The Juice

Producer Profile: PEACHY CANYON Winery

Like so many families looking for the good life in the early 1980s, the Beckett family – owners of CAB Collective member PEACHY CANYON Winery – moved to Paso Robles. Since producing their first barrel in 1988, their focus has been Zinfandel, but PEACHY CANYON also produces several Bordeaux-varietal wines to both popular and critical acclaim.

When Josh Beckett stepped down as winemaker to enter more of a consulting role at PEACHY CANYON, he hired the experienced Terry Culton, whom wine critic Robert Parker called a “top-flight winemaker” and whose CV includes work at nearby Adelaida Cellars, as well as Calera Wine Co., Willamette Valley Vineyards, Edmeades and Wildhorse.

Today, Terry is taking PEACHY CANYON into a new season of accolades, particularly with the winery’s Bordeaux offerings. The 2011 Malbec, for example, has won numerous awards including the Double Gold at the 2014 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

While most PEACHY CANYON wines are aged in French, Hungarian or American oak barrels, the winery also has a history of fermenting and aging some wines in concrete, as inspired by European winemaking. For example, the Para Siempre Bordeaux blend is aged in concrete, which lends a distinct minerality to the wine, accentuating the aromas of blackcurrant, baking spices and vanilla while also influencing the luscious mouthfeel.

PEACHY CANYON is SIP-certified (Sustainability in Practice), and many operations are performed by hand (e.g. punch-downs and gentle basket pressing) with the goal of supporting complexity and elegance in the wines.

Jake, Josh and Doug Beckett

PEACHY CANYON  is located on Paso Robles’ West Side, and produces wines from their 100 acres of estate vineyards, in addition to a handful of venerated local growers. Tastings are available at the winery seven days a week from 10 AM to 5 PM at 1480 N. Bethel Road in Templeton, California. For more information on tasting their wines, including Bordeaux offerings like the 2011 Devine Cab,  2011 Old School House Cabernet, and Para Siempre, visit www.PeachyCanyon.com.

Producer Profile: Red Soles Winery

Randy & Cheryl Phillips

One of our newest members is Red Soles Winery, a producer of fine Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, in addition to Viognier, Chardonnay, Tempranillo, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, and others.

Owners Randy and Cheryl Phillips own 200 acres of vineyards, half on Paso Robles’ East Side, and the other half surrounding their beautiful West Side tasting room. While they opened the winery in 2007, their first love and main business is growing sought-after grapes for a few other producers with whom they’ve partnered for many years. Red Soles wines represent the very best lots from their vineyards.

The name Red Soles comes from Randy and Cheryl’s first winemaking experience, in which they crushed a barrel of Petite Sirah and Zinfandel grapes with their own feet. The results became their premier vintage, the 2004 “Kick-Off.”

Since then, their wines have won many accolades, garnering 47 medals in 2013 alone. So far, in 2014 they have received Gold from Orange County for their Reserve Cab, Voignier, and Zapatillas.

Randy and Cheryl are often found in their tasting room,  encouraging visitors to indulge in a picnic on their beautiful vine-edged lawn. For more information on Red Soles Winery, please visit www.RedSolesWinery.com.

Producer Profile: Bon Niche Cellars

One of our newest PRCC members is Bon Niche Cellars, owned by Joyce and Wally Murray.

Bon Niche, roughly translated from the French as “a very good place,” is truly on the outskirts of the Paso Robles AVA, far from the path of wine tasting buses and limousines. But despite being on the fringe geographically, Bon Niche and its owners, Wally and Joyce Murray, have been in the spotlight with several awards and honors for their powerful yet plush, well-structured, velvet-tannin wines. In fact, when the Murrays released the first Bon Niche Cellars vintage in 2010, every wine entered into competition received an award, including a Four-Star Gold Medal for both the 2010 Voûtes (Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon) and 2010 Chemin (Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Merlot) at the Orange County Fair.

Like so many producers in our area, the Murrays landed in the Paso Robles AVA after a long hunt for the right vineyard property on which to stake their winemaking vision. Purchased in 2005, the Bon Niche estate boasts rich soils, hot days and cool nights in which the Murray’s Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc thrive, though Bon Niche wines are also sourced from nearby vineyards to make both varietal and blended wines in a Bordeaux style, “with a touch of Rhône.”

Bon Niche Cellars began in 2005 when Wally and Joyce Murray started their quest to find vineyard property in the Central Coast of California.  The result of the search was a beautiful slope with a spectacular view of the distant hills.  The rich soil, hot days and brisk nights were perfect for the French varietals that grow so well in the Paso Robles terroir.  The Murray’s vineyard was quickly planted with Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.  Combined with fruit from nearby vineyards both straight varietals and artisan blends are primarily Bordeaux style with a touch of Rhone.

While Bon Niche’s far-flung location is prohibitive to opening the tasting room doors on a regular basis, tastings are available by appointment.  Bon Niche Cellars is located at 2627 Golden Eagle Way in San Miguel, CA 93451. Contact them at 805.286.7798 or  joycemurray@bonniche.com.

Producer Profile: LE VIGNE WINERY

One of the PRCC’s newest members is Le Vigne Winery, located on Paso Robles’ East Side. Le Vigne’s history began in the 1960s when Owner Sylvia Filippini‘s family bought the property that was then supporting hay and cattle. In 1982, the family planted its first Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines to supplement demand for wineries in Napa and Sonoma. But it quickly became apparent that the newly-planted vineyards boasted suitable soils, climate, and coastal influence to result in high quality wines in their own right.

Seeing this potential, the Filippini Family began estate production of their own wines in 1989. Additional vineyards were planted to Merlot, Syrah, Sangiovese and Cabernet Franc in 1998, and later, small blocks of Zinfandel, Grenache, Petite Sirah, Malbec and Tannat. The property is also complemented by 5 acres of Arbiquina olive trees.

The winery’s name, “Le Vigne,” comes from the Italian for “the vineyard” and represents the impact of Italian culture, food, and lifestyle upon the family- Owner Walter Filippini having spent his youth on Lake Como and in his grandparents’ vineyard in Valtellina, Lombardy; later going on to excel in gastronomia, gourmet Italian food retail, restaurants, and becoming a partner in the Italcheese Company. Walter and Sylvia met through Italcheese, and the couple continue to work in that field, owning and operating Peacock Cheese, an import and distribution company handling high-quality cheese and food items from across the globe. Not surprisingly, cheese also plays an important role at Le Vigne, where Fromager Zina Miakinkova uses cheeses from the Filippini’s vast network to pair with Le Vigne wines for guests.

Wines at Le Vigne are categorized into three brands, which are comprised of:

• Le Vigne di Domenico, the top-tier label which produces limited quantities of wine, only in the best vintages, including the Nikiara Meritage
• Kiara, a private reserve label with an elegant Merlot, and
• Sylvester, a collection of easily approachable, value-priced wines found widely distributed in restaurants and retail outlets

Winemaker Michael Barreto

With the company since 2003, Winemaker Michael Barreto came to Le Vigne with his own wine brand, Barreto Cellars, when he needed a custom crush facility. Today, he continues to make his own Spanish and Portuguese-influenced wines on site, in addition to a 60,000-case annual production for Le Vigne.

Guests to Le Vigne’s spacious tasting room will find a wide selection from Le Vigne’s wine program, as well as a full-tilt gourmet shop which includes freshly-baked baguettes, international mustards, spices, cured meats, olives, vinegars, thirty types of cheeses, and a menu of house-made panini.

For more information on Le Vigne wines, or to enjoy a tasting at their Paso Robles tasting room, please visit www.LeVigneWinery.com.

Producer Profile: HUNT CELLARS

Located three miles west of Highway 101 on Highway 46 West, is the Hunt Cellars tasting room, whose Proprietor and Winemaker, David Hunt, is described as both a Renaissance Man and bon vivant. With a varied background in music, home security, and inventions (e.g. the invention of voice mail), Hunt is a trail-blazer in the wine industry, making and blending his wine by the gallon, rather than by the barrel.

In a classic case of lemonade-from-lemons, Hunt claims an extremely sensitive palate as a consequence of having retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative disorder that causes gradual loss of vision. Able to pinpoint differences between wines that are nearly-indistinguishable to the average palate, Hunt uses his blindness to his advantage by blending from several hundred separate gallons of wine, by sense of feel, instead of by formula or lab calculation.

David Hunt

While some wines are made from outside vineyards, much of Hunt Cellars’ fruit is harvested from the estate property, Destiny Vineyard, named after his daughter, and meticulously made into award-winning Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Bordeaux blends, among others.

For more information on Hunt Cellars wines, or to enjoy a tasting at their 46 West tasting room, please visit www.HuntCellars.com.