Winter/Spring 2016
Rockstar Winemakers Featured Winery
Ancient Peaks Featured WINE BAR
Taste in the Alley Distilleries Popping Up Featured LODGING
Allegretto Vineyard Resort Paso Robles
Wine Tasting Map
ies er in on S I N l W cti e eciates S p S No ID
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Visit our J. Lohr Paso Robles Wine Center and taste hand-harvested wines nurtured from our vineyards in Paso Robles, Monterey County and Napa Valley. J. LOHR PASO ROBLES WINE CENTER 6169 Airport Road, Paso Robles, CA 93446 (805) 239-8900 | Tasting Daily 10am–5pm
Publisher John Bartlett publisher@pasoroblespress.com
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Editor Brian Williams bwilliams@pasoroblespress.com Editorial Contributors Allyson Oken Luke Phillips Brian Williams Hayley Thomas
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Advertising Michael Bartlett Sheri Potruch Jeannie Johnson Beth Bolyard Arlene Horton-White Graphic Design Jim Prostovich Cover Photo Luke Phillips taken at Hope Family Wines
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Vino Contact information PasoRoblesPress.com 805-237-6060 829 10th Street, Suite B Paso Robles, CA 93446 VINO is published 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.
Winter/SPRING 2016
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In This Issue Rock Star Winemakers
Distilleries popping up . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Damian Grindley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Taste in the Alley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Mark Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Paso Robles AVA Districts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Brian Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Paso Robles Wine Tasting Map . . . 40
Curtis Hascall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Adelaida Cellars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Ancient Peaks Winery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Castoro Cellars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Union and Vine at Springhill Suites . . . . . . 22
Wineries & Tasting Rooms . . . . . . . . 44
Olea Farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Allegretto Vineyard Resort . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Winemakers For this issue — we give you four more Rock Star winemakers.
Damian grindley of
BRECON ESTATE
Winemakers
We 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 making their living, with wine. This issue’s Rock Star winemakers are Damian Grindley of Brecon Estate, Mark Adams of Ledge Vineyards, Brian Brown of Onx Wines, and Curtis Hascall of Shale Oak 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.
MARK ADAMS of
LEDGE VINEYARDS
BRIAN BROWN of
ONX WINES
CURTIS HASCALL of
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Winter/Spring 2016
SHALE OAK Winery
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
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1135 24TH STREET PASO ROBLES, CA (805) 238-4740
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FAMILY OWNED ~ 100% ESTATE GROWN WINE ~ SUSTAINABLY FARMED ~ SOLAR POWERED
Damian Grindley
Winemaker
Brecon Estate
Willing to
Explore
Brecon wines show influence from around world
By Luke Phillips Of Vino Magazine
Photos by Luke Phillips/VINO Magazine
Brecon Estate winemaker Damian Grindley was born and raised in a small town in Wales, United Kingdom, a place that he says is not well known for wine.
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Winter/Spring 2016
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
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inemaker Damian Grindley spent more than a decade traveling the world making award-winning wines for different companies, big and small, but now he’s settled in Paso Robles and turned his attention to making small batches featuring distinct Paso flavors with an international flair under his Brecon Estate label. “I was kind of a stealth winemaker,” Grindley said. “I was the guy who would come in and make these super high end wines, get the Parker Scores or fix their problems, but this is finally my own gig and I should have done it years ago. I used to call myself the stealth winemaker, but now I’m trying to come out of the shadows and be more of a rock star winemaker.” Grindley was born and raised in a small town in Wales, United Kingdom, a place that he says is not well known for wine. “There aren’t many Welsh winemakers,” he said. “Where I was brought up, unless you were a doctor or something, you were probably considered soft in the head for drinking wine back in those days. It’s an unusual background for a winemaker.” After earning a degree in horticulture and going to work in the landscaping business, Grindley says he stumbled into the wine industry when he took a weekend job driving a van for Majestic Wine Warehouse, one of the largest wine distributors in the U.K. “It was the sort of place that they’d have Opus One open to taste and all this great stuff,” he said. “You got a very wide international palate very quickly. They’re not making any real amount of wine in the U.K. so it was a pure international market.” Grindley quickly worked his way up the ladder at Majestic and eventually served as the assistant manager and then the manager before deciding to go all-in with his career in the wine industry and moved to Australia to complete the Masters of Winemaking course at the University of Adelaide. “I jacked it all in, threw it all out the window and went and got my hands dirty making wine in Australia and I loved it and never looked back,” Grindley said, adding that he also met his wife and got married in Australia. An avid cave explorer since his youth, one of the ways Grindley paid for his schooling was to map out caves located beneath vineyards. “You can actually go into caves and see the roots from the vines coming through the ceiling and trying to find water,” he said. “What they were concerned about was that during harvest their tractor would fall through into the cave because it was so shallow. Funny enough, at the end of it I knew all the vineyard people, so I knew where to get the good grapes.” After graduating from the Masters in Winemaking course, Grindley traveled the world making wines for different companies, the first being La Crema Winery in the Russian River Valley, which won the International Wine Challenge Winery of the Year award
VINO Central Coast Edition
that year. “I worked for some of the big companies and I worked for some of the little companies,” he said. “Big companies are great — they give you the corporate discipline and it’s like dog years. In a little winery like this you might see one stock ferment in 10 years and there you see like 20 per year.” Grindley eventually returned to Australia where he again worked for many different companies big and small, developed his own boutique labels and sold multiple brands to other companies before deciding to move to the U.S. to launch his own label. He purchased the former Norman Winery property on Vineyard Drive and established Brecon Estate, named after the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales where Grindley spent most of his 20s exploring vast cave systems. “You get to a stage in your life where you want to do your own thing,” he said. “So this isn’t about big brand and what-have-you, it’s an all hands-on little thing, no compromise, do the thing right. Because this is the one that’s going to be here for my kids some day.” While Brecon Estate wines use some of the same styles and flavors that are prevalent in many Paso wines, they also bring something unique to the table by adding influences from other parts of the world. “We’ve worked in Australia, we’ve worked in Europe and we’ve worked here,” Grindley said. “So stylistically, maybe we’re a little bit more international.” Grindley said that he chose Paso Robles as the home base for Brecon for a couple of different reasons, one being the laid back attitude of people in the area. “Here, it’s like Australia,” he said. “You kind of lean against a neighbor’s pickup and you have a beer over the tailgate and chew the cud. It’s like that in Australia. It’s a little bit more laid back, so that’s what I like about it.” As a winemaker, Grindley said that Paso’s microclimates provide easy access to any type of fruit that he’s interested in using in his blends, rather than relying on the same old estate fruit year after year. “That’s boring for a cave explorer who’s used to going around a corner and being somewhere that nobody else has ever been before, so we carry over that philosophy to the wines,” he said. “It’s that willingness to explore. We’ll blend a little bit of that over there with a little bit of this over here and stick it in some barrel that comes from somewhere strange and come up with something new and exciting and that’s the thing that we love about it. I’ve never been that good with rules.” Brecon Estate is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at 7450 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. For more information, call 239-2200 or visit breconestate.com.
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Winter/Spring 2016
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Mark Adams
Winemaker
Ledge Vineyards
It’s good to be
HOME
By Brian Williams Of Vino Magazine
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here is an ease and focus to Mark Adams as he talks about Ledge Vineyards while standing outside of his childhood home off of Vineyard Drive. The same can be said of the wines that are being put out by the Templeton High School graduate under the Ledge label and garnering high marks and critical acclaim. His 2012 Adams Ranch Syrah received 93 points from Decanter and was No. 6 on its Top 10 Californian Syrah list. The same wine received 92-94 points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate – “This is an up-and-coming estate that needs to be on everyone’s radar!” All five of the Ledge wines reviewed by the Wine Advocate received scores of 92-94. “We have been blessed with reviewers who really love the wines, which is nice because they are only going to get better with maturity of the vines and also of the site as I become a better farmer, and a better winemaker and figure out how to blend all of the fruit that comes off the place,” Adams said. A little more than a decade ago, Adams returned to his old stomping grounds with his wife Ciera in tow and moved into his parent’s adobe-style home that sits at the back of the property on the westside of Vineyard Drive. His parents live in a new home on what has become the Adams Family Ranch and enjoy being able to watch their youngest son raise his growing family. Adams left behind a high-paying gig in Southern California as a
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Winter/Spring 2016
Photos by Luke Phillips/VINO Magazine
Winemaker Mark Adams returned to Paso Robles and started Ledge Vineyards.
sound effects editor at Sony to be with family and friends, many of who were still in the area working in the wine industry. “I’m just thrilled to be farming the ranch and have my mom and dad here,” Adams said. “My daughter just runs around here all of the time. Her cousins are out here. It just reminds me of when my brother and I were young. I’ve always been writing songs about this place my whole life. It’s just always been home.” The working part of Ledge Vineyards sits below the two houses on a unique plateau of sandstone. The east-facing vineyard, planted to mostly Syrah with a sprinkling of Mourvedre and Grenache, covers roughly 8 acres of the 40-acre farm in the Willow Creek District of the Paso Robles AVA. “It’s a neat little pocket,” Adams said. “We like that it is different. It makes the wines taste a little different, gives a little bit of personality.” With little to no budget and the help of friends and family, five acres of Syrah was planted in 2005. Adams said they “just slammed everything into the ground and prayed for rain. We really needed it to rain.” Fortunately, the rain came, the vineyard took hold and produced its first vintage in 2009. It continues to be head-trained and much of it is own-rooted because as Adams explains, “we just didn’t have a budget so we just did what we could to get by.” If not for the consistent prodding of childhood friend Justin Smith, who is the well-respected winemaker of Saxum in Paso Robles, Adams Ranch could have been a walnut orchard. Adams
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Central Coast Edition VINO
Photos by Luke Phillips/VINO Magazine
Ledge Vineyards is in the Willow Creek District of the Paso Robles AVA. Winemaker Mark Adams is a Templeton High School graduate.
Photos by Luke Phillips/VINO Magazine
Ledge Vineyard sits on a unique to Paso Robles plateau of sandstone. This gives the wines a different personality, winemaker Mark Adams says.
started in the wine industry working part-time with Justin at Saxum and on its famous James Berry Vineyard, which is visible on the opposite side of Vineyard Drive from the Adams Ranch. “Justin encouraged me to plant grapes,” Adams said chuckling at what could have been. “At first I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to be the follower you know.” Adams is still at Saxum and grateful for the opportunity to work with one of Paso’s legendary winemakers. “He is the greatest, a great friend and a great teacher, I could not ask for a better situation,” Mark said. Each year, a little more is planted under vine but Mark is content to take it slow. “Sustainable. The idea is not to slam the whole property into grapes right away,” Mark said. “It’s the family ranch. We are going slowly, just an acre or two a year of new planting. Slow and steady for sure.” Adams uses some of the Syrah from the James Berry Vineyard to produce 70 cases under the Ledge label. The current release of 2013 wines consists of a James Berry Vineyard Syrah, an Adams Ranch Vineyard Syrah, a Dante Dusi Ranch Zinfandel, a Vineyard Drive Red Blend of Syrah, Mourvedre and Grenache,and a G2 Grenache Blanc. In all, Ledge produces less than 1,000 cases that are heavily allocated to the wine club. Adams describes his approach to winemaking as minimalistic. “Very hands-off. Feel based. I tend to ferment everything wild. A lot of whole cluster,” he said. “I’m trying to be a good steward of the land and have a sustainable winery. I’m not looking to make 100 point wines and be on the cover the hottest magazines everywhere. I just am happy and content to be working a beautiful ranch in the heart of an amazing scene.”
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Ledge Vineyards does not have a tasting room; tastings are by appointment only. For more information, visit ledgevineyards.com.
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Winter/Spring 2016
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Brian Brown
Winemaker
ONX Wines
Winemaking Without Convention By Hayley Thomas FOR Vino Magazine
Photos courtesy of ONX Wines
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ONX Winemaker Brian Brown is focused on place rather than pretension. He listens to the vines and strives to create a unique blend that is a true reflection of the land. The results are, more often than not, wild and wonderful. Winter/Spring 2016
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
Winemaker making wines that are not shy
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NX winemaker Brian Brown is exactly the kind of character you’d hope would sit down next to you at a hotel bar in a strange place where you know no none. At first glance, he might look like any young professional doing the 9-to-5 thing. You’d be dead wrong. He can drive a tractor and weave a good yarn with the best of them. A former resident of Los Angeles, Singapore, Western Australia, Switzerland, Wisconsin, and Texas, he has lived many lives (mediatory for spinning good yarns). A fan of 80s action flicks like “Conan the Barbarian” and the old school art of making mix-tapes, he is also surprisingly down-to-earth. Brown’s winemaking credentials — which include internships at Iron Horse Vineyards in Sonoma, Salitage in Australia, and Napa Wine Company in Oakville, as well as winemaking roles at Round Pond Estate Winery, Vineyard 29, and Trefethen Vineyards in Napa — paint the picture of a well-rounded artisan with an insatiable appetite for adventure. It’s a good thing, then, that Brown has had his hands gloriously full at ONX Wines as of late. Full of grapes. Full of bottles. Full of possibilities. “In less than 18 months, we’ve moved from making a few hundred cases in a custom crush facility into a few thousand cases at our own location in Tin City. In the same amount of time, we’ve nearly doubled the number of acres we have under vine at the ONX Estate,” Brown said. This zero-to-60 mentality makes sense. ONX Wines aren’t shy. The brash blends are a direct reflection of the winery’s dynamic Westside vineyard, which features several distinct “oasis” spots for sipping and education amongst the vines. The 122-acre ranch property is located in the newly dedicated Templeton Gap District AVA and is planted to about 60 acres of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Tempranillo, Zinfandel, Primitivo, Malbec, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc and Grenache Blanc. The new Tin City tasting room and winemaking facility is the ying to this bucolic yang. Housed in a hip, shared industrial setting across from BarrelHouse Brewing Company in Paso Robles, the vibe is energetic and fresh. Brown likened the first harvest at Tin City to living in the dorms while he worked to gain his Viticulture and Enology degree from UC Davis: “There is activity at all times of day with people working around the clock. You see your neighbors early in the morning before the caffeine has kicked in and you’re pretty sure they’re wearing the same clothes from the night before. Friends of friends show up on the weekends to hang out at your crush pad. There is also beer.” Don’t let his humor fool you. Brown is intensely focused on the wine at hand, even if he sometimes needs a beer break at the end of a long day. First and foremost, he focuses on making the product
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taste delicious. Simple, right? “I believe it’s important to listen to your customers, your critics, your friends, and your foes, but you ultimately have to trust your own palate,” Brown said. “I believe that wine should always be pleasurable. Simple can be pleasurable, complex can be pleasurable, serious can sometimes be pleasurable. Pretentious rarely is.” For this reason, Brown is happy to be humbled in the face of nature. He does not force a square peg into a round hole. Instead, he looks at the environment at hand and tries to hear what it is telling him. There is always a story blowing in the wind. “I know the direction I want to go and what the destination smells and tastes like. However, I never force a wine to go a direction that it doesn’t want to go,” Brown said. “It comes down to respecting the product. I feel like you can tell when a wine was forced to become something it didn’t want to be; these wines are disjointed or lacking in someway. When possible, always defer to place over process. The best wines make themselves.” That isn’t to say that Brown doesn’t obsess over one key ingredient: balance. Onx wines can swing wildly from style to style with a range of unique blends. However, hey all share a common thread: The wine knows who and what it is and doesn’t waver. “Wines can be high or low in alcohol and still be in balance. They can be high or low in acid and still be in balance. They can have huge mouth filling bodies or can be lean and nimble and in either case they can be in balance,” Brown said. “One hundred percent new oak or zero oak, in either case, you can find balance. Balance is matching all of the aspects of the wine so that when aligned they produce a complete and seamless wine. If you can achieve these things then you should end up with a delicious product that is unique.” a mix of corrugated steel, reclaimed wood, and unexpected, earthy textures, the new ONX tasting room is as unique as the wines. Brown encourages folks to come out and meet the team. Every member of the family comes together to create his dream, just as every flavor comes together to create an unforgettable blend. For those looking to experience unapologetic wines that deliberately defy convention, ONX is a natural destination. These days, more and more people are stumbling down the rabbit hole. “We still see plenty of people looking for ONX before they get to Paso, but now we get to share our wines with folks that hear about us once they arrive in Wine Country,” Brown said. “Consumers and collectors once had to seek ONX out. Now, they stumble upon us.”
For more information on ONX Wines, visit onxwines.com.
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Winter/Spring 2016
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Curtis Hascall
Joey Winemaker Arnold
Shale Oak Vintage Winemaker Winery Cowboy Winery
Photo contributed by Shale Oak
In 2008 Curtis Hascall got his foot in the door as assistant winemaker at Shale Oak Winery and is now the full-time winemaker with a few fun tricks up his sleeves that make his wines seemingly stand out in the forum for all of their accolades.
A taste true to
Photos By Allyson Oken/VINO Magazine
Snuggling up next to the fire in the tasting room at Shale Oak with a bottle of both the Ku and Ka will make for a heavenly fire on the taste buds of any drinker.
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Winemaker lets nature By Allyson Oken Of Vino Magazine
urtis Hascall stays true to the fruit at Shale Oak Winery letting the nature of the terroir sing, with a zing of oak on the reds and an alchemist’s touch when blending. Hascall joined the ranks of mad food scientist after graduating from Cal Poly and was focused on making beer when he found himself dragging hoses during harvest time at Paso Robles Norman Vineyard. After a few years with Norman and a trip to harvest at a winery in Australia, he was hooked. Shale Oak opened in 2008 and Hascall has had a hand in every vintage, working with Kevin Riley, past winemaker for Shale Oak and owner and winemaker at Proulx Wines. Now Hascall is the fulltime winemaker and has since released a line of wines inspired by Japanese kanji that represent three of the five elements or Godai. The three vintages are Ku, Ka and Sui and were chosen, according to Hascall because they relate to the idea that the quality of the wine made is a direct result of the environment. “Each element plays its part and has an impact on the vines and fruit,” he said. Hascall began by making the Kú and developed the vintage in 2008, winning a gold medal at the San Francisco International Wine Competition in 2011. The Japanese translation for Ku (空)
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or sora, is most often translated as “void,” but also means “sky” or “heaven,” represents those things beyond our everyday experience. Bodily, Ku represents spirit, thought and creative energy. “The Ku is made up of three varietals from our favorite barrels and lots,” Hascall said explaining that the name was fitting for this vintage, as it is extraordinary. “It features our Syrah with its big and dark base, some old vine Zinfandel with a bit of spice and fruit to balance the finish, and a bit of Petite Sirah that adds an intensity to the overall flavor.” The second vintage, Ka was released in 2012 and of the three, received the highest accolades, winning double gold at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. According to Hascall, Ka (火) or hi, means fire and in the most literal Japanese translation, represents the energetic, drive and passion in the world. Ka can also be associated with motivation, desire, intention and an outgoing spirit. “When making the Ka, I felt like I was playing with fire blending these reds with so much oak on them,” Hascall said. “I really like oak and like to push the limits with it and since Ka means fire, drive and the intent, it felt like the perfect fit for this wine. I would describe it as being like a big teddy bear of a man that is both
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
Photo contributed by Shale Oak
Hascall as a winemaker gets to put his degree in mad food science from Cal Poly to good use blending with a kit that looks like it should belong to a mad scientist.
the terroir
Photos By Allyson Oken /VINO Magazine
Tasting any of Hascall’s wines in the tasting room at Shale Oak will not just inspire the taste buds, but the imagination with its stain glass windows looking out over the vineyards.
take its course
bold and approachable, like Dwayne Johnson the actor and wrestler who plays The Rock.” The final vintage, so far, inspired by the second element in Japanese philosophy, Sui has been developed over time with its first vintage released in 2010 and winning gold at the Central Coast Wine Competition that year. Most recently, in 2014 the Sui was awarded the bronze in the same competition and was recognized with silver in 2013 at the SF International Wine Competition. “Sui means water, fluidity and magnetism,” he said calling it an appropriate name for a somewhat exotic blend. “This wine is incredibly bright and clean with notes of honeydew melon and minerality that I think perfectly balanced acidity.” Sui(水), in other Japanese translations can also be associated with emotion, defensiveness, adaptability, flexibility, suppleness, and as Hascall said, “magnetism.” This is a wine that people can gravitate to and Hascall said, “is best on a summer day.” Hascall also makes strait varietals from Petit Verdot and Zinfandel to Albariño, Viognier and Cabernet Sauvignon. So there is a wine for every taste at Shale Oak even a tasty Grenache Blanc. Since those early days, Shale Oak has become SIP Certified (Sustainability in Practice Certification) and boasts a land
VINO Central Coast Edition
management plan with water conservation at the forefront. “We let nature take its course with the grapes we grow on the property and source from locations with the same or similar practices to maintain quality,” Hascall said. “We have an outstanding rain harvesting plan, water run-off reclamation system, and reverse osmosis system that treat winery wastewater, convert it to compost tea, and use it for landscape irrigation. We also have two tanks devoted to collecting rainwater as well as water run-off, and this in general lessens the draw on the land.” Wines that let the terroir shine with oak on the reds, concrete on the whites and occasionally some steel are Hascall’s bread and butter.
To taste the Ku, Ka and Sui as well as the many other wines made at Shale Oak, the tasting room is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday and closed Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information, visit shaleoakwinery.com.
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Winter/Spring 2016
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Featured Winery
Ancient Peaks Winery
Photos by Luke Phillips /VINO Magazine
The new Ancient Peaks Winery tasting room also features an on-site café featuring a menu developed in conjunction with chefs Jeff and Cheyne Jackson of The Range restaurant.
A great combination Expanded tasting room opens door to world-class wines and food By Luke Phillips Of Vino Magazine
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ncient Peaks Winery unveiled its remodeled and expanded tasting room in Santa Margarita at an invitation-only event late last year. The new tasting room also features an on-site café featuring a menu developed in conjunction with chefs Jeff and Cheyne Jackson of The Range restaurant. “We’re just ecstatic,” Ancient Peaks co-owner Doug Filipponi said. “It’s a great combination of having The Range and working together because they believe the same as we do — it’s all about the quality and they serve a quality product for a reasonable price and that’s what we do here. With our wine, we could charge $10 more per bottle — and they’re still worth that — but we believe in delivering exceptional quality at a reasonable price and we think they do as well. Having them on board, for us, has been a real pleasure.” Filipponi said that the tasting room is now more than twice its previous size, with space that used to be used for offices being added on. The entire building also underwent a remodeling project that lasted four months. “It’s such a transformation that even I get a little displaced when
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I walk in,” Filipponi said. The new tasting room will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and the café will be open Thursday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. featuring everything from sandwiches to cheese boards. “Food and wine go together like two birds and a mule’s tail and you really need to have a little bit of food in your belly if you’re going to be out wine tasting,” Filipponi said. “And this food just goes perfectly with our Ancient Peaks wines.” The menu will include “The Kathy,” a vegetarian sandwich consisting of a baguette filled with fire-roasted peppers, marinated goat cheese, arugula, red onion, basil and Olea Farm olive oil; “The Karl,” a salad of wild arugula, red quinoa, poached beets, red onion, goat cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds and champagne basil vinaigrette; and “Rob’s Treat,” a dessert of blackberry Ancient Peaks Cabernet sorbet with shortbread from Santa Margarita’s Just Baked bakery. Filipponi said that the chefs at The Range created the menu with input from himself and Ancient Peaks co-owner Karl WittstromHiggens.
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
Photos by Luke Phillips /VINO Magazine
The Ancient Peaks Winery tasting room is now more than twice its previous size, with space that used to be used for offices being added on.
“We sat down and went through what we wanted and then we turned it over to The Range, turned it over to the professionals,” he said. “We went through and tasted the wines and came up wit this menu and they put together all of the components and taught our staff how to put these things together and on a day-today basis they’re always involved. They won’t be here the whole time, but they are the true directors of our food process here. These guys have done a great job putting this menu together. We’re going to use a lot of the components that are farm-to-table because we believe that you should eat the things that are fresh and in season.” Much of the food served in the café will also be harvested fresh from Santa Margarita Ranch, home of the Ancient
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Peaks vineyards. “In addition to wine, we are growing other crops on the ranch, such as corn and watermelon,” Wittstrom-Higgens said. “We hope to incorporate ranchgrown items as much as possible. We are an estate-focused winery, so it’s fitting to share food grown on the same land as our wines.” The new tasting room, an open, cheerfully sunny space, also features a set of giant tubes behind the bar that show the different types of soil that Ancient Peaks grapes are grown in. The soil types are also illustrated on the new Ancient Peaks label, adorning all of their newer bottles. “The soils and geology on the front kind of showcase what the grapes are growing in, which is what makes the
Published by the Paso Robles Press
wine taste like it does,” Filipponi said. “We’re really excited about it.” The new tasting room has arrived just in time for Ancient Peaks’ 10-year anniversary this year. “The timing for the new tasting room couldn't be getter,” Wittstrom-Higgens said. “We had outgrown our original space. We just launched a new package redesign, and we are set to celebrate our winery’s 10th anniversary. It’s a fitting milestone in the evolution of our winery.” Ancient Peaks tasting room is open from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily at 22720 El Camino Real, Suite B, Santa Margarita. For more information, call 365-7045 or visit ancientpeaks.com.
Fall/Winter 2015
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Get Off the Beaten Path – Experience the Difference!
A Contemporary Take on Classic American Cuisine
Specializing in Dry Farmed Zinfandel, Barbera and Barbera Dessert Wine
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OPEN HOUSE FRIDAY - SUNDAY
MARCH 18-20, 11 AM -5PM Sunday- Music with J Street Slim • King’s Killer Meatballs
LOCALLY SOURCED & HAND-CRAFTED CELEBRATING OUR 20TH YEAR AS A WINERY! M
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• Oliveto Olive Oil Tasting & Sales • Smoky Jim’s BBQ Chips & barrel products
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• Dry-Farmed Zinfandel, Barbera & Barbera Port Tasting
• Private Label Artisan Condiments • Wine Country Art, Books & Carved Gourds
Winery Tasting & Vineyard Tours Sundays from 11am-5pm & by appt.
7340 Drake Road, Paso Robles
(805) 467-2138
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Located in King City’s Town Square 200 Broadway St. 831.386.9491 www.thecorkandplough.com
496 Salinas Rd. Watsonville Ca. 831-722-2733
2690 Ramada Dr. Paso Robles Ca. 805-237-3855
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SOQUEL VILLAGE Tasting Room OPEN WED - SUN 12pm-5pm 5015 Soquel Dr., Soquel, CA WATSONVILLE Cellar & Tasting Room OPEN SAT - SUN 12pm-5pm 11 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA Warginwines.com / 1.888.247.8333 / wine@warginwines.com
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We our a small family owned Vineyard and Winery producing all estate Red Wines.
We are currently pouring Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Port and our Red Rhythm Blend (Bordeaux & Bordeaux/ Rhone blends). Stop by the Western Saloon and enjoy the wines and the view overlooking the lake and vineyard. 10000 Creston Rd (805) 238-4815 Paso Robles bevineyard.com bevineyard@aol.com
Kiamie Wine Cellars
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FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2016
Vintage Paso Winemaker’s Dinner in the Caves Featuring Celebtrity Chef Tai Lee of Veritas Wine & Bistro in Texas
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016 Vintage Paso: Zin Fest Barbecue Stop by Eberle Winery for Gary's famous complimentary BBQ bites!
MARK YOUR CALENDER!
Wine 4 Paws - April 9th - 10th Mother’s Day Brunch- May 8th Wine Fest Winemaker’s Dinner Featuring Chef Lou Rook of Annie Gunn's Restaurant- May 20th
Featured Chef
Anthony Reeves of Union and Vine at Springhill Suites
American fusion with harmony in mind
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Winter/Spring 2016
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
Story By Allyson Oken Photos by Luke Phillips Of Vino Magazine
T
he perfect bite is usually composed of a little bit of everything on the plate, at SpringHill Suites new restaurant — Union and Vine. It does not matter how the fork is loaded, chef Anthony Reeves’ plate composition and understanding of flavor promises the perfect harmonious bite. Union and Vine is open seven days a week, beginning with the cocktail hour from 4 to 6 p.m. and dinner service from 5 to 10 p.m. with a special chef’s menu of food and wine pairings that are outstanding and feature all local wines. Chef Reeves is also responsible for catering all of the events in the banquet hall. Reeves has been in the business of packing plates full of flavor for well over a decade and comes from what he calls the school of hard knocks. He said he started from the bottom and worked his way up, at some of the most prestigious restaurants in Seattle and on the Oregon Coast. “I got the majority of my training in Seattle, in the school of hard knocks,” Reeves said. “I have since become a certified prochef level two at the CIA in Hyde Park. Seattle was my first full service restaurant position I was a corporate trainer for a restaurant concept that was expanding at the time so that is how I got started in chef-dom.” Reeves now lives in Atascadero and is a native of Santa Maria that made good on his dream to become a chef and move back to the Central Coast. In his last 10 years here he has worked as the chef at Hearst Castle, the Inn at Morro Bay and now Union and Vine. “When I saw that SpringHill Suites was being constructed, I was on my way to work at Hearst Castle and I thought to myself I want to work there,” Reeves said with enthusiasm. “When living in Seattle, I had the opportunity to work for a company that enabled me to open 17 restaurants and I feel it was this experience that paved the way to getting the opportunity to help open this outstanding restaurant in Atascadero. It is really a dream to be working where I live and with the people who started it all with me. Everyone is so passionate about what we do here and it speaks volumes of our
VINO Central Coast Edition
service and the quality of the food.” Chef Reeves is an artist with an uncanny attention to detail that allows him to create dishes that are inspired by the melting pot of cultures in America today. He said that he cooks what he loves. A signature dish that will be on the menu this spring is crispy skinned duck, with a mole sauce, polenta infused with jalapeño and cheddar cheese and topped with a cabbage salad. “I really love duck so I wanted to feature a dish that was a play on chicken mole, but with duck,” Reeves said. “I also love mole so any chance to put that type of sauce on the plate I take advantage of it. I paired these flavors with the polenta because of the corn flavor. Then I added the jalapeño and cheddar cheese and it just brought all of these flavors together with the Spanish and Mexican flavors. I lightened it up with the cabbage slaw.” The components of this dish are true to the American fusion mentality and tie in flavors from traditional French-style cuisine with duck, South American influences with mole, Italy is represented with the polenta, then back again to South America with jalapeño and to America with cheddar cheese and cabbage slaw. This paired with any red wine chosen by front-of-house manager and wine aficionado, Jessica Guerrero will help bring out the flavors of the dish. Chef Reeves is not just a master saucier and a certified professional chef he is an accomplished baker and boasts arguably the best cheesecake around. Guerrero said that people come in just for the cheesecake and a glass of wine. “We are in the business to inspire everyone that comes in through our food and the welcoming environment,” Reeves said. “We want people to create memories here and inspire reminiscence of grandmas’ cooking.” Make a reservation by calling 462-3500 or stop by Union and Vine located inside SpringHill Suites at 900 El Camino Real in Atascadero. For more information, visit springhillsuites.marriott.com.
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Winter/Spring 2016
23
Featured Olive Oil
Olea Farm
Mobile milling Olea Farm taking the show on the road By Allyson Oken Of Vino Magazine
Y
ves and Clotilde Julien are in the business of making golden, glistening, extra virgin olive oil at Olea Farm in Templeton. After years of milling their oil off site, inspiration struck and today they are an estate operation with the largest mobile olive oil mill in the world. With the help of friend and engineer Charles Schryver, they created the Mill on Wheels or MOW. “Since 2007 we have helped to plant over 50,000 olive trees in the northern area of San Luis Obispo County and intended this to be a fun retirement business that has since developed into a full-time carrier,” Yves said. “We discovered that milling olives is hard work especially for those farmers who have to transport their fruit off the farm to be processed. Many olive growers end up harvesting one day and then 24 to 36 hours later the fruit is processed. This is not the best practice and impacts the yield and the flavor of the oil. In the end the product is not what it could be if it were processed the same day and now with the Mill on Wheels we can do it.” Clotilde said that the idea for the MOW
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Winter/Spring 2016
came when the duo saw mobile bottling services coming into the wine industry locally and thought…“why can’t we do this with our olives? So we thought, what would it be like if the mill were mobile? We started to look at the logistics of making our own and our friend Charles who is also in the business and an engineer was instrumental to this process.” Yves said that the process to make their own mobile mill included: manufacturing a trailer bed, obtaining the milling equipment from Italy, which was manufactured by Alfa Laval, as well as becoming certified master millers, being approved by the Heath Department and becoming certified organic millers. “We are involved in every part of the process since we built our first mobile mill and have both completed Master Miller training at UC Davis,” Yves said. “After we started processing our own, we started to help other olive oil producers to process their own with our mill. Last year the harvesting process began in fall starting in mid-October. We traveled to farms as far south as Santa Barbara and as far north as Carmel finishing
Published by the Paso Robles Press
just before the first freeze, usually in December or early January.” In the midst of harvest last year, Olea expanded their business when an olive oil producer in Texas contacted them asking about the MOW. Since that phone call, Yves and Clotilde have been working with this Texas olive oil producer to design and sell a mobile olive oil processing system to their specifications and requirements, providing a complete turnkey system that includes training. Yves said that the most amazing thing about the process is the freshness of the oil produced when process the day it is picked. “The mobile mill processes the fruit the same day from start to finish, from washing to crushing,” Yves said explaining that this is the best possible way to harvest because the fruit looses non of its integrity. “The extraction process results in extra virgin olive oil that gives you the best flavor possible. The Mill on Wheels is capable of processing up to 2 tons per hour. One of the benefits of Mill on Wheels is the variable speed decanter that enables immediate and precise adjustment of Central Coast Edition VINO
Contributed By Olea Farms
Since the MOW was built, Olea Farm has been able to help others in and around San Luis Obispo County harvest and process their olives to be milled on the MOW. Going as far south as Santa Barbara and as far north as Carmel.
Photo By Allyson Oken /VINO Magazine
Yves and Clotilde Julien are the owners of Olea Farm where they boast the largest mobile mill in the world as well as fabricate MOW’s for other companies. Seen here in this the first ever MOW commissioned to be build for another company.
Contributed By Olea Farm
Photo By Allyson Oken /VINO Magazine
From the tree to the mill Olea The most interesting part of the milling process in the vertical centrifuge at the left of the Farms is an estate operation image and competes the process allowing for any sediment to be removed from the fats with the largest mobile mill in that make up the oil. the world that, owners Yves and Clotilde Julien call their Mill on Wheels or MOW. olive paste residence time in the decanter and oil producer easy on the Central Coast a MOW, visit olivemillonwheels.com. For with the Alfa Laval's self-cleaning vertical with its MOW and offers tours for anyone more information about Olea Farm and the centrifuge as the final oil polishing step it interested in the process. To learn more about olive oil they produce, visit oleafarm.com. maximizes the yield.� the process, sign on with the Mobile Mill Olea Farm is making the job of the olive during harvest time or learn how to fabricate
VINO Central Coast Edition
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Winter/Spring 2016
25
Featured Lodging
Allegretto Vineyard Resort
Find your own
‘La Dolce Vida’
at Allegretto Vineyard Resort
Photo courtesy of Allegretto Vineyard Resort
Allegretto Vineyard Resort is a European-style refuge that brings local wine together with worldly accommodations and vineyard views.
Winter/Spring 2016
Photo courtesy of Allegretto Vineyard Resort
Sun dappled cabanas and sweeping vineyards surround the perimeter of glassy pool waters at Allegretto Vineyard Resort.
Photo courtesy of Allegretto Vineyard Resort
Headed by Chef Eric Olsen, Cello Ristorante at Allegretto Vineyard Resort combines fresh flavors with Italian-inspired delights.
T
here’s a good reason why Allegretto Vineyard Resort Owner Doug Ayres calls himself “the gardener.” He’s put a lot of heart and soul into the hotel since opening its grand doors this past fall, and we’re not just talking about a few bushes and statues. Twenty acres of sprawling vineyards surround the luxury destination. Stately olive and fruit trees dot the lush landscape. Fabulous statues, columns, and pathways ignite the imagination. “This is a large agricultural project, from the trees to the vines, and I love to get involved with all the landscape design,” Ayres said. “I plant seeds, and those seeds can come in many forms. I help things to grow.” Ayres began his search for land in Paso Robles about 15 years ago; his desire was always to build a hotel on a vineyard. The seed, so to speak, was planted at 2700 Buena Vista Drive in Paso Robles, a stone’s throw from countless Eastside tasting rooms. A family owned company, Ayres Hotels operates a string of European-style boutique hotels throughout Southern California. Allegretto is the company’s 21st to date, and stands as the family’s first fullservice resort. A world traveler, Ayres is enchanted by Italian, French, and Spanish architecture. As evidenced at Allegretto, the hotelier has a knack for bringing these cultures together with astounding harmony. Although the Allegretto Resort is decidedly “contemporary-meets-Tuscan: at first glance, worldly flourishes and flashes of color beckon around every corner. Asian and Indian touches can be found throughout the grounds, if only you look closely. “All the art pieces are fun, because they all
VINO Central Coast Edition
By Hayley Thomas FOR Vino Magazine have their own little stories,” Ayres said of the collection. “We have art dating back to the Great Wall of China, 2 14 B.C. These touches really add an interesting perspective of time and speak to how small we are.” It’s hard to deny the great grandeur of history as you stroll through the hotel’s relaxing Piazza del Magico, a 12,000-square-foot courtyard that takes its architectural cues from several different sources, including the symmetry of Italian villas, Renaissance palaces, and the cloisters of Benedictine monasteries across Europe. There is a peace here that attracts both tourists and locals. Perhaps this is why staycations abound at Allegretto, where you can chill out with a massage, enjoy the detox sauna, take part in wellness fitness classes or frolic in a vast swimming pool flanked with breezy, sun dappled cabanas. “People in SLO County are coming for weekends or even the week,” Ayres said. “I love to come in and greet them and let them know, ‘this is your home, too.’” Locals are invited to meet at the bar and watch the game on two flat screen TVs, enjoy a coktail the heated outdoor patio, sip artisanal hot chocolate by the giant outdoor fire bowls, or play a friendly round of bocce ball. Similarly, guests and non-guests welcome to dig into fresh flavors at Cello Ristorante, the hotel’s onsite restaurant. Headed by Chef Eric Olsen, many ingredients are sourced from a flourishing edible garden just steps away from the kitchen. Most recently of the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa and Centrally Grown in Cambria, Olsen is serving up Italian-inspired eats paired alongside an extensive wine list. That includes Published by the Paso Robles Press
Allegretto’s own label, of course. The hotelspecific wines are sourced from Ayre’s Westside vineyard and other local growing grounds. The unique offering stands a testament to the region’s ever-expanding reputation as a world class wine destination. Currently, you can sample four different Allegretto wines, each with its own charm: A 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2013 Zinfandel, a 2013 Tannat, and a 2013 Viognier. Ayres and his team are in the process of crafting an estate wine too: those grapes are currently in barrel awaiting the magical transformation that is winemaking. “Why would I be so crazy as to build a hotel and do wine, too? It’s always been a dream of mine to have a vineyard and make wine, so I thought I’d go for it,” Ayres said with a chuckle. “It has a way of taking us back to the ancient traditions. We have avilla, a vineyard, and wine in which people can partake in. They truly get the whole experience.” As for the name, “Allegretto” is a musical term describing a moderate tempo, 112-120 beats per minute, neither too fast nor too slow. It’s light, graceful, and comfortable — just how Ayres envisioned the resort to be. “When people step in, they are removed from what they were doing, and transported to another place,” Ayres said. “My hope is that, away from daily routine, our guests can relax and focus on creative ideas that will guide them of their own journey through life.” For more information on Allegretto Vineyard Resort, go to allegrettovineyardresort.com or call 369-2500. Winter/Spring 2016
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Spirits are high in Paso Raise a glass to the Paso Robles Distillery Trail
Photos courtesy of Re:Find
Known as one of the first craft distilleries in Paso Robles, Re:Find is crafting gin, cucumber vodka, rye whiskey, and limoncello with free-run juice leftover from the winemaking process. Now a total of eight distilleries have banded together to create the Paso Robles Distillery Trail.
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Winter/Spring 2016
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
P
By Hayley Thomas FOR Vino Magazine
aso Robles is still the land of rolling green vineyards, dusty wine trails, and shiny, stainless steel crush pads. However, these days, you can also see a flicker of brilliant copper emerging from this dreamy scene, if you only know where to look. Thanks to a fresh interest in craft spirits (both in the making and drinking of them), stills are bubbling, cocktail shakers are cracking, and all kinds of new libations are being poured alongside Paso Robles’ famous wine offerings. There’s no doubt about it: The Paso Robles Distillery Trail has come into its own and the eight diverse distilleries involved are riding high on a new tide of flavor. As chair of the Paso Robles Distillery Trail and owner/distiller at Re:Find Distillery in Paso Robles, Alex Villicana is surfing the curl of this cresting wave. He and his wife Monica create their unique gin, rye whiskey, limoncelo, and vodka with leftover premium grape juice that would be otherwise discarded at their sister operation, Villicana Winery. This is upcycling, taken to new heights — and it doesn’t stop there. Villicana works with local beer brewers to procure unused wheat and barley for Re:Find’s bold rye whiskey, too. “We wouldn't be where we were if it wasn’t for the local wine and brewery industry because they laid the foundation for us. In fact, most of the distillers have a background in brewing and winemaking,” Villicana said. “With eight distilleries, everyone is doing something really different.” Azeo Distillery, perhaps the newest addition on the trail, is a good example of the overlapping that tend to occur in this brave new world. Ryan Horn is an experienced winemaker who also owns and operates Paso custom crush facility Vino Veritas and winemaking/brewing equipment supplier The Vitner Vault. Together with home winemakerturned-distiller David Vondrasek, the duo recently debuted a smooth-tasting apple vodka crafted from a premium apple cider base. According to Horn, Vino Veritas in Paso Robles could one day become ground zero for future tastings, allowing the public to enjoy libations while watching the distillery’s custom copper still in action. It may be too early to tell exactly what will unfold for the fledgling operation, but that’s part of the
VINO Central Coast Edition
excitement surrounding the industry. Anything can happen. Take what’s happening over on Bethel Road. Luke Udsen of Castoro Cellars and his famous winemaking father, Neils, are throwing their respective hats into the distillery ring, although they aren’t newcomers to the craft by any means. The winemaking family has tinkered with grappa and brandy for years, and now, thanks to the procurement of Veris Cellars on Bethel Road, the team will soon have a dedicated home for their new offerings: Bethel Road Distillery, Winery and Public House. You really can’t talk about grappa without also talking about Opolo Distillery, which not only produces the fragrant grape-based pomace brandy, but also a unique product that sings with Italian authenticity. The distillery is located on the grounds at Opolo Winery, known for its epic harvest parties and Mountain Zinfandel. “Paul Quinn at Opolo is doing something really cool with his Nocino liqueur, made with walnuts from property,” Villicana said. “The response to these new spirits from the public has been really exciting.” Another crowd pleaser: PasoPort Wine Company’s newest side project, Pendray’s Distillery, based in Templeton. Armed with a 500 liter German pot, the team has been producing spirits for the past three years and is now in full production mode. The popular product? Pendray’s wine grape brandy aged in port barrels. This unique aging process gives the output a deep golden hue and a distinct aroma that sets the operation apart. Currently, the distillery’s viognier brandy (which tastes of honeysuckle and orange blossom) is available at the winery’s tasting room on Booker Road in Templeton. As far as tasting rooms go, Wine Shine is shining bright, indeed. Located in the hip, industrial complex known as Paso’s Tin City and across from popular BarrelHouse Brewing Co., the space boasts a dimly lit, elegant atmosphere where fluted glasses brim with aromatic hooch that has been lovingly imbued with botanicals and spices. Into brandy? You need to meet Patrick Brooks, one of six Wine Shine partners and a most gregarious host. The flavors (known to sell out quickly) Published by the Paso Robles Press
offer a little something for everyone. There’s the Manhattan Project “cocktail in a bottle,” hibiscus lemon, and French Oak Cinnamon, to name a few. The attached production facility is also a big plus for education, allowing visitors to see just how this new “shine from the vine” turns first-run juice from the winemaking process into distilled delights. KROBAR, the “ethanol-induced” brainchild of Stephen Kroener and Joe Barton also showcases an attractive tasting room, which sits on a hill overlooking the vineyards of Highway 46 West in Paso Robles. Fitted with a “social room” and “ethanol alley” crafted for better enjoyment of their gin, rye whiskey, and brandy, Kroener and Barton aim to create a well rounded distillery experience. Read: this is not a sip-and-run situation. You should sit down, take your time, and ask questions, just as you would at your favorite winery. Last but not least, Red Soles Stillhouse is producing a range of what they call “California Hooch,” including tangy limoncello viognier brandy, cinnamon brandy, and their “new” brandy, which travels from distillery to your glass completely un-aged. The tasting room is located at Red Soles Winery on Oakdale Road in Paso Robles, so you can wine taste as well, if you feel up to the task. Yes, all of this booze is enough to make your head spin. I’m here to remind you to procure a designated driver and bring a bready sandwich when you hit the trail. If history has taught us anything, there will be more craft distilleries on the way in the coming months and years. It happened with wine, craft beer, and hard cider. Now, it’s time to raise a glass to local spirits crafted with that signature Paso Robles panache. Bring on another round. “Twenty years ago, the public didn't have the same amount of appreciation for Paso Robles wine as they do today, and now Paso Robles is on the map,” Villicana said of the journey. “We truly are at the beginning of a new wave.” For more information on the Paso Robles Distillery Trail, tasting room hours, or where to purchase spirits, go to pasoroblesdistillerytrail.com. Spring 2016
29
Featured Wine Bar
Taste in the Alley
Boasts upward of 350 wines by the glass By Brian Williams Of Vino Magazine
Photo by Luke Phillips /VINO Magazine
Ash Mehta asks people to consider Taste in the Alley their own wine cellar.
Photo by Luke Phillips
Taste in the Alley is owned by Ash Mehta. He and his wife also own Tastes of the Valleys in Pismo Beach.
P
aso Robles is home to some of the best wines in world. It’s not hard to find a great glass of wine at any one of the region’s tasting rooms or restaurants, but they are limited by what is on the tasting bar or on the wine list. None are going to be able to match the hundreds (yes, hundreds) of wines available by the glass at Taste in the Alley. “We are up to 350 to 375 here in Paso,” said co-owner Ash Mehta of the wine bar that he and his wife Lissa opened in June of 2015 in downtown Paso Robles. “Who has a 350 wine-by-the-glass list – nobody. And flights, everything is changing daily. We do not pick what is being tasted, the customers do.” Ash and Lissa are not strangers to the wine bar scene, having opened the nationally acclaimed Tastes of the Valleys in Pismo Beach back in June of 2010. The Pismo location, which offers 1,000 wines, recently landed on Wine Enthusiasts Top 20 Wine Bars in America list. With the wine world focused on Paso Robles, the Mehtas felt their wine bar vision of tailored tasting was a perfect fit. “It's very simple,” Ash said. “People come in and taste whatever they want to taste.” It really is that simple. Every bottle of wine has two prices marked on it, one is the by-the-glass price and the other is the bottle price. Finding Taste in the Alley may not be so simple. It’s a little off the beaten path in downtown Paso Robles, located on Norma’s Way, the famous alley that connects Pine and Park streets, but it’s definitely worth seeking it out. It shares the building with Artisan restaurant. Once inside, patrons are greeted by two vast walls of wine and cases and cases of wine from nearly every corner of the earth.
VINO Central Coast Edition
“Think of this as your own cellar. It is a good wine mix,” Ash said. “It's not just Paso Robles wines. We've got some iconic Paso Robles wines and then we've got French and others.” Small tables dot the center of the space and the bar, which is manned by a knowledgeable, friendly staff, anchors the back of it. The bar makes use of the latest and greatest in technology – from Napa Technology and Coravin - to keep the wine fresh. In addition to the seemingly never ending wine list or flights, Taste in the Alley offers a library list of wines and a wine club. “We have some Saxum, some older vintages of L'Aventure, some older vintages of Epoch Estate,” Ash said of what could land on the library list. “Slowly we have been building up our vintage library.” Members of the wine club receive an email each month with 10 to 15 different wines on it. All one has to do to remain a member is make at least two purchases during the year. “That's it. And we further reduce the prices,” Ash said. “We have some of the lowest prices in California on some of the wines.” Periodically, Taste in the Alley has educational events, where they bring in winemakers and wineries from outside of Paso Robles. Recently, they featured Santa Barbara County and are planning to spotlight wines of Washington state. “A lot of the festivals that happen here are pouring all of the same wines that you have tasted a million times,” Ash said. “What we are trying to do is a little bit different.” Taste in the Alley offers visitors the chance to be adventurous and taste something they have not tasted before. They are located at 1211 Pine St. in Paso Robles. For more information, call 286-4763 or visit tasteinthealley.com.
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Winter/Spring 2016
31
Beatriz Espinoza
DRE# 01337062 Cell (805) 610-8485 (805) 237-4700 ext 47
Beatriz Espinoza
DRE# 01337062 Cell (805) 610-8485 (805) 237-4700 ext 47
A “LIL” BIT COUNTRY ANTIQUES & MORE Formerly “Nothing But Country”
180 E. San Antonio Dr., Ste J, King City Ph: 831-386-9005 Cell 831-207 -7965 alilbitcountryantiques.com Marilyn Sagaysay-Silva- Owner
Every First Tuesday of the month is NO SALES TAX TUESDAY
Open Tuesday Thru Saturday 10am - 5pm
John Katavich
Lic. #36194
Barns • Tractor Sheds • Out Buildings Serving San Luis Ag Community For 50 Years. Cal Poly Graduate 805•438•3600
FREE ESTIMATES
3383 Katacreek Creston, CA 93432
12
18 19 20
MARCH
SLOFolks Presents: Old Blind Dogs
THE pre-eminent traditional Scottish Band venerable Scottish group Old Blind Dogs. If the name doesn't immediately ring a bell, the Old Blind Dogs have been serving up powerful and lively renditions of Scottish traditional music for decades. Widely considered Doors open at 6:30 PM, show at 7:30 PM. $20
Vintage Paso 2016 : Join us for a Zinfully delightful weekend
Saturday and Sunday from10:00AM-5:30PM Tasting Room Open House, barrel samples and more! Only $5 1PM-4PM Live music on Saturday by the Turkey Buzzards and on Sunday by One Time Spaceman Sunday the 20th at 8:45 AM Yoga in the Vines. is will be an all levels class and aer enjoy an organic brunch and a glass of Castoro’s own Methode Champenoise $30
APRIL
10
Wine and Wellness Retreat
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SLO Folks Presents: Mike + Ruthy
7
8
Liila Yoga & Vino+Terapy have teamed up to create an oasis in the middle of Paso Robles Wine Country. Enjoy luxurious spa treatments, organic farm to table cuisine, and amazing wines. Tickets $150 is duo brings the rich, whole-earth sound that is symbolic of the old folk musician- with a distinctly modern twist! Doors open at 6:30 PM, show at 7:30 PM. $20
MAY
SLO Folks Presents: Laurie Lewis
“successfully walk the high wire above esoteric country, combining elements of bluegrass and pure country to form her own seamless mix.” Billboard. Doors open at 6:30 PM, show at 7:30 PM. $20
Lazy Locals: REWINED
We’re kicking off this “just for locals” Summer concert series, with REWINED. Singing your favorite Country, Rock, and R&B songs, REWINED is sure to transport you back in time.
20 Wine Festival 2016 21 Save the date for Wine Fest 2016. 22 Friday, May 20th-Sunday, May 23rd
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JUNE
Lazy Locals: e Martin Paris Band (Father’s Day)
Treat Dad to some Dam Fine Wine and perfectly paired music
Ultimate Comfort Deened Fitness Center
Dog Friendly Free High-Speed WiFi Heated Outdoor Pool & Spa Meeting Room EV Charging Stations Business Center Complimentary Hot Breakfast Buffet
3000 Riverside Avenue • Paso Robles, CA 93446 • (805) 237-8700 • www.PasoOaks.com
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Winter/Spring 2016
3000 riverside avenue, paso robles ca RESERVATIONS (805) 237-8700
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
Fine Wine | Real Food | Craft Beer Party under the oaks at Castoro Cellars, Paso Robles
FOOD & WINE
APRIL 23
EARTH DAY EarthDayFoodandWine.org
Andrea de Palo, Chamisal Vineyards
VINO Magazine Ad-FEB_2016-BEW.pdf
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Estate Es tate
Grown Wines
Paso Rob Robll es
Calif ifoornia
CELEBRATE VINTAGE PASO : ZINFANDEL WEEKEND WITH US - SATURDAY MARCH 19
Join us at Broken Earth Winery for a Bonza day of all things Aussie! Ever wondered “what is a billabong” and “Where in the world is Coober Pedy?” Here’s your chance to test your knowledge with our Aussie slang quiz and Pin the town on Oz game. Then have a go at the Vegemite Challenge Photo booth. Bog in to traditional Australian tucker at the café, now proudly serving delicious meat and veg pies from THE BRONZED AUSSIE. C
So bring your cobber down and dance the arvo away to the sounds of
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BURNING JAMES AND THE FUNKY FLAMES 1-4PM You don’t want to miss this ripper of a day!
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OPEN DAILY
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FOR WINE TASTING 10AM - 5PM
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CAFÉ AT BROKEN EARTH WINERY
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OPEN WEDNESDAY TO SUNDAY 10AM TO 5PM Come enjoy our beautiful Café and General Store. Now proudly serving delicious meat and veg pies from “THE BRONZED AUSSIE” traditional Australian tucker. We also offer a variety of Panini, wraps & salads fresh to serve; along with unique gifts, décor and food.
LIVE MUSIC
EVERY SATURDAY 1 TO 4PM March 5th March 12th March 19th March 26th April 2nd April 9th April 16th April 23rd April 30th May 7th May 21st
Of Wind and Wave (Indie, Folk) Black Bird Blue (Neo Folk, Rock) Burning James and the Funky Flames (Rock N Roll) Razzvio (Violinist) James Rivers Band (Accoustic, soft rock) The Taproots (Americana, Jazz) Glen Depit (Blues, Folk) Tone in Georgia (Instrumental) P.J. Robertson (Country,Covers) Philip James (Blues,Pop,Rock,Country) Dr.Danger Band (Classic Rock)
• 5625 HIGHWAY 46 EAST • PASO ROBLES, CA • 805.239.2562 • WWW.BROKENEARTHWINERY.COM
Certified California Sustainable Vineyard • 100% Solar Powerd Winery
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Winter/Spring 2016
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
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Tori Brown, Owner 7375 El Camino Real, Suite B ~ Atascadero, CA 93422 Office(805)464-4457 ~ Fax (805)233-7499
tori@blbookkeeping.net
Westside Paso Robles Wines Specializing in
Rhone Style Blends Available for tasting
www.edmondaugust.com
(805) 712-4363
Thursday through Sunday Afternoons 1140 Pine Street (in back) Paso Robles, CA 93446
Stop by and pick up sandwiches for your picnic!
Savage Spirits &Deli “Strangers here are friends we have yet to meet.” •Coldest Beer on Ice •Local Wines •Large selection of Craft Beer and Liquor Locally family owned and operated for 17 years! 2050 Spring St., Paso Robles • 238-0141
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Central Coast Edition VINO
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Shandon San Juan Creek
Produces more than 40 wine grape varietals
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Named Wine Region of the Year in 2013.
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VINO Central Coast Edition
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Home of over 200 Wineries
Consists of 32,000 vineyard acres
Winter/Spring 2016
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VINO Central Coast Edition
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Winter/Spring 2016
41
In The News
Adelaida Cellars
Adelaida Cellars Announces New Label
Updated Design Captures the Location’s Namesake, Speaks to the Legacy of History and Commitment to Quality Contributed Article For the first time in its history, Adelaida Cellars, located in the Adelaida District of the Paso Robles AVA, has a label design that conveys the distinct location of its estate vineyards. The label showcases the beauty of the land and expression of the wines crafted by winemaker Jeremy Weintraub. With a classic nod to tradition and a firm appreciation of the property, the new label is striking, while claiming its namesake — Adelaida. Chuck House and Jeffrey Caldewey, of Napabased ICON Design Group, designed the new wine label and updated the brand. “This project was years in the making,” said general manager Jessica Kollhoff, “We really had to be careful with such an established brand, but knew an updated look that represented the wines, the place, and the people was necessary. Once the new Adelaida District AVA was approved, we felt the timing was right. We are thrilled that the new label captures the special place of Adelaida.” House fell in love with the Adelaida project before he even stepped foot on the property. After speaking with the family ownership of Adelaida, he began exploring the property. “What I loved about Adelaida was the fact they really get to own the area,” said House, who has designed some of the most famous wine labels in the world. “When I first visited the beautiful mountain vineyards and tasted the wines I was truly transported into this magical place, I knew that had to be
the focus of the label, it was really quite simple.” The focal point of the label is a pencil drawing of the estate vineyards depicted from Adelaida’s highest viewpoints at an elevation of 2,200 feet above sea level. Weintraub and his team craft the wines that reveal the mountainous terrain, ancient soils and work of Mother Nature. This dedication to the land is now represented in the new label. A Signature Series, which pays homage to owner and author Elizabeth Van Steenwyk was also created. These upper tier wines feature her signature below the left justified copy, much like the text in a book. Several of the 2013 and 2014 wines will feature the new label along with the entire 2015 vintage, including the celebrated wines from the historic HMR Vineyard. The new label designed for the HMR estate wines, from the 50+ yearold vines, pays respect with its classic Burgundian package. “The new label tells the story of Adelaida. Like a short story that takes you beyond the surface, it honors this special place and its rich history, yet shows anticipation for new beginnings,” said Van Steenwyk. Speaking of new beginnings, the label change is a precursor to the new hospitality center set to open March 18-20. Together these changes reflect Adelaida’s continued commitment to world-class vineyards, great wines and stellar customer service.
Located in the heart of the Adelaida District in west Paso Robles, Adelaida has deep roots in region’s rich wine tradition. Adelaida has pioneered winemaking in the Paso Robles region since it was founded in 1981. The winery’s estate includes the legendary HMR Vineyard plus four other distinct vineyards in the west hills of Paso Robles: Anna’s, Bobcat Crossing, Michael’s and Viking. Adelaida farms all of its vineyards sustainably; its wines have consistently won widespread acclaim from top writers and wine competitions in America. For more information, call 800-676-1232 or visit adelaida.com.
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Winter/Spring 2016
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
Castoro Cellars
In The News
Castoro Cellars Set to Power Winery 100% With Solar Energy Latest Solar Installation Adds To The Paso Robles Winery’s Quest For Sustainability
Contributed Article projects were planned and installed by REC Solar, based on Castoro Cellars has completed an installation of a massive the Central Coast of California. new solar project that will allow the winery to run 100 percent Sustainability is at the core of Castoro Cellars vision. The on solar power. The 625-kilowatt installation, which covers Udsens and their dedicated team strive to work with the nearly three acres, will have an annual production of over one earth, using gentle practices in all operations. They are the million kilowatt hours and eliminate an estimated $20,000 per largest grower of organic grapes in Paso Robles with over month electricity bill. This marks the fifth solar installation in 400 acres certified organic by California Certified Organic the last ten years by Castoro and stays true to their dedication Farmers (CCOF). The winery is a certified organic facility to renewable energy and a sustainable business model. and all additional vineyards they own and source from - over The solar project began construction in October in Castoro’s 1,000 acres — are SIP certified by the Central Coast Vineyard organically grown Stone’s Throw Vineyard, adjacent to the Team. winery production facility in east Paso Robles, in the newly The energy generated from the new solar installation allows created Estrella District AVA. The system was designed Castoro to minimize their impact on the environment. Luke to power the entire winery with solar generated electricity, Udsen, Director of California Sales and Marketing and Social a longtime goal of owners Niels and Bimmer Udsen. They Media, states, “Solar is something we believe to be necessary expect the system to pay for itself by the fifth year, and will for a sustainable future. Solar energy is clean, requires no save nearly $240,000 per year for at least the next 25 years. fossil fuels, creates no carbon emissions, and requires very "Bimmer and I have always felt the sun is a gift that we little maintenance or upkeep. This system will allow us to should utilize, “ says Niels Udsen. “When the solar industry grow roughly a thousand acres of grapes with the sun and then was starting they needed supporters to build the industry and turn it into wine using the sun as the power source!“ we were eager to help. The paybacks were longer, but that As consumers become more interested about farming and really wasn't the motivation, clean power from sun was and winery practices, Castoro feels their customers are happy to still is the reason for this project. Paso Robles is the perfect know they are good stewards of the earth. This year they will place to utilize solar." again host the Earth Day Food and Wine Festival on April 23, Castoro Cellars was an early adopter of solar energy, their third year hosting the event that celebrates the passion investing in their first solar project in 2006 at their tasting and people behind the sustainable food movement. room on Highway 46 West. The energy produced from the Environmental Benefits: The clean electricity generated rooftop array powers about 70 percent of the tasting room over 25 years by the new 625 kW solar electric system at and the summer concert series. In 2012, they added a second Castoro Cellars is equivalent to the following: solar installation in their Dos Viñas Vineyard in San Miguel, • CO2 emission from 1.5 million gallons of gasoline a 61.4-kilowatt array, which powers agriculture wells and consumed an on-site home. With solar already installed at the tasting • Carbon sequestered by over 350 thousand tree seedlings room and vineyard, the new winery array brings solar energy grown for 10 years across the entire company operations. Ryan Park, Director • Annual greenhouse gas emissions from over 28 hundred of Business Development at REC Solar, noted “REC Solar passenger vehicles applauds the Udsens on their dedication to utilizing the sun to complete their sustainable mission.” All of the solar Niels and Bimmer Udsen founded Castoro Cellars in 1983, and today run it with their sons Max and Luke. Located on Highway 46 West and Bethel Road in the Templeton Gap AVA of Paso Robles, Castoro Cellars specializes in sustainably farmed wines, including Rhône and Italian varietals. The Udsen family has a strong passion for live music and the arts, lessening their impact on the earth and giving back to the community. For more information, visit castorocellars.com.
VINO Central Coast Edition
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Winter/Spring 2016
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Adelaida Cellars
Anglim Winery
August Ridge
Located in the west hills of Paso Robles, Adelaida Cellars is a family-owned and operated winery established in 1981. They specialize in estate-grown Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Rhones and specialty Cabernet Sauvignon from their Viking Vineyard. Their tasting room also offers a unique open viewing of the day’s winemaking process. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Located in the historic downtown Paso Robles train depot, the Anglim Winery tasting room casually showcases their selection of elegant, balanced wines. Producing only up to 2,000 cases each year, the family-owned winery focuses on handcrafting their vineyard-designate Rhone varietals and blends as well as a limited release Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
August Ridge produces wines that combine the robust styling of California wines with the restrained elegance of Italian classic wines. John and Jill Backer’s passion for cooking, eating and sharing meals with friends inspires the August Ridge wine style. Located inside the winery, their tasting area affords visitors views of the winemaking process. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
AronHill Vineyards
10000 Creston Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-4815. www.bevineyard.com
5805 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles. 805-239-8980. www.adelaida.com
Alta Colina
2825 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles. 805-227-4191. www.altacolinewine.com Producing world-class estate wines exclusively from Rhone varietals, Alta Colina grows every grape on the Westside of Paso Robles. They savor the journey and remain committed to maintaining their core values of integrity and respect for the people, partners, patrons and natural environment. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
AmByth Estate
510 Sequoia Lane, Templeton. 805-319-6967. www.ambythestate.com One of the few Demeter certified wineries in the county, AmByth Estates offers 100% biodynamic wines that are unfiltered, unfined, dry-farmed and aged in Amphora using native yeasts. Love of the Land is the estate’s philosophy and it is reflected in holistic, natural farming approach that emphasizes conservation, animal and plant integration, biodiversity and prohibition of chemicals and pesticides. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Ancient Peaks Winery
22720 “B” El Camino Real, Santa Margarita. 805-365-7045. www.ancientpeaks.com Nestled in the Santa Lucia Mountain Range, Ancient Peak’s estate Margarita Vineyard is the southernmost vineyard in the Paso Robles wine region. Their wines are natural in character and complexity because of the five distinct soil zones in which the vines are grown. The family-owned and operated winery also offers winery tours and a zipline canopy tour through their affiliated Margarita Adventures. Notes:___________________________________ ________________________________________
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740 Pine St., Paso Robles. 805-227-6813. www.anglimwinery.com
3745 West Highway 46, Templeton. 805-434-3333. www.aronhillvineyards.com Located in the Templeton Gap, AronHill Vineyards offers wines that are 100% dry farmed, 100% varietal and low yield, including a recent gold winning 2007 vintage varietal Cabernet Sauvignon. Fruitforward, full bodied, and rich in color, AronHill totes an award-winning Primitivo, Cabernet Sauvignon, and three Best of Class vintages. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Arroyo Robles Winery
1317 Park St., Paso Robles. 877-759-9463. www.arroyorobles.com As a family operated Paso Robles Winery, Arroyo Robles Winery is committed to making your wine tasting experience a memorable one. Their passion is to create the best expression of an exceptional vineyard, using intensive growing practices and handcrafted winemaking. Arroyo Robles invites visitors to come taste the lush flavors of Arroyo Robles Winery. Featured Wine: La Roja Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Asuncion Ridge Winery
725 12th St., Paso Robles. 805-237-1425. www.AsuncionRidge.com Asuncion Ridge Vineyards is a boutique Westside Paso Robles winery specializing in hand-crafted estate Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and red blends made with Rhone and Bordeaux varietals. Located at an elevation of 2,000 ft. just a few miles from the ocean, our cool climate is perfect for growing Pinot Noir as well as other varietals. Notes:____________________________________ __________________________________________
Published by the Paso Robles Press
8790 East Highway 41, Creston. 805-239-2455. www.augustridge.com
B&E Vineyard and Winery
Growing since 1984, B&E Vineyards is a small familyowned vineyard and winery featuring estate wines of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and some red blends. Their wines are carefully handcrafted for 20 months in French oak barrels and they produce up to 2,500 cases. They offer a taste of several award-winning wines at their dog-friendly tasting room. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Barr Estate Wines
6950 Union Rd., Paso Robles. 805-286-5835. www.barrestatewines.com Barr Estate Wines has been growing vines making wine with the guidance of legendary winemaker Signe Zoller since 2007. Family-owned and operated, family members pour in the tasting room — a more personal experience. The winery also offers a scenic area to picnic with a view of their hand-grown vineyards. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Bella Luna Estate Winery
1850 Templeton Rd., Templeton. 805-434-5477. www.bellalunawine.com With 35-plus years of experience producing dryfarmed, ultra-premium red wine, Bella Luna Estate produces less than 2,000 cases including their rare dry-farmed Sangiovese. Their wild yeast fermentation style yields unfined and unfiltered wine of immense character and boldness including handcrafted estate super-Tuscan blend, Tempranillo, Barbera, Estate Sangiovese, and world-famous “Fighter Pilot Red” Zinfandel. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Central Coast Edition VINO
Wineries & Tasting Rooms Bianchi Winery
Brecon Estate
Calcareous Vineyard
Producing wines in Paso Robles since 2000, the Bianchi family has been producing California wines since 1974. Bianchi Winery’s estate vineyards produce varietal grapes that are best suited for Paso Roble’s rolling hills and dissected uplands such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Zinfandel and popular wines from high-quality sourced grapes along California’s Central Coast. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Brecon Estate is an award-winning boutique estate winery nestled in the rolling hills outside of Paso Robles. With an internationally acclaimed winemaker, they strive to produce exquisite and inviting wines that are small-batch ferments. Each wine has an individual story to tell and sold exclusively through the tasting room. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Named as a tribute to the limestone soil and varied microclimates, Calcareous Vineyard believes in letting the soil speak. Striving to bring the best out of the soil profiles and cool ocean breezes, they produce Bordeaux and Rhone varietals simultaneously. Their wines are rich in herbal and fruit aromas, perfectly balanced and elegantly refined. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
3380 Branch Rd., Paso Robles. 805-226-9922. www.BianchiWine.com
Black Hand Cellars
766 Main St., Ste. B, Cambria. 805-927-9463. www.blackhandcellars.com Our vineyard, Torie Ranch is located on the Westside of San Miguel with nearly three acres planted in the Estrella River with French clones of Syrah. We farm our vineyard by hand, using the latest vineyard practices to produce quality grapes for our Syrah. Tom is our winemaker, whose background includes over 15 years experience with the Central Coast’s most prestigious wineries, such as JUSTIN, Treana, Zenaida and Paso Robles Wine Services. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Bodegas Paso Robles
729 13th St., Paso Robles. 805-237-3780. www.bodegaspasorobles.com Bodegas Paso Robles makes wine using grapes native to Spain and Portugal and grapes that have been used for centuries in Iberian winemaking. All Bodegas wines are handcrafted and aged in premium French and American barrels. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Bon Niche Cellars
2627 Golden Eagle Way, San Miguel. 805-286-7798. www.Bonniche.com Meaning a good niche, Bon Niche has found a good niche in wine making and produces single varietals of outrageously good Malbec, and Petit Verdot along with traditional Bordeaux-style blends. The rich soiled hills, and the hot days and brisk nights are perfect for the French varietals that grow so well in the Paso Robles terroir. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Booker Vineyard and Winery
2640 Anderson Rd., Paso Robles. 805-237-7367. www.bookerwines.com Different, minimalist and a bit funky, Booker Vineyard and Winery has been creating unique, inspired red and white wine since 2005 and has been growing fruit for top local wineries since 2001. Now a biodynamic operation, Booker Winery and Vineyard constantly seeks to create the most unique wine in the region. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
VINO Central Coast Edition
7450 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-239-2200. www.breconestate.com
Brian Bensen Cellars
2915 Limestone Way, Paso Robles 805-296-9463. www.brianbensoncellars.com Run exclusively by owner and winemaker Brian Benson, Brian Benson Cellars is focused on making intense, unique and extremely high-quality custom wines. Benson, also an avid lover of custom cars and hot rods, released the first of his Kustom series and designed it to match his custom, pinstriped ’35 Ford. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Brochelle Vineyards
6996 Peachy Canyon Rd., Paso Robles. 805-237-4410. www.brochelle.com Brochelle is a small family-owned vineyard and winery featuring estate wines of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and some red blends. Their wines are carefully handcrafted for 20 months in French oak barrels and reflect the proprietor’s desire to express their artistic voices and provide wines that share a part in life’s simple pleasures. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
3430 Peachy Canyon Rd., Paso Robles. 805-239-0289. www.calcareous.com
CaliPaso Winery
4230 Buena Vista Dr., Paso Robles. 805-226-9296. www.calipasowinery.com A luxurious private inn and winery nestled in the rolling hills and vineyards of Paso Robles, CaliPaso Winery produces wine for every taste and occasion. CaliPaso’s goal is to deliver superior value and experience to consumers each and every time they enjoy their wine and they are committed to constantly improving their products. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Caliza Winery
2570 Anderson Road. 805-237-1480. www.calizawinery.com The rocky limestone soil of west Paso Robles is a key component to Caliza’s unique wines. Caliza, Spanish for limestone, specializes in the Rhone varieties such as Syrah, Grenache and Viognier along with non-Rhone varieties such as Tempranillo and Primitivo, all of which are grown onsite in their hillside vineyard. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Broken Earth Winery
Caparone Winery
Rancho Tierra Rejada, Spanish for “land of worked earth,” is the original name of the 2,500-acre ranch that is now home to the vineyards of Broken Earth Winery. The wines reflect winemaker Chris Cameron’s passionate approach to winemaking. Each unique, estate-grown wine is harvested and bottled in Paso Robles. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Recognized as an American pioneer of the production of Nebbiolo, Sangiovese and Aglianico as varietals, Caparone Winery has developed a reputation for rich, long-lived reds. The unfined and unfiltered, intensely elegant big reds have established a cult-like following over the years and most tastings and tours are given by the winemakers. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
5625 Highway 46 East, Paso Robles. 805-239-2562. www.brokenearthwinery.com
Burbank Ranch Vineyard and Winery 5685 El Pomar Dr., Templeton. 805-227-4538. www.burbankranch.com
Burbank Ranch produces handcrafted, high-end wines that are clone and block specific. All fruit is meticulously hand harvested, hand sorted in the vineyard, and then hand sorted twice again in the winery prior to press. All wines are available to taste at their new tasting room and winery in the vineyard. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Published by the Paso Robles Press
2280 San Marcos Rd., Paso Robles. 805-467-3827. www.caparone.com
Carina Cellars
3525 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles. 805-325-9461. www.carinacellars.com Carina Cellars strives to produce wines worthy of being placed among the stars. Their goal is to grow some of the best Rhone grapes available on the Central Coast. Crisp Viogniers full of tropical fruit and spring flowers, dark Syrahs loaded with spice and lush fruit, earthy Mourvedres and bright and fruity Grenaches. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Winter/Spring 2016
45
Wineries & Tasting Rooms Cass Winery
Christian Lazo
Clayhouse Wines
Situated along Paso Robles’ beautiful “Back Roads” countryside, Cass Winery features award-winning estate grown Rhone wines. Cass Winery specializes in Rhone varieties such as Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache, Viognier, Roussanne, and Marsanne and all of which are ENTAV clones. Cass also offers a variety of food parings to accompany wine tasting seven days a week. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Our small family-owned and operated label focus is red wine varietals that thrive from our estate vineyard, west of the Salinas River. We appreciate that the best wines are made in the vineyard. We let our wines express flavors of the Earth, Sun, wind, rain and the care our grapes receive. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Inspired by their estate Red Cedar Vineyard and the historic, clay adobe on the property, Clayhouse Wines carefully pursues a time-honored, traditional approach to winemaking. They offer three wine series, Estate, Vineyard and Adobe. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Castoro Cellars
Chronic Cellars Winery
2020 Nacimiento Lake Dr., Paso Robles. 805-237-7848. www.chroniccellars.com
3050 Limestone Way, Paso Robles. 805-296-0027. www.clossolene.com
7350 Linne Rd., Paso Robles. 805-239-1730. www.casswines.com
1315 North Bethel Rd., Templeton. 805-326-3463. www.castorocellars.com Offering a spectacular array of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Rhone varietals, special blends and dessert wines, Castoro Cellars, has been family-owned with the same gold medal winemaking team for over 30 years. Enjoy a stroll up their grape arbor, beautiful vineyard views, gourmet foods, wine-related gifts and find out why they make “Dam fine Wine.” Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Cayucos Cellars
131 North Ocean Ave., Cayucos. 805-995-3036. www.cayucoscellars.com History, tradition and curiosity have always been an important inspiration to Cayucos native Stuart Selkirk, owner of Cayucos Cellars. Mostly self-taught, Stuart loosely follows an inspired benign winemaking style, (“let the grapes make the wine”), that uses wild yeast, neutral oak barrels and little intercession with the natural process of wine development. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Chateau Lettau
840 13th St., Suite G, Paso Robles. 805-238-6800. www.chateaulettau.com Founded in 2001 in California’s bountiful Paso Robles wine region, the family-owned boutique winery Chateau Lettau is committed to making exceptional, hand-crafted wines like delicious Albariño, Stiletto Tempranillo, their flagship Rockstar and more using premium grapes from the Paso Robles area — including Rhône, Bordeaux and Spanish varietals. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Chateau Margene
4385 La Panza Rd., Creston. 805-238-2321. www.chateaumargene.com Chateau Margene is a boutique, micro-winery that uses extreme viticulture practices to grow superior quality grapes that are hand picked, hand sorted and then gently moved through a gravity flow processing system. Chateau Margene produced their first Cabernet Sauvignon in 1997 and now produces small lots of luxury wines that exhibit intense varietal character. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
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Winter/Spring 2016
7235 Non Pariel Rd., Paso Robles. 805-727-1803. www.christianlazowines.com
Aiming to target a casual lifestyle, Chronic Cellars provides a tasting room and tasting experience quite unlike any other with an emphasis on unique blends. Used to describe anything likable, the name Chronic is the brainchild of winery owners Josh and Jake Beckett, Paso Robles Wine Country natives. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Cinquain Cellars
6404 Independence Ranch Rd., San Miguel. 805-400-5978. www.cinquaincellars.com Cinquain Cellars creates poetic wines from 100% estategrown Bordeaux, Rhone and Port varieties. Located just minutes off Highway 46 East, a complimentary, private tasting can be reserved with winemaker and owner, David Nagengast. The Nagengast estate vineyard was planted in 2002 with nine varieties including traditional Bordeaux, Syrah and Port. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Clautiere Vineyard
1340 Penman Springs Rd., Paso Robles. 805-237-3789. www.clautiere.com Clautiere Vineyard creates wines that showcase the fun side of wine. The liveliness of the vineyard is reflected in wines made from Syrah, Grenache, Viognier, and Counoise vines as well as Portuguese varietals used for vintage-style Port. To the owners, the winery reflects the motto “Live the best life you can.” Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Clavo Cellars
315 S. Main St., Templeton. 805-226-0174. www.clavocellars.com Created with the intent to showcase the qualities of the Paso Robles appellation, Clavo Cellars specialized in terroir-driven, single-varietal wines that are thoughtfully and carefully handmade. Owner Neil Roberts, one of the area’s premier viticulturists, creates wines that are lightly pressed allowing fruit to shine in the finished wine. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Appointment only. Paso Robles. 805-238-7055. www.clayhousewines.com
Clos Solene
Winemaker and owner of Clos Solene, Guillaume Fabre is a small-lot vintner who is challenging the traditional winemaking style. Driven by energy to seek out better terroirs, fruit, and barrels, Guillaume makes the best possible blends under the successful boutique label, named for his love, his wife, Solène. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Croad Vineyards
3550 Vinedo Robles Lane, Paso Robles. 805-226-9899. www.croadvineyards.com Focusing on Estate Zinfandel and Rhone blends, Croad Vineyards offers a winetasting experience at their mission-styled tasting room and inn. At Croads, “Come on up for a Downunder experience”, where you will find a blend of California wines, Spanish architecture, and Kiwi hospitality. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Cypher Winery
3750 Highway 46 West, Templeton. 805-237-0055. www.cypherwinery.com Evolutionary, sophisticated and a little bit mad, Cypher is extreme regarding vineyards and wines and specializing in Rhône and Spanish varietals, Petite Sirah and Zinfandel. They offer “Freakshow” line of wines: Heretic, Anarchy, Monarchy, Loco and Peasant. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
D’Anbino Vineyards and Cellars 710 Pine St., Paso Robles. 805-227-6800. www.danbino.com
Founded by a family of professional musicians, D’Anbino Vineyards and Cellars strive to blend wine with live music. Their tasting room doubles as a livemusic venue that features the “Family Band” as well as other jazz musicians. The tasting room also features music memorabilia, gold records, Emmy statuettes, and a bar built out of pianos. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Central Coast Edition VINO
Wineries & Tasting Rooms DAOU Vineyard
Doce Robles Winery
Dubost Winery
Founded in 2007 by brothers Daniel and Georges Daou, DAOU Vineyards primarily focuses on Bordeaux varieties and also features Zinfandel and Rhone blends. DAOU Vineyards exquisite terroir with its calcareous, high percentage limestone soils, maritime influence and unique climate represent the perfect storm for creating classic wines that can rival the world’s best. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Meaning 12 oaks in Spanish representing the 12 oaks on the property, Doce Robles began as the first winery on Highway 46 West. Harvesting grapes and making wines since 1998, Doce Robles produces small batches of Barbera, Zinfandel, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc as well as Primitivo, Petite Sirah, and Malbec. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Family-owned and operated, Dubost Winery is dedicated to the production of premium, limited quantity wines handcrafted from grapes grown locally and in their own vineyards. Their tasting room and straw bale winery, a model for sustainable production, are situated on the Dubost Ranch in the historic Adelaida area west of Paso Robles. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Dark Star Cellars
Domaine Degher Wines
827 13th St., Paso Robles. 805-296-2562. www.mojocellars.com
Dunning Vineyards Estate Winery
The focus of Dark Star Cellars is producing small lots of ultra-premium handcrafted red wines. Their dedication to “synthetic gravity” and non-intrusive style of winemaking is essential to their success. With microscopic production levels, every bottle of wine becomes an extension of their small family winery. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Using minimalist intervention, vinification in small lots and sustainable farming practices, Domaine Degher Wines strives to shape the raw life force of everchanging vintages into graceful, beautiful wines. Owner and winemaker Dennis Degher uses the love of music as an inspiration for his red Rhone blends and Cabernet Sauvignon. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Inhabiting the “Willow Creek” AVA District located on the Westside of Paso Robles, Dunning Vineyards produces an array of award-winning, private-reserve estate wines including Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Meritage, Petite Sirah, Grenache and Paso-style red blend Vin De Casa. The winery produces in small batches to ensure closeness with visitors and wine members. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Denner Vineyards
Donati Family Vineyard
Eberle Winery
Denner Vineyards features a gravity flow winery nestled in the rolling hills of west Paso Robles. A 156acre estate vineyard, with rocky calcareous soils and cooling Pacific breezes, the winery yields Rhone-style wines: Syrah, Grenache, Viognier, Theresa (Viognier and Roussanne), and The Ditch Digger (Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre). Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
With an ingrained Italian love for wine, Ron Donati and son Matt set out to make fine wines from the 9th oldest California AVA, the Paicines. The vineyard is planted to various select clones of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Syrah, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Blanc and Petite Verdot. Donati Family Vineyard now serves their wine at their tasting room in Templeton where they can better serve their faithful customers. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Gary Eberle, founder of Eberle Winery, has been a pioneer of Paso Robles appellation wine since 1979. As “The Godfather” of Paso Robles wine, Eberle helped create the AVA as well as plant the first Syrah vines. The winery continues to produce ultra-premium wines and remains in the top 10 of gold-medal winning wineries in the country. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
2777 Hidden Mountain Rd., Paso Robles. 805-226-5460. www.daouvineyards.com
2985 Anderson Rd., Paso Robles. 805-237-2389. www.darkstarcellars.com
5414 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-239-4287. www.dennervineyards.com
Derby Wine Estates
525 Riverside Ave., Paso Robles. 805-238-6300. www.derbywineestates.com Established by long-time farmers Ray and Pam Derby, Derby Wine Estates creates fine wine using 20 select acres from their estate wines. The diversity of the grapes is essential to the making of Derby wines. Their tasting room is located in the renovated historic Paso Robles Almond Growers Building. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Desparada
3060 Limestone Way, Templeton. 805-715-3910. www.desparada.com The wines are guided more by spirit than style with each wine standing for a particular vision and each vintage being made using new knowledge, varietals and vineyards to bring the vision into sharper focus. Current releases include Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Nebbiolo, Barbera and Sangiovese. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
VINO Central Coast Edition
2023 Twelve Oaks Dr., Paso Robles. 805-227-4766. www.docerobleswinery.com
2720 Oak View Rd., Templeton. 877-511-9463. www.donatifamilyvineyard.com
Donatoni Winery
3225 Township Rd., Templeton. 805-226-0620. www.donatoniwineryandvineyards.net After relocating the winery from just outside LAX to Paso Robles, Donatoni Winery has been making and pouring Paso Robles wine since 1978. Their varietals include Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Sangiovese, Viognier, two Zinfandels including Richard Sauret Vineyard Zinfandel. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Dover Canyon Winery
4520 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-237-0101. www.dovercanyon.com Named for the canyon in the northwest corner of the appellation, Dover Canyon Winery has been producing wine in Paso Robles for 15 years. Producing Zinfandel and Rhone wines from specific microclimates, winemaker Don Panico creates small batches of wine topping at 2,500 cases per year. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Published by the Paso Robles Press
9988 Chimney Rock Rd., Paso Robles. 805-226-8463. www.dubostwine.com
1953 Niderer Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-4763. www.dunningvineyards.com
3810 Highway 46 East, Paso Robles. 805-238-9607. www.eberlewinery.com
Ecluse Wines
1520 Kiler Canyon Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-4999. www.eclusewines.com Named for French canal locks and also for the last name of owners Steve and Pam Lock, Ecluse is a boutique winery that oversees growing from their 30-acre Estate Lock Vineyard to the bottling of Ecluse Wines. The on-site Lock Vineyard allows the winemakers to pick and crush peak fruit in small lots ensuring highest quality in the wines. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Edmond August
1140 Pine St., Paso Robles. 805-712-4363. www.edmondaugust.com Edmond August specializes in Rhone varietals and produces rich, flavorful wines from low-yield, intensequality grapes sourced from west Paso Robles. Founded by Paso native Edmond August Sauret, Edmond believes Paso Robles is best at growing Rhone varietals and he hopes to please wine tasters with the help of winemaker Jacob Toft. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Winter/Spring 2016
47
Wineries & Tasting Rooms ENFOLD WINES
Four Lanterns Winery
Giornata
Made for the wine aficionado, ENFOLD WINES is a small, family-owned, sustainably farmed vineyard in Paso Robles. They produce between 300-400 cases of wine a year and each bottle is handcrafted, blended and sophisticated. The wines are made to be paired with food and are drinkable now but will improve with age. Call ahead for a free tasting and vineyard tour. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Specializing in Rhone varietals, Four Lanterns Winery is a family-owned boutique winery whose wines are made to highlight the unique flavor of the grapes while complementing food pairings. Not es:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
With an Enphasis on Italian-style winemaking, Giornata makes wines that are balanced and subtle with grapes that are picked at lower sugar levels. Using clone material grape vines of the best producers in Italy, Giornata wines are ample in acidity and tannin and perfectly pair with Italian food. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Eos Estate Winery
Located on the hills hugging the Estrella River bed, Four Sisters Ranch enthusiastically planted Syrah and Cabernet grapes using sustainable farming techniques. Four Sisters is hands-on in the vineyard and they work with their winemakers to produce outstanding, awardwinning, world-class premium Paso wines. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Appointment only, Paso Robles. 805-239-2856. www.enfoldwines.com
2300 Airport Rd., Paso Robles. 805-591-8050. www.eosvintage.com Be Seduced! Eos, the Greek Goddess of Dawn, was cursed by Aphrodite for having an affair with Ares. Her punishment was an insatiable appetite for young men. At Eos — the winery — they are just as passionate as their namesake, but their insatiable appetite is more wholesomely geared toward the production of dense reds, complex whites and luscious dessert wines. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Epoch Estate Wines
7505 York Mountain Rd., Templeton. 805-237-7575. www.epochwines.com Founded in 2004, Epoch Estate Wines creates smallproduction, handcrafted, artisanal wines with big personalities. Epoch strives to make wines that are deliciously complex, memorable and seriously fun to drink while also being “interestingly iconoclastic, seductively hedonistic and thought provoking.” Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Falcon Nest Vineyard & Winery
5185 Union Road, Paso Robles. 805-266-0227. www.falconnestwinery.com Family-owned and operated, Falcon Nest Vineyard & Winery is proud of the land from which their grapes are grown. Owning 149 acres of prime viticulture land, of which 55.5 acres are planted in grapevines, importance is placed on meticulous vineyard management. Vines are managed to produce small yields, small berries and intense flavors to make wines of distinction. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Field Recordings
460 Marquita Ave., Paso Robles. 805-503-9660. www.fieldrecordingswine.com Developing a knack for finding unknown and under-appreciated vineyard sites, Field Recordings winemaker Andrew Jones creates wines from places he values most. Working as a vine nursery fieldman by day, Jones has an eye for great grape potential and creates small quantities of soulful wines from unusual, quiet vineyards. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
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Winter/Spring 2016
2485 West Highway 46, Paso Robles. 949-300-5437. www.fourlanternswinery.com
Four Sisters Ranch
2995 Pleasant Rd., San Miguel. 805-467-2046. www.foursistersranch.com
Fratelli Perata
1595 Arbor Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-2809. www.fratelliperata.com Meaning Perata Brothers in Itallian, Fratelli Perata was started by brother Gino and Joe Perata with the establishment of their vineyard in 1980. The brothers specialize in growing small fruit that produces more flavorful wines and they produce up to 2,000 cases of estate wine annually. The winery includes 10 different red varietals, three red blends, and a rosé. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Frolicking Frog Cellars
739 12th St., Paso Robles. 805-235-8264. www.frolickingfrogwine.com With a tasting room location in downtown Paso Robles, Frolicking Frog Cellars offers a taste of their wines in a central location while the Frolicking Frog vineyard and wine production site is located on scenic Highway 41 West in Atascadero. Founded in 2003, Frolicking Frog only produces 450 cases of savory reds and crisp whites. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Gelfand Vineyards
5530 Dresser Ranch Place, Paso Robles. 805-239-5808. www.gelfandvineyards.com A small and family-operated boutique vineyard and winery, Gelfand Vineyards specializes in awardwinning Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah. Located in Paso Robles’ limestone-rich hills, they produce some of the richest, darkest wines in the area. They are only open for tasting during the Zinfandel Festival, Harvest Festival and Wine Festival. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Published by the Paso Robles Press
470 Marguita Ave., Paso Robles. 805-434-3075. www.giornatawines.com
Glunz Family Winery & Cellars
8331 East Highway 46, Paso Robles. 805-238-1400. www.glunzfamilywinery.com Started by third- and fourth-generation descendants of an immigrant wine, beer and spirit merchant in Chicago, Glunz Family Winery and Cellar has been in the wine business since 1888. With the establishment of their 20-acre winery in 1992, the Glunz family specializes in making small-batch, fortified wine. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Graveyard Vineyards
6994 Estrella Rd., San Miguel. 805-467-2043. www.graveyardvineyards.com Named for the historic Pleasant Valley Cemetery near the site of the vineyard, Graveyard Vineyards is a testament to all who came and worked the land before them. Owners Ron and Paula Campbell-Taylor bought the vineyard in 2003 and started bottling their own wine in 2006. Their winery offers a picnicking area, a dock on the pond and events year-round. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
GreMarK Vineyards
5325 Rancho La Loma Linda Dr., Paso Robles. 805-237-0154. www.gremarkwine.com Greg and Marina Keezer, owners of boutique winery GreMarK Vineyards, create wines from a passion for having a hand in the entire process of their winemaking. Greg started planting the vineyard in 2000 and creates Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux-style blends as well as Zinfandel. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Grey Wolf Cellars
2174 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles. 805-237-0771. www.greywolfcellars.com A family affair from the beginning, Grey Wolf Cellars has been creating quality wine since 1994. In 1998, with their son Joseph’s help, Joe and Shirlene Barton, owners of Grey Wolf, planted their first vineyard. Now two more brands come from the Bartons, the eclectic Barton Family Reserve and the experimental and fun Occasional. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Central Coast Edition VINO
Wineries & Tasting Rooms Grizzly Republic Wines
Harmony Cellars
Hoyt Family Vineyards
With a tasting room in downtown Paso Robles, Grizzly Republic showcases their award-winning wine from around the state, including their Paso Robles Petite Sirah and 18-month barrel-aged Zinfandel. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Nestled in the quaint town of Harmony, population 18, Harmony Cellars produces buttery Chardonnays, crisp Rieslings, spicy Zins and voluptuous Cabs that reflect the serene and unpretentious beauty of Harmony. Harmony Cellars, established in 1989, sits on the land that has belonged to the family since 1910. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Initially establishing a vineyard and winery in Malibu, it wasn’t long before Hoyt Family Vineyards started producing Paso Robles sourced wines. Now, with a 30-acre vineyard on Paso’s Westside, Hoyt offers a variety including Tempranillo, Cabernet, Viognier, Grenache and Petit Verdot as well as their awardwinning Chardonnay. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
840 13th St., Suite F, Paso Robles. 559-696-5078. www.grizzlyrepublicwines.com
Guyomar Wine Cellars
1825 Las Tablas Road, Templeton. 805-400-1616. www.guyomarwine.com Established in 1998, St. Peter of Alcantara, Guyomar Wine Cellar’s Estate vineyard, sits in western Paso Robles in the Templeton Gap. New to winemaking, but intimately familiar with farming, the proprietors of the estate believe that complex, age-worthy wines start in vineyards with character and integrity. The vineyard is dry-farmed to produce these vines of great character and depth. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Halter Ranch
8910 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles. 805-226-9455. www.halterranch.com A 250-acre vineyard with a past rooted deep in the Paso Robles community, Halter Ranch stands as a tribute to the Paso Robles wine-growing region. Fervently committed to quality, boasting over 20 varietals, and sustainably farmed, Halter Ranch crafts quality estate wine with rich flavors and bright acidity. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
HammerSky Vineyard and Inn
7725 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-239-0930. www.hammersky.com Uncompromising sustainability in viticulture practices, purposeful low-yields, and vineyard location contribute to HammerSky’s distinct, estate-grown Cabernet, Merlot, and Zinfandel grapes that make up the “Bordeaux Centric” wines. Believing that quality over quantity is the best avenue to winemaking, HammerSky’s quality wines have been featured in top publications such as the NY Times. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Hansen Vineyards & Winery
5575 El Pomar Rd., Templeton. 805-239-8412. www.hansenwines.com A small boutique winery, Hansen Vineyard & Winery is dedicated to aging their handcrafted wines for long periods to produce wines that are deep, rich and elegant. Only producing up to 2,500 cases per year, Hansen processes everything by hand with no filtering or blending. Serious about wine, but laid back about life, Hansen Winery believes in having serious fun. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
VINO Central Coast Edition
3255 Harmony Valley Rd., Harmony. 805-927-1625. www.harmonycellars.com
Hearst Ranch Winery
442 SLO San Simeon Rd., San Simeon. 805-467-2241. www.hearstranchwinery.com Producing fine wines from the Central Coast’s finest vineyards, Hearst Ranch Winery upholds a “Legacy of Quality.” With zebras and elephant seals for neighbors, Hearst Ranch Winery has a unique location to produce their many fine wines including Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petite Sirah, Tempranillo, Late Harvest Zinfandel, and a Barrel Select Cuvée “The Point”! Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Hearthstone Vineyard & Winery
5070 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-238-2544. www.hearthstonevineyard.com Established in 1999, Hearthstone Vineyard & Winery specializes in refined Rhone, super Tuscan and Meritage blends. They also craft Pinot Noir, Italian varietals, and Zinfandel, and other original blends. From their 40-acre vineyard in Paso Robles’ Adelaida District, Hearthstone produces handcrafted, expressive wines. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Herman Story Winery
1227 Paso Robles St., Paso Robles. 805-237-2400. www.hermanstorywines.com Located in downtown Paso Robles, Herman Story Winery produces eclectic wines from Paso Robles to Santa Barbara vineyards. Produced in small batches, tasting and club membership are only available at the downtown tasting room. Created by winemaker and proprietor Russell Form, Herman Story wines are fun and unique. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Hidden Oak Winery
4671 South El Pomar Rd., Templeton. 805-237-9315. www.hiddenoakwinery.com Growing grapes since 1995 and making wine since 2009, Hidden Oak Winery has remained a family operation since its founding. Specializing in highquality estate wines, their location offers great views and picnic and dog areas. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Published by the Paso Robles Press
2015 Township Rd., Paso Robles. 310-457-3832. www.hoytfamilyvineyards.com
Hug Cellars
2323 Tuley Rd., Suite 120, Paso Robles. 805-226-8022. www.hugcellars.com Specializing in crafting small lots of ultra-premium wine, Hug Cellars believes in allowing each vineyard to express its own virtue through low manipulation, the use of whole clusters and indigenous yeast in fermentation and by using a measured hand in winemaking. Hug produces 2,000 cases annually and they are proud to be in Paso Robles “Rhone Zone.” Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Hunt Cellars
2875 Oakdale Rd., Paso Robles. 805-237-1600. www.huntcellars.com At Hunt Cellars, their goal is to create “memorable wines” that help one remember the wine, the meal and the great company one was with when drinking their wine. An optimal place for growing, Hunt’s 550-acre estate vineyard boasts a variety of terrain and soil types and multiple microclimates. Handcrafted in small lots, the winemakers are ardently committed to quality. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
J Dusi Wines
1401 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles. 805-226-2034. www.jdusiwines.com With a local Zinfandel planting history dating back to the 1920’s, J Dusi Wines focuses on quality established by their Northern Italian great-grandparents. Specializing mainly in Zinfandel and Zinfandel blends, J Dusi Wines is a family tradition with a new perspective. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
J&J Cellars
2850 Ranchita Canyon Rd., San Miguel. 805-467-2891. www.jjcellars.com From Estate wines from the Paso Robles region, to other wine offerings from central coast vineyards, J&J Cellars is a family winery with a bit of something for everybody. From fine to affordable, J&J also has four other brand labels: Julie Fiero, James Judd & Son Vineyards, Autumn Flight, Vintage Flight and A Cellar Full Of Noise. At J&J Cellars, “wine is a way of life.” Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Winter/Spring 2016
49
Wineries & Tasting Rooms J Lohr Vineyards & Wines
Kaleidos
Law Estate Wines
Founded more than four decades ago by Jerry Lohr, J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines crafts an array of internationally recognized, award-winning wines from their estate vineyards. Bring a picnic lunch, sit on our patio and enjoy the vineyard views. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Established in 2004, Kaleidos is a family-owned and operated winery and vineyard. Nestled in the Templeton Gap of the Santa Lucia Mountains in Paso Robles, the vineyard sits atop two south facing slopes. The winery and vineyard were established with the mission of producing the finest premium handcrafted wines. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Located in West Paso Robles at top of Peachy Canyon, Law Estate Wines has a sharp focus on producing ultrapremium Rhone-style blends using sustainably farmed, hand-picked and hand sorted estate grapes. Their vineyard was designed with minimal intervention in order to honor the distinct microclimates that embody the elevated terroir. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
6169 Airport Rd., Paso Robles. 805-239-8900. www.jlohr.com
Jack Creek Cellars
5265 Jack Creek Rd., Templeton. 805-226-8283. www.jackcreekcellars.com Quality and close personal attention are what distinguish Jack Creek Cellars from small, family-owned wineries. Winemaking is a labor of love for proprietors Doug and Sabrina Kruse and the family loves working together to develop their world-class wines. Located in the Templeton Gap, the 40-acre Estate Kruse Vineyard sits in a unique microclimate perfect for their Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Grenache. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
3770 Willow Creek Rd., Paso Robles. 805-226-0828. www.kaleidoswine.com
Kenneth Volk Vineyards
2485 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles. 805-237-7896. www.volkwines.com Veteran winemaker Ken Volk has returned to Paso Robles with a second tasting room in the same building with Four Lanterns. Come and enjoy Ken’s diverse portfolio of wines in a beautiful garden setting. Featuring Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and many rare varieties seldom encountered elsewhere. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Kiamie Winery
Jacob Toft
9750 Adelaide Rd., Paso Robles. 805-226-8333. www.kiamiewines.com
Specializing in Rhone-style blends, Jacob Toft limited availability wines can be purchased through their online ordering form. Private tastings available by appointment. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Blending grapes from distinctive Westside Paso Robles mountain vineyards into wines of expression and uncompromising quality, Kiamie’s proprietors, Aram and Greg, have grown fond of the Adelaida and Templeton gap sub-appellations, which they feel, makes the best and most award-winning wines. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Jada Vineyard & Winery
Kukkula
P.O. Box 799 Cayucos. 805-550-8007. www.jacobtoft.com
5620 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-226-4200. www.jadavineyard.com Located in an incredible pocket of the Templeton Gap, Jada Vineyard & Winery produces exquisite, handcrafted Rhone and Bordeaux style wines. The full tasting experience is offered with wine and cheese pairing, top-notch customer service, and a breathtaking view. Get a taste of the good life! Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery
11680 Chimney Rock Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-6932. www.justinwine.com Ideally suited in fossilized limestone to create big, Bordeaux-style reds, JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery combines Old World practices with new innovative designs to produce excellent wines. Dreaming up such innovative methods as the “Air Knife,” JUSTIN winemakers are on the leading edge of creating processes that boost grape quality and efficiency. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
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Winter/Spring 2016
9515 Chimney Rock Rd., Paso Robles. 805-227-0111. www.kukkulawine.com Rhone focused, dry-farmed, and organic, kukkula, Finnish for “high place,” sits in the Westside hills of Paso Robles overlooking Adelaida and Adelaida schoolhouse. Offering estate wines and artisanal blends, awardwinning winery and tasting room architecture and Friday thru Sunday lunch, kukkula has much to offer. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
L’Aventure
2815 Live Oak Rd., Paso Robles. 805-227-1588. www.aventurewine.com After starting and managing vineyards in the Bordeaux region of France for a number of years, Stephan Asseo, Proprietor of L’Aventure, brought his winemaking skills to Paso Robles. Now L’Aventure makes small quantities of high quality wine with their blended varietals the cornerstone of their work. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Published by the Paso Robles Press
3885 Peachy Canyon Rd., Paso Robles. 805-226-9200. www.lawestatewines.com
Lusso Della Terra
831 13th Street, Paso Robles. 805-712-8883. www.ldtcellars.com Inspired by a historic Italian winemaking family and tradition, Lusso Della Terra which means “Luxury of the Land” was created to express a true love and passion for the complexity of the grape and the art of the winemaking process. We specialize in high quality, handcrafted, ultra premium wines that come in very limited quantities that are meant to be shared with those you love. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Le Vigne Winery
5115 Buena Vista Dr., Paso Robles. 805-227-4000. www.levignewinery.com Le Vigne Winery offers warm hospitality & handcrafted French & Italian varietal wines and reserve lots and Ports are produced in limited quantities. The tasting room doubles as a gourmet food shop, housing a large selection of gourmet meats and cheeses along with many unique gift items. Explore their classic Pullman rail cars plus amphitheater and park for weddings. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Locatelli Vineyard & Winery
8585 Cross Canyon Rd., San Miguel. 805-467-0067. www.locatelliwinery.com Family-owned and operated, Locatelli Vineyards & Winery specializes in handcrafted full-bodied estate wines including wine Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Sirah and others. Paso Robles’ northern most winery, Locatelli overlooks the peaceful Salinas River Valley and historic Old Mission San Miguel. Come and “Experience the Taste of Tradition.” Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Lone Madrone
5800 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-0845. www.lonemadrone.com Founded in 1996, this family-owned and operated winery works to be a distinct winery. Lone Madrone wines are produced predominantly from small, westside Paso Robles vineyards. their primary focus is sourcing high-quality, dry farmed, head trained varietals that translate well in a hands-off winemaking style. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Central Coast Edition VINO
Wineries & Tasting Rooms LXV Wine
1306 B Pine St., Paso Robles. 805-296-1902. www.lxvwines.com LXV is a premium California wine inspired by the 64 arts of Kama Sutra. Crafted by astute winemaker, Amy Butler, the style of the winemaking is rooted in Old World philosophy expressed through contemporary blends, showcasing the uniqueness of Paso Robles AVA. Every release of LXV showcases a small-lot, handcrafted, luxury wine. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
McClean X Vineyards
4491 South El Pomar Rd., Templeton. 805-441-7514. www.mccleanxvineyards.com Focused on providing quality, McClean X Vineyards offers a small selection of fascinatingly fun blends; Clemence, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc blend, Simone, a Zinfandel and Petite Sirah blend, and the 100% Syrah, One Last Syrah. Owner Steve McClean can often be found bouncing off the walls at work or lamenting the need to wear shoes in the office, but he is determined to provide his clients with smiles, laughs and great wine. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
McPrice Myers
3525 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles. 805-237-1245. www.barrel27-mcpricemyers.com With a focus on Rhone varietals, McPrice Meyers, Barrel 27’s small lot, reserve label, purchases fruit from select vineyards throughout San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Owner/Winemaker Mac Myers makes wines for McPrice Myers and Barrel 27 with the goal to make Rhone wines that work hard at helping hardworking America relax for a minute. Stop in, relax for a minute, taste through the line up and remove your nose from the grindstone. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
MCV Wines
845 Embarcadero Suite H, Morro Bay. 805-712-4647. www.mcvwines.com Established in 2011, MCV Wines strives to produce the highest quality, boutique wines available. Their focus is on Petite Sirah, especially used to create uniquely fascinating, highly acclaimed blends including multiple 90+ scoring wines in major magazines. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Michael Gill Cellars
4125 Peachy Canyon Rd., Paso Robles. 805-239-1668. www.gillcellars.com Nestled among century oaks, Michael Gill Cellars’ west side Paso Robles coastal estate vineyard takes full advantage of the excellent natural conditions: the mountainous terroir is known for its rocky, calcareous soil, and differing levels of hillside sun exposure allow vineyards to be specifically suited for each varietal. This gives founding vintner, Michael Gill, the opportunity to cultivate luxurious wines unmatched in quality. Notes:_____________________________________
VINO Central Coast Edition
__________________________________________
Nichols Winery & Cellars
Midnight Cellars
4615 Traffic Way, Atascadero. 805-466-7278. www.nicholswinery.com
Family-owned and operated, Midnight Cellars’ awardwinning wines include exemplary Syrah, Zinfandel, extraordinary red blends, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Picnic in the backyard and enjoy a moment with Midnight’s friendly hosts. You may even run into their superlunary winemaker! Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Established in 1991, Nichols Winery & Cellars are awardwinning, world renowned with international acclaim including their Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Meritage. Soleil & Terroir, Silver Fox and Paso de Vinas are also Nichols brands. Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir are well rounded while the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Zinfandel are soft and round out their tannins. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Minassian-Young Vineyards
Niner Wine Estates
2925 Anderson Rd., Paso Robles. www.midnightcellars.com
4045 Peachy Canyon Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-7571. www.m-yv.com With a philosophy to “produce wines in a consistent manner,” Minassian-Young Vineyards takes a minimalistic, scientific approach to winemaking. Wines from the vineyard are produced without blending fruit from multiple vineyards ensuring each vintage is representative of the vineyard’s terroir. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Mitchella Vineyard & Winery
2525 Mitchell Ranch Way, Paso Robles. 805-239-8555. www.mitchella.com Founded in 1997, Mitchella Vineyard & Winery is a family-owned estate committed to making small lots of premium handcrafted Paso Robles wines. Their 20acre vineyard is planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache, and Port varietals Tinta and Touriga. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Moonstone Cellars
801 Main St., Cambria. 805-927-9466. www.moonstonecellars.com Conceived in a basement overlooking Moonstone Beach, Todd Clift and dad, Muril began making wine in 1998. The hobby quickly got out of control, and blossomed into a full-time passion which Todd quickly left his corporate job to pursue. Todd now proudly introduces his wines made from Central Coast grapes. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Nadeau Family Vintners
3860 Peachy Canyon Rd., Paso Robles. 805-239-3574. www.nadeaufamilyvintners.com Nadeau Family Vintners is a micro-winery specializing in huge, mountain-grown Zinfandels and intriguing Rhone varietals. Handmade to taste, Nadeau takes pride in picking the best fruit to create the best wine. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Published by the Paso Robles Press
2400 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles. 802-239-2233. www.ninerwine.com As a family company built on three unique vineyards, Niner Wine Estates prides themselves on world-class winemaking and hospitality facilities. Niner Wine farms three separate estate vineyards: Bootjack Ranch on the eastern side of the Paso AVA, Heart Hill Vineyard on the western side, and Jespersen Vineyard nestled in the Edna Valley AVA to the south. Each vineyard has very different soil profiles and climates resulting in three very unique representations of terrior. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
ONX Wines
1200 Paseo Excelsus, Templeton. 805-434-5607. www.onxwines.com Driven toward creating avant-garde wines that express a sense of place, ONX Wines is a collective with the shared vision of respect for the land and an unwavering attention to detail. ONX utilizes all 13 varieties on their Estate to craft a portfolio of blends that are a bold yet pure expression of Westside Paso Robles. Located in the heart of the Templeton Gap District AVA, ONX estate is one of the coolest locales in Paso Robles. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Opolo Vineyards
7110 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-238-9593. www.opolo.com They say good fences make good neighbors, but it was a love of wine and winemaking that was the entrée between Opolo owners Rick Quinn and Dave Nichols. Discovering Opolo Vineyards is to uncover a place where the passion to create an unforgettable experience and offer outstanding customer service is equally important as crafting award-winning wines. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Winter/Spring 2016
51
Wineries & Tasting Rooms Oso Libre Winery
Pelletiere Estate Vineyard & Winery
Pomar Junction Vineyard and Winery
Unique, progressive and delicious, Oso Libre Winery specializes in distinct and sustainable wine growing practices that make for an unforgettable wine tasting experience. Established in 1996, Oso Libre, meaning “Free Bear” in Spanish, represents the spirit of the early California pioneers and their estate labels include limited production of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Mourvedre as well as distinctive red blends and rare late harvest dessert wines. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Janis Denner and the entire Pelletiere Family share a love and respect for wine, especially italian varietals, and they believe wine should be delicious and representative of its origin. Distinctive wines, relaxed atmosphere, breathtaking setting, and passionate crewmembers, make Pelletiere Estate truly worth the visit. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Pomar Junction Vineyard & Winery is a family-run winery featuring wines from the Merrill family’s estate vineyard in Templeton and sits at the “junction” of El Pomar and South El Pomar Drives. Pomar Junction Estate wines are bottled from the finest blocks of fruit grown on our own vineyards and all have signature softness to the palate. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Penman Springs Vineyard
Powell Mountain Cellars
Parrish Family Vineyard
An artisan wine farm, Penman Springs Vineyard offers estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot and Muscat Blanc handcrafted into varietals, blends and dessert wines. “Taste the art” and enjoy the hospitable and relaxing tasting room with picnic tables and spectacular views of Paso Robles. Notes:_____________________________________ _________________________________________
A small, handcrafted wine production, Powell Mountain Cellars is a unique brand producing Zinfandel as well as Rhone and Bordeaux blends that display varietal character and sense of place. Wine lovers will appreciate the handcrafted wines produced by meticulous winemakers and farmers who work together taking pride in honing their craft. Tasting room hours: Fri. 12-4pm; Sat. 11am-5pm; Sun. 11am-4pm; M-Th. Appt. only. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
7383 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-238-3378. www.osolibre.com
1220 Park St., Paso Robles. 805-286-4028. www.parrishfamilyvineyard.com With a deep-rooted family history in Paso Robles and Atascadero, Parrish Family Vineyard has an appreciation for history and tradition. Specializing in Bordeaux, Burgundian and Rhone varietals, their new tasting room in downtown Paso Robles offers a taste of their rich, family tradition. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Paso Port/Per Cazo Cellars
95 Booker Rd., Templeton. 805-239-2229. www.pasoportwine.com A small, family-owned winery dedicated to producing the finest table wines and fortified dessert wines, Paso Port is driven by their passion and commitment to express the potential of the region to produce port wines with particular distinction and unparalleled quality. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
3280 Township Rd., Paso Robles. 805-239-9432. www.pelletiere.com
1985 Penman Springs Rd., Paso Robles. 805-237-7959. www.penmansprings.com
Pianetta Winery
829 13th St., Paso Robles. 805-226-4005. www.pianettawinery.com Locally sourced, family made and fruit forward, Pianetta Winery delivers balanced wines that have a lasting smooth finish. Not easily found in other places, Pianetta produces only 2500 cases produced annually including flagship Estate Cabernet, and awardwinning estate Syrah and Petite Sirah. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Pipestone Vineyards
Peachy Canyon Winery
2040 Niderer Rd., Paso Robles. 805-227-6385. www.pipestonevineyards.com
With nearly 100 acres of Estate vineyards while still remaining a family affair, Peachy Canyon Winery specializes in Zinfandel and other award-winning handcrafted small-batch wines, including: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petite Sirah. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Tucked into a secluded peaceful valley in the coastal ranges, Pipestone Vineyards is dedicated to handmade estate grown Rhone-style wines including Syrah, Viognier and Grenache blend. Family-run, sustainably farmed, and managed according to the ancient principles of Feng Shui! Relax and enjoy the quiet surroundings or picnic on the patio. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Pear Valley Vineyard & Winery
Poalillo Vineyards
Creating unique vintages that reflect vibrant fruit nourished by ancient soils under ideal climate conditions while leaving little impact on the environment is the impetus behind Pear Valley. The Maas family cordially offers novice wine drinkers, enthusiasts and connoisseurs a taste of the naturally good life captured in each bottle of Pear Valley wine. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Poalillo Vineyards was established in 1992 by founders Charles and Joyce Poalillo. By that time they had already been amateur winemakers for almost 30 years. They discovered the Paso Robles area when they used to make grape buying trips from southern California to the Paso Robles region. We specialize in dry farmed Zinfandel, but produce many varietals for every palette. Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel Rose’, Cabernet, beautiful intricate blends, and dessert wines are the wines we produce. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
1480 N. Bethel Rd., Templeton. 805-239-1918. www.peachycanyon.com
4900 Union Rd., Paso Robles. 805-237-2861. www.pearvalley.com
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Winter/Spring 2016
7970 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-238-0621. www.poalillovineyards.com
Published by the Paso Robles Press
5036 South El Pomar Rd., Templeton. 805-238-9940. www.pmarjunction.com
3050 Blue Rock Rd., Paso Robles. 805-434-8097. www.powellmountaincellars.com
Pozzouli Vineyard & Winery
15481 Red Hill Ave., Ste C, Tustin. 714-258-8817. www.pozzouliwinery.com Pozzouli Vineyard and Winery is a family owned and operated boutique winery with a vineyard and winery in Paso Robles and a tasting room/bottling facility in Tustin. Producing about 500 cases/year specializing in red varietal blends, Rosato & white wines, Pozzouli offers a wine club and can also host your small wine event. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Proulx
5424 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-706-0425. www.proulxwines.com From the vineyard to the bottle, Proulx Wines is a family operation that has been carefully tended and nurtured by owners, Genoa and Kevin Riley, since the beginning. Proulx Wines produces 1500 cases yearly with a tight focus on creating high-quality, approachable wines that are ready to drink at an early age. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Rabbit Ridge Winery — The Rabbit Hole 1172 San Marcos Rd., Paso Robles. 805-467-3331. www.rabbitridgewinery.com
Founded in 1981 by Erich Russell in Healdsburg, Rabbit Ridge Winery and Vineyards and Russell Family Wines quickly became known for some of the best value wines, as well as many highly acclaimed luxury wines in California. Rabbit Ridge established a vineyard in Paso Robles in 2001 and also owns The Rabbit Hole tasting room in downtown. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Central Coast Edition VINO
Wineries & Tasting Rooms Ranchita Canyon Vineyard
RIO SECO Vineyard & Winery
ROTTA Winery
Overlooking beautiful Pleasant Valley, the Ranchita Canyon Vineyard and boutique winery is family-owned and operated and produces rich, concentrated, bold fruit for our estate wines. The vineyard is hand pruned and hand harvested, and their farm plan emphasizes sustainable practices. At Ranchita Vineyard, they are “taking wine to greater heights.” Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Family-owned vineyard grows award-winning Zinfandel, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Viognier! Join us here for wines, friendly people, smoked olives, barbecue and, of course, a memorable experience on your next wine country adventure! Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
ROTTA Winery, founded in 1908, is the oldest originally family-owned winery in San Luis Obispo County. Mike Giubbini and Mark Caporale have combined their talents to bring the historic and rustic winery back to life. In doing so, ROTTA Winery has won several gold medals, including old vine Zinfandel and Dessert Sherry. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
3439 Ranchita Canyon Rd., San Miguel. 805-467-9448. www.ranchitacanyonvineyard.com
Rangeland Wines
10425 Klau Mine Rd., Paso Robles. 805-674-9232. www.rangelandwines.com Offering a bit more than the average winery, Rangeland Wines offers handcrafted wines, vineyard tours, ranch tours and grass-fed beef and lamb clubs. Set in the limestone hills of west Paso Robles, the 1,500 acre Adelaida Springs Ranch estate offers sweeping views and quiet landscapes. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Rasmussen Vineyard & Winery
100 Harvest Ridge Way, Paso Robles. 805-648-1234. www.rasmussenvineyards.com Growing in Paso Robles for over 17 years, Rasmussen Vineyard and Winery now offers a tasting of their own highly acclaimed wine including a three year vertical Syrah 2002 vintage exhibiting soft rounded tannins. Rasmussen provides a rare opportunity to taste and purchase a 10-year-old wine that has been carefully aged in a tightly controlled environment. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Red Soles Winery & Stillhouse
3230 Oakdale Rd., Paso Robles. 805-226-9898. www.redsoleswinery.com A small, family-owned and operated winery on California’s beautiful, Central Coast, Red Soles Winery offers an experimental turned successful take on wines. The founding owners, Randy and Cheryl Phillips, crushed their first batch with their own feet and winery has proven a natural extension of the farming company that the two have owned since 1991 when they first began growing wine grapes. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Rendarrio Vineyards
2323 Tuley Court, Suite 110, Paso Robles. www.rendarrio.com Committed to producing wines of quality and distinction, Rendarrio Vineyards creates small production wines that are handcrafted to demonstrate true quality. Rendarrio wines can be found in various restaurants in Paso Robles and Morro Bay as well as at The Jefferson in Washington D.C. and Union Square Café in New York. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
VINO Central Coast Edition
4295 Union Rd., Paso Robles. 805-237-8884. www.riosecowine.com
RiverStar Vineyards
7450 Estrella Rd., San Miguel. 805-467-0086. www.riverstarvineyards.com Family owned and operated, RiverStar Vineyards was established with family members in 2003 after having raised wine grapes in the Paso Robles area since 1986. RiverStar grows Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Syrah, Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon on 75 acres located on the eastside of Airport and Estrella roads. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
RN Estate Vineyard & Winery
7986 North River Rd., Paso Robles. 805-610-9802. www.rnestate.com Dream of a former restauranture, RN Estate strives to create “food friendly” wine. Specializing in red Rhone and Bordeaux varietals, estate-grown on a small hilltop vineyard, RN’s limited production allows them to meticulously hand craft premium boutique wines with a subtle harmony of flavors. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Robert Hall Winery
3443 Mill Rd., Paso Robles. 805-239-1616. www.roberthallwinry.com Tucked into the hillsides east of Paso Robles, Robert Hall Winery is a dream 40 years in the making. Years of hard work and infinite attention to detail are invested into every bottle of wine and, as farmers first, they strive to nurture the land and coax from it the finest fruit possible from the sustainably farmed vineyards on the Hall Ranch. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Rocky Creek Cellars
8687 Apple Rd. Highway 46 West, Templeton. 805-238-1919. www.rockycreekcellars.com Residing on the west side of York Mountain, Rocky Creek Cellars is a small family-owned and operated winery established in 1999. Rocky Creek’s handcrafted premium red wines are barrel aged for 3 years resulting in a smooth and delicious drinkable wine. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Published by the Paso Robles Press
250 Winery Rd., Templeton. 805-237-0510. www.rottawinery.com
Roxo Port Cellars
6996 Peachy Canyon Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-1600. www.roxocellars.com Roxo Port Cellars is a family-owned winery specializing in ultra-premium Port-style wines. Roxo makes Portstyle wine using only traditional methods with minimal interference and their grapes are exclusively handpicked and sourced from esteemed Paso Robles and Cienega Valley vineyards in California. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
San Antonio Winery
2610 Buena Vista Dr., Paso Robles. 805-226-2600. www.sanantoniowinery.com With 98 years of rich family tradition, San Antonio Winery continues to create award-winning wines from select area vineyards. From downtown Los Angeles to spacious Paso Robles, San Antonio Winery is “Your Urban Winery.” Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
San Marcos Creek Vineyard
7750 North Highway 101, Paso Robles. 805-467-9260. www.sanmarcoscreek.com Specializing in small lots of finely-crafted, singlevineyard, estate-grown and produced varietals, San Marcos Creek Vineyard is family-owned and operated “where fine wines begin at the vines.” Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Sarzotti Winery
180 Bella Ranch Rd., Templeton. 805-226-2022. www.sarzottiwinery.com A fourth-generation Italian winemaking family, Sarzotti Winery is a completely hands-on operation. Sarzotti manages all aspects of their vineyard and winery production and their family has a commitment to crafting wines that are consistently high in quality at an exceptional value and they hope visitors become a part of their family of friends. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Winter/Spring 2016
53
Wineries & Tasting Rooms Saxum Vineyards
Sharp’s Hill
Steinbeck Vineyards
Saxum Vineyards focuses on producing Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre based blends from the Templeton Gap/Willow Creek area of Paso Robles. Production is kept at 3000-4000 cases a year divided between seven different Cuvées, Broken Stones, James Berry Vineyard, Bone Rock, Booker Vineyards, Paderewski Vineyard, Heart Stone Vineyard and Terry Hoage Vineyard. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Located high in elevation above the renowned Highway 46 West near the Santa Lucia Mountain Range in the Templeton Gap, Sharp’s Hill’s landmark property is an ideal site for growing exceptional wine grapes. Enjoying maritime weather influences and prime calcareous soil, this family owned vineyard produces, classic, award winning wines Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Specializing in Cabernet Sauvignon, Viognier and Zinfandel, Steinbeck Winery meticulously crafts 1,000 cases of premium wine. The varietals are blended into The Crash, better known as “Steinbeck in a Glass.” Their second blend, The Voice, reflects the voice of Steinbeck Vineyards. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Silver Horse Winery
2750 Old Grove Land, Paso Robles. 805-237-9231. www.stillwatersvineyards.com
Paso Robles. 805-610-0363
Sculpterra Winery
5015 Linne Rd., Paso Robles. 805-302-8881. www.sculpterra.com Sculpterra Winery & Sculpture Garden offers a wine tasting and art viewing experience in the hills of Paso Robles. Sculpterra offers a variety of services including five distinct wine club options for a variety of wine aficionado. They also display the works of numerous artists including world-renowned sculptor John Jagger. With such a large pool of local talent, Sculpterra Winery has truly brought the concept of art and wine full circle. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
1085 Ambush Trail, Paso Robles. 805-237-2005. www.sharpshill.com
805-467-9463. www.silverhorse.com
5940 Union Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-1854. www.steinbeckwines.com
Still Waters Vineyards
Taste exceptional Bordeaux and Spanish varietal wines from family-run Silver Horse Winery. Sitting atop a hill in the Pleasant Valley, Silver Horse is a tasting experience unique to the central coast. With three patios, bocce courts and horseshoe pits, you’re sure to have a memorable time. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
A family-owned and run vineyard dedicated to producing small lots of premium estate wines, Still Water Vineyards produces 14 different 100% estate varietals including Bordeaux, Rhone, Zinfandel and Primitivo. Estate olive oil is also available. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Stacked Stone Cellars
3776 Santa Rosa Creek Road, Cambria. 805-924-3131. www.stolofamilywinery.com
1525 Peachy Canyon Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-7872. www.stackedstone.com
Stolo Family Winery
Stacked Stone Cellars began in 1998 when owner, Donald Thiessen, united his love of fine craftsmanship with a love of wine. Stacked Stone Cellars produces small quantities of handcrafted wine. Donald named his “liquid assets” after the elaborate stacked stone landscaping adorning the winery grounds and estate vineyard. The winery also rocks the canyon with live concerts every summer. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Stolo Family Vineyards and Winery is a welcomed addition to the hidden gem, Cambria. With the addition of the new rustic tasting room and winery, visitors are treated with the full winery experience. Planted in 1998 and less than three miles from the Pacific Ocean, the vineyards thrive in Cambria’s unique microclimate. The beautiful location produces unmatched coastal style Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir, and Syrah. These award winning boutique wines capture the coast in a bottle. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Stanger
SummerWood Winery
Shadow Run is a 150-acre ranch and vineyard offering varietals of Syrah, Petite Sirah, Viognier and Malbec. Much of the ranch is home to wildlife and will remain in its natural state, conserving the rugged beauty of this part of California’s Central Coast. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Never releasing a wine prematurely, Stanger waits up to 4 years after bottling to release wine at the proper time. Major wine critics have stated that Stanger wines will peak in 7 to 9 year, therefore the STANGER Reserve wines are released after they have sufficiently matured in the bottle. STANGER UltraPremium Reserve wines can be tasted at our original “Old World style” tasting room. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
SummerWood invites you to drop by and discover their artisan crafted Rhone and Bordeaux wines, including the proprietary blends Diosa Blanc, Diosa and Sentio. Reserve a tour with winemaker Mauricio Marchant, where he will take you through his winemaking process, including a peek at the winery’s use of concrete for some white wines, and the Solera method used for the non-vintage Zinfandel Port. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Shale Oak Winery
Starr Ranch Vineyards and Winery
9339 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles. 805-237-1231. www.tablascreek.com
With a keen eye on sustainability in every facet, Shale Oak Winery was created out of careful respect for the natural resources on the west side of Paso Robles and they are proud to present their limited-production wines, the result of a holistic vision. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
A stunning, crooked road leads to the secluded Starr Ranch winery where the adjacent vineyard basks on the slopes of the Adelaida Hills, backed by the Santa Lucia Range. From the vineyard, our raison d’être, we retain the pick of the crop for our winemaking artistry, producing very small lots of Bordeaux-style, Rhone and Tempranillo wines. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Sextant Wines
2324 West Highway 46, Paso Robles. 805-542-0133. www.sextantwines.com With a proprietary relationship with the French, Portuguese and Spanish governments, Sextant Wines imports certified rootstock that can be traced back to the original mother block in those countries. These certified clones planted throughout three vineyards, along with a charismatic blending style put Sextant on the cutting edge of winemaking practices. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Shadow Run
2720 La Panza Rd., Creston. 805-227-0554. www.shadowrunvineyards.com
3235 Oakdale Rd., Paso Robles. www.shaleoakwinery.com
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Winter/Spring 2016
5225 Highway 41, Paso Robles. 630-461-8602. www.stangervineyards.com
9320 Chimney Rock Rd., Paso Robles. 805-227-0144. www.starr-ranch.com
Published by the Paso Robles Press
2175 Arbor Rd., Paso Robles. 805-227-1365. www.summerwoodwine.com
Tablas Creek
Founded by the Perrins (Chateau de Beaucastel) and importer Robert Haas, Tablas Creek produces estategrown, internationally recognized Rhone varietals and Chateauneuf-du-Pape style blends from grapes including Syrah, Mourvedre, Viognier and Roussanne. A unique tour showcases the on-site grapevine nursery, organic vineyard, winery and tasting room with Provencal gifts. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Central Coast Edition VINO
Wineries & Tasting Rooms Tackitt Family Vineyards
Tobin James Cellars
Turley
A small family venture dedicated to high quality wines for all to enjoy, Tackitt Family Vineyard’s love of wine is apparent in their pursuit creating truly wonderful wines. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
A visit to Tobin James Cellars Winery and Tasting Room has enthusiastic tasters enjoying unforgettable “Paso Robles in a Glass” wines at the notorious, grand, 150-year-old bar. Tobin James creates fruit-driven wines that include Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Chardonnay, Merlot, “Liquid Love” Dessert Zinfandel, and many others. Bring your picnic. Join the legendary James Gang! Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Turley Wine Cellars was founded by former emergency room physician Larry Turley in 1993. Because Larry has never met an old vine vineyard he didn’t like, Turley now makes 28 separate wines from 35 different vineyards, mostly Zinfandel and Petite Syrah, with many vineyards dating back to the late 1800’s. By focusing on old vine vineyards in particular, Turley aims to both create and preserve California’s unique winemaking culture. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
6640 Von Dollen Rd., San Miguel. 805-467-9490. www.tackittfamilyvineyards.com
TH Estate Wines
870 Arbor Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-2083. www.thestatewines.com TH Vineyards is a small, family-owned vineyard and boutique winery located off Highway 46 West in Paso Robles. Our special climate, terroir and dedication to fastidious, sustainable farming practice produce exceptional fruit that is forward and focused. Terry and Jennifer Hoage’s winemaking approach is to produce minimally processed wines that show intense fruit and complexity showcasing their passion for excellence. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Thacher Winery
8355 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-237-0087. www.thacherwinery.com Since 2004 Thacher Winery with the grasshopper label, has been handcrafting wines from superb vineyards found on the Westside of Paso Robles and in Southern Monterey County. Our boutique production of Rhone blends and Zinfandels demonstrate local subtleties and true Westside terroir. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
The Farm Winery
10920 Chimney Rock Rd., Paso Robles. 805-400-3276. www.thefarmwinery.com The Farm Winery seeks to make wines that best express the character of Westside Paso Robles. Admiring and respecting what has been done here before, they wish to bring a nuance — the same intensity along with greater elegance. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
The Rabbit Hole
1244 Pine St., Paso Robles. 805-286-4692. www.therabbitholepasorobles.com Home to the only Bubbly Bar in Paso Robles, The Rabbit Hole is a wine bar and gift shop experience that is sure to ignite the imagination. Serving wine from their parent winery, Rabbit Ridge, The Rabbit Hole is a whole lot more that a simple tasting room experience. Go in and get lost at The Rabbit Hole where “We’re all mad here.” Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
8950 Union Rd., Paso Robles. 805-239-2204. www.tobinjames.com
Tolo Cellars
9750 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles. 805-226-2282. www.tolocellars.com Way out along Adelaida Road stands a little red farmhouse, home to Tolo Cellars. Josh Gibson, proprietor and winemaker, offers a sumptuous array of wines — Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and exotic Rhone blends — all sourced from vineyards tucked away in the rustic hills, where once frolicked the pioneers of the Adelaida township. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Tooth & Nail Winery
3090 Anderson Rd., Paso Robles. 805-369-6100. www.toothandnailwinery.com Established in 2009, Tooth and Nail Winery proudly pours four labels: blends under Tooth & Nail; Grenache, Syrah, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay under Amor Fati; Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Tempernillo, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay under Force of Nature; and Pinot Noir and Chardonnay under Stasis. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Torrin Vineyard
2945 Limestone Way, Templeton. 805-550-2058. www.torrinwine.com Meaning “of the hills,” Torrin Vineyard is aptly located in the hills of Santa Lucia. With 10 acres planted on rugged hillsides of high lime calcareous shale and siliceous shale, they are located a prime, growing sweet spot. The vineyard is planted with multiple clones of Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre with small blocks of Tannat and Cabernet Sauvignon. Not made the right way or the wrong way, Torrin wines are simply made their way. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
2900 Vineyard Dr., Templeton. 805-434-1030. www.turleywincellars.com
Twin Coyotes Winery
2020 Main St., Cambria. 805-927-9800. www.twincoyotes.com “Come Howl with us!” Proudly using only sustainably farmed grapes, twin brothers Steve and Stu started Twin Coyotes Winery with the idea that wines should be fun and environmentally sound. Protecting the land, employees and economic viability of the vineyard is a priority and the brothers look at the vineyard as a long-term investment that must be treated right. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Vantage Vineyards & Winery
1111 Riverside Ave., Paso Robles. 805-238-2720. www.vantagewines.com Vantage Vineyards & Winery occupies a unique niche in California wine history. Begun as a dream in the soul of a European immigrant in the 1930’s, it has matured into one of the largest and most significant wineries in the state. In the decades since the establishment of this wine country landmark it has consistently produced award-winning wines and become a favorite destination for visitors from all over the world. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Venteux Vineyards
1795 Las Tablas Rd., Templeton. 805-369-0127. www.venteuxvineyards.com Venteux Vineyards is suitably named as this exceptional estate is perfectly sited in the renowned “windy” Templeton Gap. The dry-farmed, headtrained vines are planted exclusively to Rhone varietals. From soil to bottle, their sustainable handson approach allows them to uphold the highest level of care in the winemaking process. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Victor Hugo Winery
2850 El Pomar, Templeton. 805-434-1128. www.victorhugowinery.com A small family-owned and operated winery in a renovated 100-year-old redwood barn in Templeton, Victor Hugo produces award-winning wines focusing on intense hand-crafted reds including Petite Sirah and Opulence. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
VINO Central Coast Edition
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Winter/Spring 2016
55
Wineries & Tasting Rooms Vines on the Maycrest
Wild Horse Winery & Vineyard
In the spirit of the great wine producers of the southern Rhone and the bodegas of Rioja and Priorat, blending is what Villa Creek does best. The area’s finest Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Tempranillo Vineyards are just a stone’s throw from the west Paso Robles winery where these blends are lovingly produced by winemaker Cris Cherry and his wife JoAnn. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Vines on the Marycrest is the name behind Rhone blends such as “Heart of Glass”,”’Round Midnight”, “Satin Doll” and their multiple Gold Medal winning Zinfandel blend, “My Generation”. Varietal releases include Syrah, Petite Sirah, Mourvedre, Zinfandel from the Remo Belli Vineyard, and ultra small lots of Barbera, Tempranillo, Grenache and Late Harvest Syrah dessert wine. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Founded in 1981, Wild Horse Winery & Vineyards is named after the mustangs that once roamed the hills east of the vineyard estate. The mustangs represent the free and noble spirit that embodies their winemaking and wines. They source Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from the best vineyards throughout the Central Coast — from Santa Barbara to Monterey. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Villa San-Juliette Winery
Vista Del Ray Vineyards
Windward Vineyard
Meaning King’s View in Spanish, Vista Del Rey Vineyards is named for the panoramic view of the Santa Lucia Mountains and founder Dave King. Experience the many styles of Zinfandel, Barbera and more, from this acclaimed dry-farmed vineyard. Gourmet food products, local wine country art items and Zinfandel educational materials are available. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Named for the cool ocean winds that breeze through the Templeton Gap, Windward Vineyard Pinot Noir is a testimony to the area’s unique microclimate and terroir. Windward Vineyard has been producing exclusive 100% Estate-grown, Burgundian-style Pinot Noir for over 20 years. Their tasting room offers daily vertical tasting of four vintages. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
WCP Cellars
Zenadia Cellars
Villa Creek Cellars
5995 Peachy Canyon Rd., Paso Robles. 805-238-7145. www.villacreekwine.com
6385 Cross Canyon Rd., San Miguel. 805-467-0014. www.villasanjuliette.com Villa San-Juliette Vineyard and Winery is a luxurious destination, offering premium wines and scenic views enhanced by a Tuscan-style setting on the 168-acre estate. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Villicana Winery
2725 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles. 805-239-9456. www.villicanawiery.com Villicana winery was created as the result of a culinary school pursuit when Alex Villicana decided to pursue his love of food and wine and enrolled in a culinary program in Los Angeles. There his love for food and wine pairings led him to create his own wine. Villicana Winery is also home to RE:FIND Distillery, Paso Robles’ first craft distillery. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Vina Robles
3700 Mill Rd., Paso Robles. 805-227-4812. www.vinarobles.com Vina Robles crafts wines that represent a stylistic bridge between the Old and New worlds. Specializing in varieties that excel in the complex soils and nuanced microclimates of Paso Robles, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah, Vina Robles also embraces unconventional blends as an opportunity to create wines of distinctive quality and character. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
VinAlegre Winery
Paso Robles. 805-400-8829. www.vinalegre.com With a belief that the land is everything and that keeping vines happy makes for the best wine, VinAlegre creates100% Cabernet, a 100% Merlot, and a 100% Primitivo. For the white/light red enthusiasts, they make a dry Bordeaux-style Rosé from the Cabernet and Merlot with a little Primitivo using the saigneé method of extracting the rosé juice. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
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Winter/Spring 2016
5076 Mustard Creek Rd., Paso Robles. 805-237-0378. www.vinesonthemaycrest.com
7340 Drake Rd., Paso Robles. 805-467-2138. www.vdrvineyards.com
Paso Robles. www.wcpcellars.com Specializing in rich, bold wines, WCP Cellars create handcrafted, artisanal style wines that are enjoyable paired with food or sipping with friends, many varietals being Spanish and Italian favorites. Private tasting can be arranged while their new tasting room is being set up in Templeton. At WCP Cellars they believe in “Passionate wines from dynamic vines.” Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Whalebone Winery
8325 Vineyard Dr., Paso Robles. 805-239-9020. www.whalebonevineyard.com Whalebone Vineyard is a family owned and operated winery on the Vineyard Drive wine trail in Paso Robles. Specializing primarily in red wines, especially Cabernet Sauvignon, the vineyard is 100% dryfarmed in limestone and calcareous soil laden with fossilized whalebones and seashells. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
1437 Wild Horse Winery Court, Templeton. 805-788-6310. www.wildhorsewinery.com
1380 Live Oak Rd., Paso Robles. 805-239-2565. www.windwardvineyard.com
1550 Highway 46 West, Paso Robles. 805-227-0382. www.zenadiacellars.com Zenaida Cellars wines are made using only the highest quality fruit from our estate vineyard and our small group of Paso Robles AVA growers. The winery occupies the original homestead of the property, dating back over 100 years and utilizes the same lowimpact philosophy in the vineyard and in the winery, that farming and living sustainably will produce higher quality wines and leave the land in better condition. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
ZinAlley
3730 Highway 46 West, Templeton. 805-238-0959. www.zinalley.com Planted in 1996, Zinalley is dry-farmed and uses no sprays, pesticides or fertilizer. 500 out of their annual 950 case production is dedicated to Zinfandel. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Wild Coyote Estate Winery
3775 Adelaida Rd., Paso Robles. 805-610-1311. www.wildcoyote.biz Family owned and operated since 1995, Wild Coyote Estate Winery was one of the first 20 wineries in the region. Known as the “House of Reds” for their big, bold, unfiltered wines, Wild Coyote is limited estate grown, dry-farmed and one of the few 100% pure varietal regional producers. Notes:_____________________________________ __________________________________________
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
MARCH 2016 March 18-20
During Vintage Paso, producers and enthusiasts come together in celebration of everything that Zinfandel and the Other Wild Wines of Paso Robles add to your palate and your experience. Enjoy a zin-filled weekend with activities including winemaker dinners, exclusive Zinfandel tastings, winery and vineyard tours and so much more! Contact: 805-239-8463
Mitchella Vineyard and Winery is hosting an allyou-can-eat-crab feed with salad, bread and a glass of wine on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3. Price is $50 per person or $40 for wine club members. For more information, call 805239-8555 or visit mitchella.com.
Calendar of Events
Vintage Paso: Zinfandel Festival Location: Paso Robles area wineries
VINO Central Coast Edition
Saturday Live at Vina Robles
Vina Robles Winery will host Dulcie Taylor from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, April 2 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 vinarobles.com.
March 26
Vineyard tour and barrel tasting
Join Wild Coyote Estate Winery for a vineyard tour and barrel tasting at 10 a.m. with owner/ winemaker Gianni Manucci. Cost is $22 per person wind includes memorable tasting glass and free tasting. RSVP required. For more information, call 805-610-1311 or visit wild coyote.biz.
Saturday Live at Vina Robles
Crab Feed
Art After Dark Paso
The first Saturday of each month, downtown businesses and wineries hold artists receptions with live music and wine tasting from 5 to 8 p.m. as part of ARTS Obispo/San Luis Obispo County Arts Council. Many wineries offer free snacks and some offer free wine tasting. For more information, call 805-544-9251 or go to artsobispo.org.
April 3 Crab Feed
Vina Robles Winery will host Chris Beland from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, March 26 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 vinarobles.com.
Mitchella Vineyard and Winery is hosting an allyou-can-eat-crab feed with salad, bread and a glass of wine on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3. Price is $50 per person or $40 for wine club members. For more information, call 805239-8555 or visit mitchella.com.
APRIL 2016
Estate Angus BBQ burgers
April 1
Jazz under the Stars
Bring your friends and a picnic dinner to Pear Valley to enjoy live jazz music from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Wines will be available for purchase by the glass or bottle. Concerts featuring local musicians are offered the first Friday of the month. For more information, call 805-237-2861 or visit pearvalley.com.
April 2
Winemaker's Dinner
Jose Dahan is back for the fifth year to prepare a memorable dinner for Kukkula. The evening will start at 6 p.m. with appetizers and wine pairings in the tasting room with dinner to follow on the crush pad. A shuttle to and from the event will be available for an additional cost. Cost is $130 per person; $110 for wine club members. For more information, call 805-227-0111 or visit kukkulawine.com.
Vineyard tour and barrel tasting
Join Wild Coyote Estate Winery for a vineyard tour and barrel tasting at 10 a.m. with owner/ winemaker Gianni Manucci. Cost is $22 per person wind includes memorable tasting glass and free tasting. RSVP required. For more information, call 805-610-1311 or visit wild coyote.biz.
Published by the Paso Robles Press
April 9
Oso Libre Estate Angus beef burgers with Chef Jeff Scott from noon to 3 p.m.. Cost is $13 per person. Wine available for purchase by the glass or bottle. For more information, call 805-2383378 or visit osolibre.com.
Vineyard tour and barrel tasting
Join Wild Coyote Estate Winery for a vineyard tour and barrel tasting at 10 a.m. with owner/ winemaker Gianni Manucci. Cost is $22 per person wind includes memorable tasting glass and free tasting. RSVP required. For more information, call 805-610-1311 or visit wild coyote.biz.
Saturday Live at Vina Robles
Vina Robles Winery will host Mike Annuzzi from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, April 2 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 vinarobles.com.
April 16
Private Winemaker Dinner
Wild Coyote Estate Winery is having a familystyle winemaker dinner. Seating is limited to 20. RSVP required. Cost is $80 per person; $70 for wine club members. For more information, call 805-239-4770 or visit wildcoyote.biz.
Winter/Spring 2016
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Saturday Live at Vina Robles
Vina Robles Winery will host Danielle Taylor from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, April 2 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 vinarobles.com.
MAY 2016 May 19-22
Paso Robles Wine Festival
April 23
Saturday Live at Vina Robles
Vina Robles Winery will host Melody Klemin from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, April 2 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 vinarobles.com.
Earth Day Food and Wine Weekend
The 10th annual Earth Day Food and Wine Festival main event will take place on Saturday, April 23 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. For more information, call 805-3692288 or go to earthdayfoodandwine.com.
Vineyard tour and barrel tasting
Join Wild Coyote Estate Winery for a vineyard tour and barrel tasting at 10 a.m. with owner/ winemaker Gianni Manucci. Cost is $22 per person wind includes memorable tasting glass and free tasting. RSVP required. For more information, call 805-610-1311 or visit wild coyote.biz.
Paso Robles Wine Country, Wine Enthusiast’s 2013 Wine Region of the Year, invites you to see first-hand what makes this region a star! Join us for the Annual Wine Festival — a celebration of the innovation, triumphs and character of this spectacular region, May 19-22, 2016. The Annual Wine Festival kicks off Thursday, May 19, with a selection of Winemaker Dinners. On Friday, May 20, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. select wineries feature their Library, Reserve, White/ Rosé, and Futures with fresh and local gourmet bites at the Reserve Event. On Saturday, May 21, from noon to 4 p.m. more than 60 wineries come together in the Paso Robles Downtown City Park to showcase their wines alongside culinary samplings, special tastings and seminars during the Grand Tasting. Wineries at the Grand Tasting will be arranged by five “regions” for a seamless and focused tasting experience: Bordeaux-style, Rhônestyle, Zinfandel, Burgundian-style and Other Wild Wines for your tasting pleasure. For more information, visit pasowine.com.
Wine…Pizza…Fun… Wine…Pizza…Fun…
1320 B Pine St. Paso Robles, CA
Join us at J&J Cellars this Summer for our
Weekend Kickoff
805.237.8533
FOUND GOODS
VINTAGE
REVIVAL
thecottageonpine.com
JJCELLARS.COM 805.467.2891 2850 Ranchita Canyon Rd. San Miguel, CA 93451
Fridays 4:30 pm - 7:30 pm Tasting Room Hours Mon 11-4 | Fri 11-7:30 Sat & Sun 11-5
1320 B Pine St.•Paso Robles TheCottageonPine.com•805.237.8533
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Winter/Spring 2016
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO
Roxo Port Cellars is a family-owned winery specializing in the production of premium Port-style wines. Fueled by a passion for Old-World port wines and the belief that they could be mastered in the New World, winemaker Jeff Steele took the challenge, and the result is meticulously balanced, fruit-forward port-style wines.
6996 Peachy Canyon Rd, Paso Robles, CA 93446 • 805-238-1600 • www.roxocellars.com
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Winter/Spring 2016
Published by the Paso Robles Press
Central Coast Edition VINO