars — 2985 Anderson Road, Paso Robles • 805-237-2389 • www.darkstarcellars.com Daou Vineyards — 2777 Hidden Mountain Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-5460 • www.daouvineyards.com Denner — 5414 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-239-4287 • www.dennervineyards.com Derby Wine Estates — 5620 Highway 46 East, Paso Robles • 805-238-6300 • www.derbywineestates.com Doce Robles Winery — 2023 12 Oaks Drive, Paso Robles • 805-227-4766 • www.docerobleswinery.com Donati Family Vineyard — 2720 Oak View Road, Templeton • 877-511-WINE • www.donatifamilyvineyard.com Donatoni Winery — 3225 Township Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-0620 • www.donatoniwineryandvineyards.com Dover Canyon Winery — 4520 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-237-0101 • www.dovercanyon.com
VINO Central Coast Edition
Published by the Paso
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63 Spring 2014
north county
Wineries & Tasting Rooms
Dubost Winery — 9988 Chimney Rock Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-8463 • www.dubostwine.com Dunning Vineyards Estate Winery — 1953 Niderer Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-4763 • www.dunningvineyards.com Eagle Castle Winery — Lunch served daily • 3090 Anderson Road, Paso Robles • 805-227-1428 • www.eaglecastlewinery.com Eberle Winery — 3810 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles • 805-238-9607 • www.eberlewinery.com Ecluse Wines — 1520 Kiler Canyon Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-4998 • www.eclusewines.com Edward Sellers Vineyards & Wines — 1401 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles • 805-239-8915 • www.edwardsellers.com EOS Estate Winery — 2300 Airport Road, Paso Robles • 805-591-8050 • www.eosvintage.com Epoch Estate Wines — 7505 York Mountain Road, Templeton • 805-237-7575 • www.epochwines.com Falcon Nest Vineyard and Winery — 5185 Union Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-0227 • www.falconnestwinery.com Fratelli Perata Winery — By Appt. Only • 1595 Arbor Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-2809 • www.fratelliperata.com Frolicking Frog Winery — 739 12th St., Paso Robles, inside Siegel’s • 805-239-4367 • www.frolickingfrogwine.com F/S Cellars — 1337 Vendels Circle, Paso Robles • 805-431-8146 • www.fscellars.com Gelfand Vineyards — By Appt. Only • 5530 Dresser Ranch Place, Paso Robles • 805-239-5808 • www.gelfandvineyards.com Graveyard Vineyards — 6990 Estrella Road, San Miguel • 805-467-2043 • www.graveyardvineyards.com GreMarK Vineyards — By Appt. Only • 5325 Rancho La Loma Linda Drive, Paso Robles • 805-237-0154 • www.gremarkwine.com Grey Wolf Cellars — 2174 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles • 805-237-0771 • www.greywolfcellars.com Grizzly Republic — 840 13th St., Paso Robles • 805-237-1378 • www.grizzlyrepublicwines.com Halter Ranch Vineyard — 8910 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-9455 • www.halterranch.com HammerSky Vineyards — 7725 Vineyards Drive, Paso Robles • 805-239-0930 • www.hammersky.com Hansen Winery — 5575 El Pomar Drive, Templeton • 805-239-8412 • www.hansenwines.com Harmony Cellars — 3255 Harmony Valley Road, Harmony • 805-927-1625 • www.harmonycellars.com Haven Wine Bistro — 6155 El Camino Real, Atascadero • 805-468-4880 • www.havenwinebar.net Hearst Ranch Winery — 442 SLO San Simeon Road, San Simeon • 805-467-2241 • www.hearstranchwinery.com Hearthstone Vineyard & Winery — 5070 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-238-2544 • www.hearthstonevineyard.com Herman Story Wines — 1227 Paso Robles St., Paso Robles • 805-714-9966 • www.hermanstorywines.com Hidden Oak Winery — 4671 S. El Pomar, Templeton • 805-237-9315 • www.hiddenoakwinery.com Hope Family Wines — 1585 Live Oak Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-4112 • www.hopefamilywines.com Hug Cellars — 2323 Tuley Court, Ste. 120, Paso Robles • 805-226-8022 • www.hugcellars.com Hunt Cellars — 2875 Oakdale Road, Paso Robles • 805-237-1600 • www.huntcellars.com J&J Cellars — 2850 Ranchita Canyon Road, San Miguel • 805-467-2891 • www.jjcellars.com J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines — 6169 Airport Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-8900 • www.jlohr.com Jack Creek Cellars — 5265 Jack Creek Road, Templeton • 805-226-8283 • www.jackcreekcellars.com Jada Vineyard & Winery — 5620 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-226-4200 • www.jadavineyard.com JK Wine Company — By Appt. Only • 805-226-7514 • www.jkwinecompany.com JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery — Dinner served daily, lunch served on Saturdays and Sundays and picnic lunches available Friday to Sunday • 11680 Chimney Rock Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-6932 • www.justinwine.com Kaleidos Wine — 3770 Willow Creek Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-0828 • www.kaleidoswine.com Kenneth Volk Vineyards — 3101 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles • 805-237-7896 • www.volkwines.com Kiamie Wine Cellars — 9750 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-8333 • www.kiamiewines.com Kukkula — 9515 Chimney Rock Road, Paso Robles • 805-227-0111 • www.kukkulawine.com L’Aventure Winery — 2815 Live Oak Road, Paso Robles • 805-227-1588 • www.aventurewine.com Laraneta Winery & Olive Oil — 2602 Templeton Road, Templeton • 805-434-5090 • www.laraneta.com Le Cuvier — 3333 Vine Hill Lane, Paso Robles • 805-238-5706 or 800-549-4764 • www.lcwine.com Le Vigne Winery — 5115 Buena Vista Drive, Paso Robles • 805-227-4000 or 800-891-6055 • www.levignewinery.com Linne Calodo — 3030 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-227-0797 • www.linnecalodo.com Locatelli Vineyards & Winery — 8585 Cross Canyons Road, San Miguel • 805-467-0067 • www.locatelliwinery.com Loma Linda Vineyards — By Appt. Only • 5155 Rancho La Loma Linda Drive, Paso Robles • 805-227-7172 • www.lomalindavineyards.com Lone Madrone — 2485 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles • 805-238-0845 • www.lonemadrone.com LXV — By Appt. Only • 3690 Willow Creek Road, Paso Robles • 530-763-3821• www.lxvwine.com Maloy O’Neill Vineyards — 5725 Union Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-6430 • www.maloyoneill.com Michael Gill Cellars — 4125 Peachy Canyon Rd., Paso Robles • 805-239-1668 • www.gillcellars.com Midnight Cellars Winery & Vineyard — 2925 Anderson Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-8904 • www.midnightcellars.com Minassian-Young Vineyards — 4045 Peachy Canyon Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-7571 • www.minassianyoung.com
64 Spring 2014
Published by the Paso
Robles Press
VINO
Central Coast Edition
Mitchella Vineyard & Winery — 2525 Mitchell Ranch Way, Paso Robles • 805-239-8555 • www.mitchella.com Mondo Cellars Winery — 3260 Nacimiento Lake Drive, Paso Robles • 805-226-2925 • www.mondocellars.com Moonstone Cellars — 801 C Main St., Cambria • 805-927-9466 • www.moonstonecellars.com Nadeau Family Vintners — 3860 Peachy Canyon Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-3574 • www.nadeaufamilyvintners.com Nichols Winery & Cellars — 4615 Traffic Way, Atascadero • 805-466-7278 • www.nicholswinery.com Niner Wine Estates — 2400 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles • 805-239-2233 • www.ninerwine.com Norman Vineyards — 7450 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-237-0138 • www.normanvineyards.com Onx Estate Wine — By Appt. Only • 1525 Paradise Meadow Lane, Templeton • 805-439-0539 • www.onxwine.com Opolo Vineyards — 7110 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-238-9593 • www.opolo.com Oso Libre Winery — 7383 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-238-3378 • www.osolibre.com Parrish Family Vineyard — 1220 Park St., Paso Robles • 805-286-4028 • www.parrishfamilyvineyard.com PasoPort Wine Company — 95 Booker Road, Templeton, and 5940 Union Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-2229 • www.pasoportwine.com Paso Wine Centre — 1240 Park St., Paso Robles • 805-239-9156 • www.pasowines.com Peachy Canyon Winery — 1480 N. Bethel Road, Templeton • 805-239-1918 • www.peachycanyon.com Pear Valley Vineyards — 4900 Union Road, Paso Robles • 805-237-2861 • www.pearvalley.com Penman Springs Vineyard — 1985 Penman Springs Road, Paso Robles • 805-237-7959 • www.penmansprings.com Per Cazo Cellars — 5325 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-227-4949 • www.percazocellars.com Pianetta Winery — 829 13th St., Paso Robles • 805-226-4005 • www.pianettawinery.com Pipestone Vineyards — 2040 Niderer Road, Paso Robles • 805-227-6385 • www.pipestonevineyards.com Pithy Little Wine Company — 1244 Pine St., Paso Robles • 805-546-1059 • www.pithywine.com Poalillo Vineyards — 7970 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-238-0621 • www.poalillovineyards.com Pomar Junction Vineyard & Winery — 5036 S. El Pomar Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-9940 • www.pomarjunction.com Pretty-Smith Vineyards & Winery — 13350 River Road, San Miguel • 805-467-3104 Proulx Wines — 5424 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-706-0425 • www.proulxwines.com Rabbit Ridge Winery — 1172 San Marcos Road, Paso Robles • 805-467-3331 • www.rabbitridgewinery.com Ranchita Canyon Vineyard — 3439 Ranchita Canyon Road, San Miguel • 805-467-9448 • www.ranchitacanyonvineyard.com Rangeland Wines — By Appt. Only • 10425 Klau Mine Road, Paso Robles • 805-674-9232 • www.adelaidasprings.com Red Soles Winery — 3230 Oakdale Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-9898 • www.redsoleswinery.com Rio Seco Vineyard & Winery — 4295 Union Road, Paso Robles • 805-237-8884 • www.riosecowine.com RiverStar Vineyards — 7450 Estrella Road, San Miguel • 805-467-0086 • www.riverstarvineyards.com RN Estate Vineyard — By Appt. Only • 7986 N. River Road, Paso Robles • 805-610-9802 • www.rnestate.com Robert Hall Winery — 3443 Mill Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-1616 • www.roberthallwinery.com Rockin’ R Winery — 8500 Union Road, Ste. C, Paso Robles • 805-835-8529 • www.rockinrwinery.com Rocky Creek Cellars — 8687 Apple Road, Highway 46 West, Templeton • 805-238-1919 • www.rockycreekcellars.com Rotta Winery — 250 Winery Road, Templeton • 805-237-0510 • www.rottawinery.com Roxo Port Cellars — 6996 Peachy Canyon Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-1600 • www.roxocellars.com San Antonio Winery — 2610 Buena Vista Drive, Paso Robles • 805-226-2600 • www.sanantoniowinery.com San Marcos Creek Vineyard — 7750 Highway 101, Paso Robles • 866-PASO-WINE • www.sanmarcoscreek.com Sarzotti Winery — 179 Bella Ranch Road, Templeton • 805-226-2022 • www.sarzottiwinery.com Sculpterra Winery and Sculpture Garden — 5015 Linne Road, Paso Robles • 888-302-8881 • www.sculpterra.com Sextant Wines — 2324 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles • 805-542-0133 • www.sextantwines.com Shale Oak Winery — 3235 Oakdale Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-4800 • www.shaleoakwinery.com Shadow Run Vineyards & Winery — 2720 La Panza Road, Creston • 805-227-0554 • www.shadowrunvineyards.com Silver Horse Winery — 2995 Pleasant Road, San Miguel • 805-467-WINE • www.silverhorse.com Stacked Stone Cellars — 1525 Peachy Canyon Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-7872 • www.stackedstone.com Stanger Vineyards — 5255 Highway 41, Paso Robles • 805-238-4777 • www.stangervineyards.com Starr Ranch Vineyard & Winery — 9320 Chimney Rock Road, Paso Robles • 805-227-0144 • www.starr-ranch.com Steinbeck Wines — 5940 Union Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-1854 • www.steinbeckwines.com Stephen’s Cellar & Vineyard — 7575 York Mountain Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-2412 • www.stephenscellar.com Still Waters Vineyards & Winery — 2750 Old Grove Lane, Paso Robles • 805-237-9231 • www.stillwatersvineyards.com Summerwood Winery — 2175 Arbor Road, Paso Robles • 805-227-1365 • www.summerwoodwine.com Tablas Creek Vineyard — 9339 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles • 805-237-1231 • www.tablascreek.com Tackitt Family Vineyards — 6640 Von Dollen Road, San Miguel • 805-467-9490 • www.tackittfamilyvineyards.com
VINO Central Coast Edition
Published by the Paso
Robles Press
65 Spring 2014
north county
Wineries & Tasting Rooms
continued
Tarrica Wine Cellars — By Appt. Only • 111 Clark Road, Shandon • 805-237-8693 • www.tarricawinecellars.com Tassajara Cellars (at Silver Horse) — 2995 Pleasant Road, San Miguel • 805-239-8511 • www.tassajaracellars.com Terry Hoage Vineyards — 870 Arbor Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-2083 • www.terryhoagevineyards.com Thacher Winery — 8355 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-237-0087 • www.thacherwinery.com Thunderbolt Winery — 2740 Hidden Mountain Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-9907 • www.thunderboltjunction.com Tobin James Cellars — 8950 Union Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-2204 • www.tobinjames.com Tolo Cellars — 9750 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-2282 • www.tolocellars.com Turley Wine Cellars — 2900 Vineyard Drive, Templeton • 805-434-1030 • www.turleywinecellars.com Twilight Cellars — 2740 Hidden Mountain Road, Paso Robles • 805-226-9907 • www.twilightcellars.com Venteux Vineyards — 1795 Las Tablas Road, Templeton • 805-369-0127 • www.venteuxvineyards.com Veris Cellars — 1266 N. Bethel Road, Templeton • 805-434-0319 • www.veriscellars.com Via Vega Winery — 2378 Adobe Road, Paso Robles • 805-423-2190 • www.viavega.com Victor Hugo Winery — By Appt. Only • 2850 El Pomar Drive, Templeton • 805-434-1128 • www.victorhugowinery.com Villa Creek Cellars — 5995 Peachy Canyon Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-7145 • www.villacreek.com Villa San-Juliette Vineyards & Winery — 6385 Cross Canyons Road, San Miguel • 805-467-0014 • www.villasanjuliette.com Villicana Winery — 2725 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-9456 • www.villicanawinery.com Vina Robles Winery — 3700 Mill Road, Paso Robles • 805-227-4812 • www.vinarobles.com Vines on the Marycrest — 5076 Mustard Creek Road, Paso Robles • 805-237-0378 • www.vinesonthemarycrest.com Vista Del Rey Vineyards — 7340 Drake Road, Paso Robles • 805-467-2138 • www.vdrvineyards.com Westberg Cellars — 3180 Willow Creek Road, Paso Robles • 805-238-9321 • www.westbergwine.com Whalebone Winery — 8325 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles • 805-239-9020 • www.whalebonevineyard.com Wild Coyote Estate Winery — 3775 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles • 805-610-1311 • www.wildcoyote.biz Wild Horse Winery — 1437 Wild Horse Winery Court, Templeton • 805-788-6310 • www.wildhorsewinery.com Windward Vineyard — 1380 Live Oak Road, Paso Robles • 805-239-2565 • www.windwardvineyard.com Zenaida Cellars — 1550 Highway 46, Paso Robles • 805-227-0382 • www.zenaidacellars.com ZinAlley — 3730 Highway 46 West, Templeton • 805-238-0959 • www.zinalley.com
north county
Olive Oil Tasting
Alta Cresta — 6075 High Ridge Road, Paso Robles • 805-227-4751 • www.altacresta.com Carriage Vineyards — 4337 South El Pomar, Templeton • 800-617-7911 • www.carriagevineyards.com Kiler Ridge Olive Farms — 1111 Kiler Canyon Road, Paso Robles • 805-975-6066 • www.kilerridge.com Mt. Olive Organic Farm — 3445 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles • 805-237-0147 • www.mtoliveco.com Olea Farms — 2985 Templeton Road, Templeton • 805-610-2258 www.oleafarm.com Olivas de Oro Olive Company — 4625 La Panza Road, Creston • 805-227-4223 •www.olivasdeoro.com Pasolivo — 8530 Vineyards Drive, Paso Robles • 805-227-0186 • www.pasolivo.com We Olive — 1311 Park St., Paso Robles • 805-239-7667 • www.weolive.com Wine Country Olives — 12 Ocean Ave., Ste. 122, Cayucos • 805-434-6063 • www.wineolives.com
To have your winery or tasting room listed, simply send the information in an email to news@pasoroblespress.com with the subject VINO Listing.
Kiamie Wine Cellars
Mention this ad and receive complimentary tastings! We are located on the beautiful Westside of Paso Robles at 9750 Adelaida Road. 805-226-8333 • www.kiamiewines.com