VINO ROLLS OUT HARVEST 2012 ISSUE AT TASTING

            The wine lifestyle publication VINO , hosted its latest group of Rockstar Winemakers at an issue roll-out and tasting last Friday. The winemakers pouring, and profiled in the harvest edition of the magazine, included; Joey Arnold of Pozo Valley, Lood Kotze from Cass Vineyards, Carmine Rubino and Mike Mooney of D'Anbino and Chateau Margene/Moody Family wineries respectively. Halter Ranch's Kevin Sass and Guillaume Fabre from Clos Solene L'Aventure were also included in the six "rockstars" in the latest issue. The (dare I say) pressing demands of harvest kept them from participating in the tasting but are wineries with which I am familiar. Check out the group on line or in print and plan to add a visit to your next tasting tour of the area.

Without going into a lot of tasting note details, it was a great group of winemakers with vastly different methods of entering the business. Pozo remains a working family cattle ranch and offered a selection of 2006 Zin, Cab and Black Rock blend. It is rare to see that vintage being poured or even for sale in these days of three years and out the door being the standard sales cycle. Yes, Joey told me, "I have the hat and we still have the cattle.

Carmine uses his music production background and that of his nephew/partner John D'Andrea to style his wines with musical references on the labels at D' Anbino. These included Quadrophonic '07, a four wine Bordeaux blend that adds Syrah to the mix and a Syrah, Cab &Petite Syrah combination, Orchestration '07.

Lood (a South African moniker) opened the Cass '09  Flying Nymph, a blend combining Syrah, Mourvedre and Grenache. Other recent Rhone bottlings were also sampled and he discussed his formal education in wine and travels throughout the world in perfecting his skills.

Mike Mooney came from a corporate tech sales background and is determined to make a very few thousand cases of really nice Pinot (under the Family label) and Cabernet with the occasional experiment with other varietals just to keep things interesting at Chateau Margene. Meritage and a super Tuscan style are offered as Chateau Margene while Rhone varietals fall under the Moody Family label.

RESOURCES (PART ONE) FOR PLANNING TOURS & TASTINGS

            Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance (pasowine.com) – The PRWCA is the organization  that represents the largest group of wineries in the region. It is a membership group that markets the destination on a national basis and is responsible for several large wine events throughout the year. The web site is very well done and a great tool for those coming to area and locals alike. Tour planning, maps and in depth profiles of wineries are there as well as lodging options and dining recommendations. Details on events and ticketing is also included. There is so much to tell, I'll do a separate posting on the organization soon. When looking at the site, just know that only about 50% of the area wineries are members. There are four other Paso centric subset organizations, shown below.

            Far Out Wineries (faroutwineries.com) - This is a group that promotes nearly 20 wineries on the western fringe of the AVA or along the Adelaida and Peach Canyon roads the connect Paso to Vineyard Rd., the westernmost north-south connector. They offer a brochure specific to the touring of their "out there" neighbors.

            Paso chapter of Rhone Rangers (RhoneRangers.org & email pasorobles@ rhonerangers.org) - Is a state wide organization dedicated to Rhone varietals and Paso Robles is a major grower of the well and lesser known wine grapes they promote. There are over four dozen wineries in the area that focus on these wines and most are members of the local chapter. While many also make wine from non-Rhone types, they are a good resource for those seeking to focus on that style. A tasting pamphlet for the group is available.  

            Pleasant Valley Wine Trail (pleasantvalleywinetrail.com) – Pleasant Valley is in the NE corner of the Paso Robles AVA and is easily reached via San Miguel off Hwy 101. Most are small family operations and some have limited hours of tasting room operations. Check the web site. Currently, there are ten member wineries.

            Union Road Wine Trail (unionroadwinetrail.com) - This small group of wineries is located on a road parallel to E Hwy 46 and offers some quality wines that are often passed by due to the large number of well known wineries on the highway. A dozen wineries are in the group, including a port style producer. Close together, they are a great side trip from the beaten path, mostly small and quiet with sometimes limited hours. The exception is the locally popular and old-west-raucous tasting room at Tobin James, open daily and usually busy with multiple tasting bars.

            Cambria Wine Trail - Likely the shortest set of wineries to comprise a trail, the four wineries involved seem to no longer run a web site. But all are within a couple of blocks of each other in downtown for those enjoying the lovely beach village of Cambria. The individual wineries can be found at Black Hand, Moonstone, Red Poets & Skyhawk Lane.

            Paso Robles Wine Grape Growers Association (pasorobleswinegrapes.com) - This organization is a trade group and the local branch of the International Grape Growers, a viticultural group dedicated to improving the quality of wine grapes and farming practices. They are a good source of information in that field and on current methods in use in the Paso Robles AVA. They do have social events as well and non-members are welcome. These are posted on their web page.

ON THE CALENDAR

Well, it's good to be back and blogging after nearly a month of tech headaches. But, new laptop and operating systems are now up and running and I'm trying to catch up.

Here are some of the big fun events coming up in the next week or two.

            VINO is rolling out the latest edition of its wine lifestyle magazine this Friday (21st) in conjunction with a "Rock Star Winemakers" tasting. Join the juice jockeys from 3 to 5PM at the Niblick Rd. Albertsons in Paso Robles. On hand will be winemakers from Pozo Valley, L'Adventure/Clos Solene, Cass, Chateau Margene, D'Anbino and Halter Ranch. Tastings of recent releases are available for those of legal age, and autographed bottles will be offered for sale. VINO is also developing a web site at www.vinopasorobles.com.

            Savor the Central Coast (www.savorcentralcoast.com), a major annual gathering of wine and food fans, takes place beginning Thursday the 27th and runs through Sunday.  The main location is Santa Margarita Ranch but events include many locations in the region.

Celebrating three years with Sunset Magazine as the title sponsor, the festivities include celeb chefs such as Susan Feniger of Mandalay Bay and Food Network stars Aarti Sequeira from Aarti's Party and Ted Allen from Chopped. The event has an array of events (many of which have sold out), beginning with a gourmet kick off dinner at Hearst Castle on Thursday. The 28th features a variety of small group adventure tours, with some still having openings, plus the international wine competition and grand tasting in Pismo Beach. This includes a dinner (also sold out) but still has room for the reception and after party available.

The Sat/Sun main event, with tickets available for $85 per day or $150 the weekend, provides access to the primary public tasting and associated seminars for a $20 charge from the menu of topics covered. Local residents can check the box when buying tickets and receive a 15% discount for the main event. Check the web site for those listings and various cooking demonstrations and contest style shows. Tickets remain for the Santa Maria BBQ seminar on Saturday (2PM) and the Lamb Jam at 2:30 on Sunday.

One of the still open (50 slots remain as of this writing) events could well be the most fun and a huge value. Known as Paso Glow, it is a wine/beer garden plus Santa Maria style BBQ event with a group of well regarded local chefs from restaurants such as Villa Creek, Thomas Organics, Paso Robles Inn and Artisan, features meats from Harris Ranch and the mobile smokehouse of the Dean Brothers. Grammy award winning recording artists Rio Salinas will provide a Tex-Mex groove for your dancing pleasure. Starting at 6 in the evening, the cost is only $75!

Mary Ann, event marketing guru, suggests you plan early for next year if your favorite event has booked to the max this year! I still see many opportunities remain for a great weekend of Central Coast culture at the main event and a few openings remaining for the Friday adventure tours. These run from 10 to 2 and include lunch with wine.

            Fans of things that fly, including one of the original flying wing concepts, are looking forward to the Warbirds Over Paso airshow (www.ewarbirds.org). Held at the Paso Robles airport's Estrella Warbirds Museum (with co-sponsor Planes of Fame Museum) on Saturday the 29th, gates open at 8AM. Children under 12 and active military with ID are free. The $20 regular admission fee provides access to the car museum and static aircraft display as well as fly-overs and the opportunity to see a variety of WWII fighters and bombers. Some aircraft are offering ride-along opportunities. Food and beverage vendors will be on hand, including a Firestone-Walker beer garden, to sustain all the pilots, vets and those who fly or wish they could.