All of our wines are made from our estate fruit grown at our sustainably farmed Speciale and D’Alessio vineyards in Paso Robles, California.  We produce all our electrical energy from solar arrays; all our water comes from a deep aquifer; we plant native grasses between our rows for fertilizer; we shred and mulch all our prunings back into our soil.  We use a very low level fungicide to control mildew. Most of our wines will be blended.

We hand-tend and hand-harvest our Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre.  We produce only in small amounts, less than two tons an acre — between 250 – 300 cases each year. Each varietal is well suited to our terroir: 750’ elevation, hot days and cool nights with temperatures ranging from 100° – 55° F, early morning moisture, late afternoon breezes, loam and limestone soils on a gentle southwesterly slope.

We hand pick our grapes, put them in small trays which hold about 25 pounds. Then the trays are “wheeled” in little yellow wagons to my pickup truck where they transferred into a small “picking/fermenting” bin. They are then quickly shuttled to a neighbor’s winery less than a quarter of a mile away. All in less than one hour!

We hand transfer, using plastic pitchforks and shovels, the just picked fruit into a destemer, which separates the berries from the cluster, and flows the grape juice, called “must,” into plastic fermenting bins, The Crush. This immediate and gentle handling will help us keep many of the berries whole.  Some of the fermentation will be under the skin of those whole berries and will produce a more intense and concentrated flavor. The “punch-down,” a hand’s on process, three times a day, will allow the must to actively give off carbon dioxide and help the yeast convert the sugars into alcohol.

After fermentation is completed the wine is “pressed off” the skins and seeds (using a bladder press) and transferred to new oak barrels. Each varietal will be barreled separately. The maturing wine will sit on new French and new Hungarian oak, medium to medium + toast, for 15-18 months, during which time we will hand “rack” three or four times removing the “lees” and “topping off” the barrels.When the wine is ready it will be selectively blended into two, three or four distinct offerings. We hand bottle, without filtering, then allow the wines to “rest” for 2-3 months before they are shipped to our club members.

THE CLONES

We have planted close to 2,300 vines, about two and one quarter acres. Zinfandel is represented by two clones, Wine Creek and Dupratt. The Cabernet Sauvignon is Foundation Plant Stock #2 (FPS 02). The Syrah clone is Tablas Creek Vineyard Selection “F” (TCVS-F). The Grenache clone is ENTAV 362 (The National Technical Establishment for the Improvement of Viticulture, France), [Tablas Creek clone TCVS-D]. The Mourvedre clone is ENTAV 369 [Tablas Creek clone TCVS-A].

The Zinfandel clone, Wine Creek, comes with quite a history. It is a favorite of Fred Peterson who planted it above Dry Creek, Sonoma. It is incorporated in the vineyards of Ridge and Atlas Peak. Cuttings were taken from the 100+ year-old vines at Bradford Mountain Vineyards, Sonoma. It will offer a traditional, mouth-filling blackberry, earthy taste with well-balanced acid and fruit.

The Zinfandel clone, Dupratt, is from Mendocino’s Dupratt family vineyard. The Dupratts, in 1916, planted this Zinfandel in the Anderson Valley, at an elevation of 1,200 feet. Today less than six acres remain in production. The fruit produced here commands the highest prices for Zinfandel. This clone will produce a fruit forward, (anise, blackberry) flavor with low acid.

The Cabernet Sauvignon clone, FPS 02, was planted in the late 19th Century in the vineyards of Chateau Margaux and Lafitte Rothschild. In 1940 it was propagated by the Kundes to their estate vineyard in Sonoma. It became known as the Oakville Selection when chosen by Dr. Harold Olmo as the second vine to be designated F.P.S. (Foundation Plant Services) by the department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Davis. This clone will provide our blend with structure, body and tannins. The tastes will include hints of cassis, cedar and black cherry. It will carry a long, full finish.

The Syrah clone, TCVS-F, is an import from the Rhone Valley via Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles. The Perrin family, partners in Tablas Creek and owners of France’s famous Chateau de Beaucastel, have successfully immigrated many Rhone Valley vines to Paso Robles. This clone will produce a wine with flavors of currants and black pepper. It will contribute a deep purple-red color to the blend and will soften its finish.

The Grenache clone, ENTAV 362, (Tablas Creek clone TCVS-D) is the most prolific grape of the Rhone valley and is a staple of Chateau de Beaucastel and Jacques Perrin. It is a rigious grower and has to be pruned heavily. We will keep the plant’s production to only ten clusters. Since it lends itself to head trained growth we will plant a portion of the D’Alessio Vineyard in that manner. The nose will be of licorice and black pepper. It produces fruit-forward tastes of cherry and currant with a deep rudy-red color. It will help balance our blends by offering some acidity to the mix.

The Mourvedre clone, ENTAV 369, (Tablas Creek clone TCVS-A), came from vineyards in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It produces a sophisticated fruit that will add structure and tannin to our blends. It should do well in the D’Alessio Vineyard with its heat and clay/limestone soils. Mourvedre likes to have its “head” hot and its “feet” wet. In hot, long growing seasons it will give us fruit laden with blackberries and spice.

TASTING NOTES

When you drink our wines please remember three things:

We make them in a French style.

A typical Paso Robles blend incorporating Syrah is usually fruit forward, that is, a big cherry or jamy nose and tastes that are immediate and powerful. Like a great martini – wonderful by itself but not too subtle. Our wines are more complex, more balanced, more sophisticated. Our nose offers hints of spice, dark berries and anise. The first sip will be “mouth-filling” tastes of leather, oak and sandalwood. Our complexity shines in our finish — a lingering presence of cassis,  and pepper on the back of your tongue.

We make them to be paired with food.

Our blends complement food. Light meats such as pork, chicken, rabbit, veal and game birds are wonderfully paired with our wines. Try them with steelhead salmon or seared ahi. Sharp cheeses such as Reggiano Parmigiano, white Vermont Cheddar, or English Stilton are also excellent accompaniments.

We make them to be even better 5-8 years from harvest.

Drink them now but “lay down” some for later. If you want some now please vigorously decant before serving, or, if you don’t care to decant, remove the cork and leave uncorked for at least one hour. Our wine needs to be oxygenated (“breath”) because we make it with pronounced tannins. The tannins will allow it to age properly and develop even more complexities. If you “lay down” our wine, remember to keep it in a consistently cool (55° – 57° F), humid and dark environment. And, as the term suggests, lay it on its side.