Friday morning we visited Alta Colina’s beautiful vineyards where we were treated to the first signs of veraison, the change in color of the grapes berries. The Mourvedre blocks were well on their way and the Syrah was just beginning.
It was too beautiful to keep to ourselves.
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The other day we walked into the airconditioned bliss of the Paso Wine Centre to escape the unholy heat that’s descended on this town. An interesting looking couple walked in right after us and they turned out to be the creators of an equally interesting web site called Vine-yl,
The self-proclaimed “bastard live child of a music geek and a wine freak” (Derek and Sara, respectively) the site harnesses the couple’s skills as writers (they create screenplays and comedies in Los Angeles) and passion for wine and music (Derek spins at Palihouse on Fridays) to pair an album (yes, vinyl, hence the site’s name) with a bottle of wine.
This is something we can relate to, being mightily into music as well as wine. New pairings go up every week (usually on Thursdays, so go check it out) and Sara and Derek even tell you where to buy the albums they recommend, via customized links to Amazon but, and provide an insidery list of a dozen or so of their favorite wine stores dotted hither and yon across the country (and one in England) plus a few online retailers that sell the wine they recommend.
The site looks and feels like a zine, which we love: handcrafted, a bit ramshackle but all passion which, now that we think about it, reminds us of what we love most about our favorite wines and music too..
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Sharing.
Sharing a bottle. Sharing advice. Even sharing wine making facilities and space. Sharing is a huge part of how wine gets made and why it’s so enjoyable to drink. Heck, Alta Colina wouldn’t even have a tasting room except for the generous and sharing nature of their neighbors at Villacana (awesome women’s t-shirts in their tasting room, btw). Earlier this year Villacana owners Alex and Monica offered to let first-time winemaker Bob Tillman use their equipment and rented them an unused portion of their building so they could turn it into a cozy upstairs tasting room.
This is where we met Meg after a short drive down Adelaida Road, one of the most scenic winery-laden byways in the Paso Robles area. Her family’s brand new winery just finished its first bottling (2007) from their 31 acre vineyard of Rhone varietals, some of which were bought by the venerated Justin Vineyards & Winery–a good sign in and of itself.
No doubt these are incredibly young vines (just three years old). However, the extremely refreshing and rounded white blend of Marsanne, Rousanne and Greanche Blanc, the pleasingly light GSM, two radically different Syrahs (one from grapes blended from different blocks of vines in the vineyard and one made exclusively from grapes grown in the mysteriously superior block #9) plus a pleasantly metallic/tobacco-laced Petite Syrah don’t taste like young’ins. (The winery’s viognier is still fermenting in the barrels but we can’t wait to taste that too.)
Prices are on the high end ($28-$48), which Meg explained as a conscious decision by her father who believes that the wine is and will continue to be worth the price (particularly the 2008 Claudia Cuvee and the 2007 Old 900 Syrah, if you ask us) so rather than start out with lower first-bottling prices then have to raise them on people Mr. Tillman wanted to set the bar where he feels it belongs from the outset.
Tasting room hours
Thursday – Sunday 11AM – 5PM.
Free or fee?
$5 (free for wine club members)
Bar snacks
Wrapped morsels of Dove dark chocolate on the tasting room bar
Soundtrack
Billy Holiday
Bottle prices
$28-$48
Wine club
Yes and accepting new members. Alta Colina’s club offers a full 20% discount to members and only members of their wine club can buy the wonderfully earthy and seductive 2007 Old 900 Syrah (from the magical vineyard #9) and the already sturdy 2007 Ann’s Block Petite Syrah.
What we walked out with
A bottle of the super-refreshing and so-drinkable 2008 Claudia Cuvee white blend (for a limited time you can get a case of this stuff for $240!) and a bottle of 2007 Old 900 Syrah.
More info
Winery profile from the Paso Robles Country Wine Alliance
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The name is awesome: Wine for Water. The idea is pretty awesome too–make money serving world-class wines made in Paso Robles, California (or at least made from grapes grown in Paso Robles) in a chic new downtown wine bar (rather dryly named the Paso Wine Centre) and give ALL profits to Wine for Water. The charity then turns that wine money into water by using it to drill wells and install tough-as-nails pumps that supply fresh, clean water to some of the most water-starved people on the planet.
The whole shebang is the brain child of an alarmingly tall man named Ryan Boersma who’s built like a rock climber (because that’s what he is) and has the heart of a true millennial philanthropist. See a problem. Feel a problem. Fix a problem.
Ryan saw the clean water problem (one billion people don’t have clean drinking water right this very minute) during trips to India, Kazakhstan and Guatemala. As bad at the water situation is there, its even worse in Ethiopia so that’s where Ryan started solving the problem, using his own money to install the first Wine for Water well in early 2009 (each well costs about $5,000, will serve the entire community and will last for years).
While Wine for Water is certainly not the only charity focused on the issue of access to clean water, it is one of the most innovative for a number of reasons that add up to more water and less waste. First, Ryan realized that he can raise more money by opening the Paso Wine Centre as a business, then donating all profits to Wine for Water vs. just trying to get direct tax-deductible donations to Wine for Water (which are still very much appreciated, by the way). Second, Ryan maximizes the effectiveness of every penny by partnering with an existing clean water action group in Africa which gives him access to pricey infrastructure stuff like vehicles so he doesn’t have to buy them himself. Third, all profits after operating costs (like staff salaries and rent for the Paso Wine Centre) go straight to Wine for Water. ALL PROFITS.
The Paso Wine Centre has been open just six weeks and is slowly but surely attracting customers with its loft-like feel, inviting leather chairs and couches and bank of fancy enomatic wine-dispensing machines made in Italy that look like something out of The Jetsons’ kitchen. The enomatic system sucks the air out of an opened wine bottle, thus extending it’s shelf life–up to three weeks–after it’s opened. Ryan’s enomatic center dispenses nearly 50 different wines (about a hundred more are available by the bottle), with a refreshing focus on young labels and young/upstarty wine makers (one is called Chronic).
Ryan’s goal, beyond keeping those leather sofas full and that enomatic system pumping, is for Wine for Water to install more than 100 wells in Ethiopia over the next 18 months, so start sipping! If you’re in Paso Robles on August 22 (and you should be because that’s the same weekend the annual and aweseme Olive Festival plus free concerts in the park and the city’s ), stop by the Downtown Park Ballroom (1232 Park Street) from 4-6:30 for a special fund raiser for Wine for Water. Forty (tax deductible) bucks gets you in the door where you’ll enjoy tastings of area wines from Booker, Saxum, L’Aventure, Torrin, Jada, Terry Hoage and others plus hors’devours and a really warm and fuzzy feeling inside (from helping such a worthy cause, not from the wine).
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Yesterday we shut the computers down, put on our Paso Winos caps (figuratively speaking) and embarked on what we hope will be the first in an ongoing series of wine adventures in tasting rooms, vineyards, hotels, backyards, restaurants, bars and barns throughout Paso Robles, California. The Paso Winos Tasting Team made our first stop at August Ridge Vineyards, a winery that was brand new to us but already a winery-to-watch to Karen’s parents who live in Paso and embody the Wine Country Lifestyle.
August Ridge Vineyard was opened by Jill and John Backer in 2001 and they released their first vintage (2005) in 2007. The mostly-red wines are, in their own words, “Cal-Ital” style and lean heavily on Sangiovese, Barbera and Nebiolo grapes. All were delicious and enjoyable even at such a young age. The 2007 barbera, a varietal that’s getting harder and harder to find around here, was luscious and proper like a beautiful, but married, Italian woman and the 2006 Sangiovese was all bottled smiles, though the 2005 Sangiovese may have a bit too much alcohol (15.5%) for some, including Jill the owner.
The lone white wine currently being offered at August Ridge (a Sauvignon Blanc is rumored to be in the works) introduced us to an Italian varietal we’d never heard of: Arneis. With a clean, almost austere mouth-feel and a refreshing crispness capped off with an almost lemon-juice acidity at the finish the August Ridge Arneis beats the capris off Pinot Grigio any day.
Tasting room hours
Friday 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM and Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM or by appointment (call 805-239-2455).
Free or fee?
Free except for their two reserve wines for which a $5 fee covers both. Fee is waived upon purchase of a reserve bottle.
Bottle prices
$21-$44
Wine club
Yes and accepting new members–and with such small production numbers (fewer than 70 cases for some varietals) wine club members often get goodies that are never poured in the tasting room.
What we walked out with
1- 2008 Arneis, 1- 2006 Sangioves, 1- 2007 Barbera
More info
Winery profile from the Paso Robles Country Wine Alliance
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Paso Robles, CA
