Tolosa Winery

Human Tolosa Sign

Last weekend Raine Ross (a great Tolosa Club Member!) and her friends stopped by the tasting room during the afternoon and we were pleasantly surprised when she sent us this photo of the group creating a human Tolosa sign, that we just had to post it! It's so great to have club member like Raine and we appreciate when you share your photos with us, so thank you Raine and friends and we hope to see you soon! If you are a club member and have photos that you would like to share we are always happy to post them or even put them in the bi-monthly newsletter, so just send them into info@tolosawinery.com with your name and maybe a brief description.
Cheers!

Larry's Adventures in Texas...

Jon and I are slapping them silly here in Austin Texas. It is hot hot hot 100F+ in the shade, but the Tolosa wines are hotter still. The '08 Rose and the '08 Sauvingon Blanc are very attractive in this type of weather. We were just at a very cute French restaurant drinking the Rose on the rocks and it was going down easy. The bartender said, "you could down a bottle of this easy".

Last night we did a Winemaker Dinner at a private club called Escondita. Three chef's and eight servers for twenty guests. It was really well done with four small courses paired with all three of our 1772's wines - with the obligatory Rose before and the '05 Late Harvest Legacy with dessert.
  

We had a wonderful lunch at Lambert's today. And some amazing sushi at Uchi a couple nights ago that was beyond compare.

The highlight of the trip was a four hour stroll down 6th street that included some blues music at Antone's then some trip trance jumping up and down at the club next door. After that we followed our ears up to a rooftop disco where we danced and sweated and drank G&T. finished it out with some honky tonk music in a bar not far from the hotel.

tonight should be good as well we're going to head out to Wink reputed to having the best food in town and then out to some clubs for some final Texas style bootie shaking before heading back to SLO town tomorrow.

-LB, Winemaker

Tolosa in Montana

Recently Tolosa's National Sales Rep, Jon Goodier, took a trip to visit Briggs Distributing Co., who represents Tolosa wines in Montana. Jon stated that the countryside was stunning and the overall experience with the people and restaurants was truly amazing! The most memorable experience would be the group dinner at Juliano's in Billings Montana. The chef is Carl Kurokawa who is an amazing guy and creates amazing cuisine.  Jon stated that is one of the best places he's eaten, and he's on the road a lot! Here are a few pictures of Jon and the Briggs crew having a good time over great food and wine!
 

 

Horizon Hike Recap

This past Sunday morning I led a group of 12 on a hike up to the ridge above our Edna Ranch vineyard. While the vines are planted down near Orcutt Rd. our property stretches far back into the hills. Much of it is a working cattle ranch and some of it wild rocky chaparral. The hike to the top of the ridge took us a little over an hour of hiking - parts of it strenuous, but most of it easy. We walked over serpentine outcrops where only a very limited amount of plants can grow, including the Persian Carpet, which was in bloom. We hiked through a creek bed with giant Sycamores and ended up on the open ridge top which is the typical oak grasslands. The views from the top were spectacular on this fog free day and we could see from Pismo to the south and Morro Bay to our north. Most of the morros that make the San Luis Obispo area so unique geologically could be seen. We then made our way down and out another creek bed, visiting one of the better Chardonnay blocks on the way back to the pool house where we had a simple lunch and three wines. The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc was my favorite on this balmy day, but the '08 Rose and the '06 Estate Pinot were delicious as well. It was very pleasant to sit in the shade by the pool and relax over food and wine. I particularly enjoyed the day as it motivated me to learn a bit more about the local geology and natural history. I look forward to doing it again.

Larry Brooks- Stay tuned for pictures coming shortly...

Trekking with Tolosa by Wine Region News

Lynn Diehl of Wine Region News joined Bob Schiebelhut recently and explored the Edna Valley appellation for her show that aired on June 6th, 2009 on KCOY. 
To view the video click here.

Edna Valley is a very unique wine growing area that prides itself on growing cool-climate grapes such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The terrior of the area is what makes it so special and at Tolosa we have developed a few outdoor events to take visitors into the vineyards to explore the history and climate of this region.
We have a Horizon Hike this Sunday June 14th,  that takes you along the ridge of Edna Valley where you are able to see a panoramic view of the valley from the ocean in Pismo Beach to the seven peaks leading out to Morro Bay.

On July 11th, there is a Trolley Tour through our sustainable vineyards with winemaker Larry Brooks. The trolley will stop at 3 locations in the vineyard showing different varietals and Larry will also explain the sustainable practices being used from grape to glass. Each stop guests will taste a wine from that location of the vineyard, finishing with a picnic lunch in the beautiful Tolosa Morretti Canyon vineyards.

On July 19th, take a Vineyard Walk with partner Bob Schiebelhut through Tolosa Edna Ranch West vineyards. This is a nice walk showing the soils and terrain of our different vineyard blocks with a relaxing picnic lunch.

To sign up for any of these upcoming outdoor events visit our calendar of events online or call the tasting room at (805)782-0500.

A Taste of Heaven Here on Earth

On Sunday, June 7, 2009 Tolosa Winery sponsored the 10th hole of the Avila Beach Golf Resort for the "A Taste of Heaven Here on Earth" Golf Tournament in support of the Avila Beach Marine Institute.
Tolosa Winery always brings a magnum of Tolosa Wine to give as a donation prize to the golfer that hits 1 of 4 palm trees across the water on the 10th green. 
Congratulations to Darin Nishimura, winner of a 2007 Tolosa No Oak Chardonnay 1.5Liter!

The premier party for Clique

Last night was Tolosa's  first party for the new Clique club. Clique is a social club designed for more of the "younger" wine drinkers (over 21 of course) that basically has no strings attached. Last night went great and we look forward to many more parties in the future.
It was a beautiful evening on the patio, guests were in great spirits, we had mouth-watering BBQ by Ray's Own Brand and live music. For more about Clique or to sign-up visit the "clique" page.

 Here are a few pictures from the evening and we have more posted onfacebook. Cheers!

 

Recent travel to France

I recently traveled on vacation to France, for research of course, visiting a few wine regions which were just amazing. We started our journey in Champagne visiting some amazing champagne caves dating back to the 1800's. One tour to Pommery, a well-known Champagne house in Reims, was very unique in it's art incorporation into the caves. In one section on the caves they had an room you walk into with guitars hooked up to amplifiers and then birds flying and creating the sounds as they landed on the guitars; it was very interesting and different for a "wine" tour.

After our adventures in Champagne we headed to the home of Riesling; Alsace! The region of Alsace, which borders Germany, is one of the most beautiful regions of the world. The countryside and the villages are very picturesque and the food and wine we consumed was some of the best we've ever had. We journeyed down the Route du Vin starting at the top in Marlenheim with an amazing dinner at Le Cerf, which I highly recommend. We then headed south down to Ribeauville, where we stayed in a great apartment above Domaine Sipp-Mack in a nearby town called Hunawhir, this is a great place and central located between Ribeauville and Riquewihr. We had a great visit with 12th generation family member, Pierre Trimbach, of Maison Trimbach. He showed us their facility and tasted us on many great wines, including a 375th Anniversary wine! We also ventured to Marcel Deiss and Hugel. Hugel had a 1991 Vendange Tardive that was delicious. Each place offers a different experience and by tasting and talking with the families you learn so much history behind the evolution of the vineyards and wineries. The history of French wine is incomparable to anywhere in the world.

After spending 7 days exploring the Alsace region we then headed to the land of Pinot Noir. As we drove into the Burgundy region the vines and soil were very different from what we had seen in Alsace. We drove down as far as the town of Beaune, where we stayed for 6 nights, exploring the countryside and visiting some amazing people. We had a tour with one of our barrel company's. It was very interesting to see how they  handmade each barrel and to see the start to finish process done all by a line of 5-6 workers, it makes you appreciate what each barrel has to offer. We also had some great visits, one with Pierre of Domaine Henri Gouges, we were lucky enough to try his 2003 Pinot Noir down in his caves. We also got a once in a lifetime tour at Louis Jadot doing comparative tastings between bottled wines and wines still in barrel.

This is a picture of the what some of the caves give you to taste out of, it's how the Monk's used to do, don't worry I don't think Tolosa will be switching over...

All in all it was a great trip that I could go on and on and on about, but if you have any questions or are planning a visit to these regions in France I would love to help you if you need any advice. My advice is just GO! This was the best way to learn about the terrior and history of French wines and trust me the food is just as good as the wine!

Here is a picture of the 2007 Tolosa "No Oak" Chardonnay with the beautiful Burgundy vineyards in the background, it was very refreshing after a day of Pinot Noir.
Cheers,

Katie Noonan

Tolosa featured in NY Times!

On May 15th, 2009 the New York Times wrote an article titled; "Tasting Olives, and the Good Life, in San Luis Obispo"  whichfeatured Tolosa Winery. The article was scene in their"Escape" section of the paper describing the city of San Luis Obispo as great place to escape to enjoy a  weekend with a "laid-back and sophisticated" atmosphere in a college town.

We are happy to be the sole winery quoted in the article, along with some great local olive oil producers and local restaurants.

"...enjoyed the pinots and Rhone-style wines at Tolosa Winery south of the city, dramatic and stirring under the day's clearing clouds. "

For the full article click here to go to theNew York Times Website.
Written by Scott Timberg
Published: May 15, 2009

Bloom

Our earliest blocks of Pinot Noir are in bloom this week. Grapes are no different than other plants, and their fruits are the product of flowers. The grape flowers are tiny, but nonetheless have a sweet aroma that can be detected by putting your nose right up against the cluster during flowering. Once you are acquainted with the perfume you can smell them quite easily from quite a distance on a warm day. I can tell when bloom begins in a given vineyard well before I'm close enough to actually see the blossoms. This is the real start of the vintage as far as I'm concerned, because shortly after bloom the berries which will make this year's wine start forming. The period from bloom to harvest is also the time period whose length is least variable. Traditional wisdom says 100 days from bloom to harvest, but my experience tells me that it is closer to 120 days most years. So for Pinot Noir for 2009 I can say with reasonable certainty that we will do our first harvesting on or about the 10th of September. You can also see variation within the vineyard at this time of year so it is important to visit all the blocks and see how evenly they are going through bloom as this will tell you whether or not the ripening will be uniform within the blocks and also between the blocks.

- Larry Brooks