Lookin’ Good, Feelin’ Good
As in much of the country this week, it has VERY hot in Paso these last few
days. Solidly over 100 degrees and Bob is showing a little leg to mother
nature in response! Ya’ look good Bob.
Showing posts tagged photos
The Beauty of AC Vineyard Never Ceases to Amaze!
This has been an unseasonably cool summer. Very few days have broken 100
degrees (or even 90 degrees for that matter). A few nights ago I was up on
the Vineyard with some friends after a strange sunny/shady/sunny/shady kind
of a day and for the first time in months the view from the Vineyard was
obstructed by clouds. But, despite what seemed like bad weather, we saw the
most spectacular sunset of the summer. Alta Colina Vineyard always delivers!
Country Living with the Biggest of Ballers!
Check out who was waiting for me in my driveway yesterday. I went to
college in New York City—there were definitely some interesting characters
between me and my front door there occasionally…But no one as ballsy as
this guy!
Vineyard Checkup with Bob and Friends!
Well, this morning Bob and I popped up to the Vineyard with Elizabeth and Sandy before opening the tasting room. They are both from the Bay Area and in the wine business but even knowing many of the intimate details of the wine industry we still got a great “wow” when we came over the hill.
As always, Alta Colina Vineyard is looking beautiful, and with 100 degree temperatures all week the grapes are turning a maturation corner and the harvest itch is setting in. We’re looking at starting in about 3 weeks, which puts us about 3 weeks behind last year. So far so good and most of the excitement is still to come! We’ll keep you posted as things progress around here.
An Affair to Remember!
A man and his beverage. It’s a beautiful thing!
I think a photo series may be in order here—Alta Colina being enjoyed across the world!Tattle Taling on a Rattle Tail!
via facebook.com
Though we do not condone underage drinking, we do condone this baby rattler’s choice of spirits.
Thanks to our good friends Nate and Justin Faggioli for capturing this photo. We are very happy they made it out alive!
The Vineyard is Growing Growing Growing
It’s currenly late June, and over the last 3 months the Vineyard has gone crazy! This happens every year and yet, every year, we’re surprised and excited by the growth on the Vineyard.
As soon as bud break happens in late spring those vines really get moving. Bud break itself is exciting but always makes you think, just for a second, “here we go again”! Bud break also marks a vulnerability in the vines that we don’t need to worry about while they’re dormant. As soon as there is any green visible on those vines we worry about freezes, temperatures that are too cold or too hot, wind damage, pests, animals, irrigating (but not too much), and a million other things that could ultimately affect the Vineyard (and it turn the wine).
Despite all those potential issues, the Vineyard grows and an amazing rate these first few months of the growing season. Priority number 1 for our vines from bud break to about now is canopy growth—the leafy portion of the vine grows like crazy! Bob, Dean Harrell (our Vineyard manager), and I walked the entire Vineyard on Monday and found every block except our Mourvedre block has finished with its canopy growth and is now working on growing the clusters of grapes.
Check out these photos to see all the progress the Vineyard has made over the last 6 months—from dormancy to being fully and totally awake!
In One End & Out the Other
Vintage number two is officially in bottle and resting in the cellar!
Bottling day is one of the most exciting days at the winery. It’s also one of the most tedious. And one of the most stressful. Figure, one mistake can cost us cases of wines so we need to be paying at least a little attention. But most of the tasks involve standing in the same place for hours doing the same menial task over and over. And over. After a few thousand repetitions and a very long 8 or 9 hour day, all 920 cases of Alta Colina’s second vintage made it unscathed into bottle and into the cellar.
We started with the 2009 12 O’Clock High, our new white blend, because it takes a slightly different set up on the mobile bottling line. After bottling over 200 cases of our new Viognier blend we moved on to bottle over 200 cases of 2008 Toasted Slope Syrah, 75 cases of Old 900 Syrah, over 200 cases of 2008 GSM, 125 cases of 2008 Ann’s Block Petite Sirah, and another 50 cases of our Keystone Syrah.
The white is available to taste right now and the Petite Sirah has been released but we are not currently pouring it in the tasting room. The other wines need some time to rest in the cellar—they’re not quite ready to be poured in the tasting room. We’re planning on a late summer/early fall release.
It’s still early but man, these are gonna be good!
RIP Block 9 Syrah
As of this morning Block 9 is officially Grenache, bringing our total planted Grenache from 2.28 acres to 5.48. While it is completely heartbreaking to see 5 year old Syrah vines being ripped from the ground we look forward to having more Grenache to work with.
Block 9 was originally planted to an Alban clone of Syrah. Alban Vineyard is one of the staples of premium Central Coast viticulture. That vineyard is located about 45 minutes south of us in the Edna Valley where it is much cooler during the day and warmer overnight.
Before planting the Vineyard in 2005 a few people did advise against using Alban clones because Paso is generally so hot but we went for it anyway! We actually planted both Blocks 8 and 9 to different Alban clones in 2005. Unfortunately, the combination of soil, climate, and clonal selection on Block 8 just wasn’t working. This is really a case of us not giving that clone what it needed to produce the kinds of wines it is capable of, not the other way around. Despite deciding to re-plant Block 8 we were half right in our decision to plant an Alban clone — Block 9 is now a favorite as it produces our Old 900 Syrah.
So, with much respect we bid farewell to Block 9 Syrah and now welcome Block 9 Grenache. Again, we’ll give this our best shot and hopefully in 3 years you’ll be tasting an incredible Alta Colina Grenache!
All the Way Back…
Bob is the kind of guy that doesn’t do anything until he can really do it right! So, even though he’s wanted to plant a vineyard since the late 1970’s, he didn’t get around to it until 2004 when all the pieces were finally in place.
He knew he needed acreage in an area with the appropriate soil and climate combination to get the best wines out of the vines. He found those two components in Paso Robles after moving to SLO County in 1997. After a few years drinking wines from Paso (he didn’t just drink wine, he did have to go to work occasionally) he felt confident that this area can produce the kind of wines he wants to make and likes to drink. Paso Robles is made up of over 600,000 acres, so after narrowing his search to Paso he had to narrow it even more to find the right micro-climate within the AVA. After a year of looking at property, Bob and Lynn purchased the 130 acre parcel off of Adelaida Road on the Westside of Paso.
And then the real work started!
The vineyard was planted in 2005 and in 2009 we released our first vintage. Check out the photo gallery for this post to see a few pictures of Alta Colina Vineyard before it was The Vineyard and a few photos of the Tillman family planting the first vines. See the previous post for the photo of Ann Walsh (Lynn’s mother) planting Vine #1.
