Destination Pipestone Vineyards!

     Pipestone Vineyards is a small family

 run winery and vineyard nestled in our

own secluded valley and tucked into the

coast ranges just west of Paso Robles.

 

Directions from The Bay Area, L.A. or

Santa Barbara via Hwy. 101:

1) Take 101 toward Paso Robles: we are about

200 miles from either metro area.  2) Turn West

at Hwy 46 West and go approximately 3 miles 3) 

Turn right at Oakdale and go ½ mile  4)  Turn

Right at Las Tablas-Willow Cr. Rd. and go 1 mile. 

5) Turn Right at Niderer Rd. and come up the hill

0.8 miles.  Come on in!

 

Directions from Cambria and the PCH:

1) Take Hwy 46 (Green Valley Rd.) east 15 miles.  2) Turn left at Oakdale and go ½ mile.  3) Turn Right at Las Tablas-Willow Cr. Rd. and go 1 mile. 4) Turn Right at Niderer Rd. and come up the hill 0.8 miles.  Come on in!

 

Open Thursday – Monday 11 am  until 5 pm

2040 Niderer Rd. , Paso Robles CA 93446 805-227-6385

www.pipestonevineyards.com

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Spring 2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this Issue

New Releases

2002 Harvest

Wine Club Dinner

Great White’s of the Far Out Wineries

Mud-oven & Home Wine-making Classes

Save 30% on Additional Orders!

 

And more!

805-227-6385

www.pipestonevineyards.com

 

Rhône-Style Wines        Family Farm         Organic        Unfiltered        Feng Shui

Thank You Club Members!

 

It’s been a busy winter and spring here at Pipestone! Florence and I, and the kids (Grace and Gwen) want to thank you for all your support!  Here’s to our  dedicated club members who appreciate and support small family farms!

 

Remember, we offer 30% off additional case orders for Gold Level Members!  See below for details.

 

We finally bottled just two weeks ago, right before the Paso Wine Festival.  Our bottler built a new, more modern line in his truck and couldn’t get out to us in March as we had planned.  At one point I thought I’d be loading off cases for the wine fest crowd right out the back of the truck!  We worked until midnight the Wednesday before the fest; so any of you who visited us that weekend likely noticed we were zombies!

 

The good thing is that the wines we bottled are really looking nice-both the current releases and the bigger wines we’ll hold for the Fall release!

 

Other things you might notice is that we extended our paved area in front of the winery and installed a  patio out from the tasting room.  We now have a very pleasant picnic area under the almond trees and it’s just steps (literally) from the vines!  Come out and enjoy a lunch in the shade with a chilled bottle of Viognier or our dry Rose’!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The biggest changes in the vineyard are the installation of our frost control fan (it’s big and blue and in the middle of the vineyard!) and the final(?) step in our conversion to growing the grapes completely organically!  We planted our clover cover crop in the vine rows late last fall.  Come check it out!  You’ll see that the soil is now alive and healthy!  Compare it to almost any other vineyard here and you’ll see how sterile and dead the vinerow looks when sprayed with herbicides and pesticides!  We have ladybugs coming out our ears!!!

 

30% Off

Case Orders Through July 5

 

Remember, as a Gold Level Member, you qualify for a 30%  discount off additional orders within the next month after the club shipment.  Pop open a few of the wines and see what you like best!  We offer this as a thank you for your great support.  It is the wholesale price that a restaurant or retailer would  pay, so it’s a Great Deal!  Mixed cases are okay!!!  Some wines are very limited, so get your orders in soon!  We still have some of the ’00 Syrah and the ’00 Melange (Rhône Style Red) available from the Fall Release!

 

 

more of  this special clone of cab so we can make more next year.  Very limited supplies!

·         A Late Harvest?  Port?  We’ll see what is looking good!

·         Don’t tell anyone about our’03 Bordeaux Blend!

 

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Grilled Five Spice Chicken

 

A  great Asian dish that pairs well with our Rhône and Mediterranean-style Wines.  Try it with the Melange if you have any left.  Otherwise, the ’01 Grenache is  a good combination.  Try spicing it up and serving it with the Rose’

 

Begin the day before! (with a glass of Viognier!!!

 

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

3 tbs veg. Oil

2 tbs. Soy sauce

3 tbs minced ginger

2 tbs. minced garlic

2 tbs sugar

2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

½ tsp salt

4 whole star anise, lightly toasted in a dry pan for 3 minutes and pounded into a fine powder (this is fun!)

½ cup Soy-lime Dipping Sauce (see below)

1.        Cut the chicken into 6 pieces and make 1 or 2 slashes in each piece for faster cooking.  Pat dry.

2.        In a bowl, combine the oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sugar, turmeric, five-spice powder and salt.  Stir well to blend.   Add the chicken pieces and turn several times to coat them evenly.  Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hrs.

3.        Start the Grill (Charcoal for traditional flavor) or it can be broiled in the kitchen.  Thirty minutes before cooking, add the freshly toasted star anise to the marinated chicken,

4.        Place the chicken, skin side up, on the grill.  Cook 10 minutes, and then turn over and grill until  cooked and juices run clear. Another 10 minutes depending on the thickness.   Transfer to a serving platter and serve with the Soy-lime sauce!

5.        Sauce:  1 clove garlic; 2 fresh Thai bird chilies, 2 ½ tbs sugar; 1/3 cup soy sauce (heavier Chinese style is best); 2 ½ tbs fresh lime juice with  pulp; ¼ cup water, or to taste.

 

Grind the garlic, chilies and sugar in a mortar and pound into a paste (or chop as finely as you can).  In a small bowl, add the soy sauce, lime juice and blend.  Sauce will keep up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

 

Wines:

’01 Grenache – spicy itself, perfectly compliments the dish

’01 Vin Rouge – more complex, better if made less spicy.

’02 Rose’ - perfect if you add more chilies to the sauce or add some to the Marinade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Releases!

 

The spring releases are fresh and drinkable  now! The Grenache, Vin Rouge, and Zinfandel can easily age for a while too!   The ’01 Viognier won a Gold Metal in San Francisco, but the ’02 is actually better!  You’ll see that the ‘01 Grenache is quite dark and has very nicely structured tannins.  The Zin, well it has 16.5% alch!  It’ll  knock your socks off!

 

·       2002 Viognier

Made very traditionally, barrel fermented in neutral French oak barrels without refrigeration!  We stir the lees (sediment) for a few months to give it more complexity and then rack it and bottle it after eight months in the barrel.  It’s fresh, tropical and very aromatic.  I like it served just below room temperature to accentuate the nose and complex flavors; but chilled on a hot day, it hits the spot too! $22.00 a bottle/ $17.60 Club price ($15.40 for additional orders!!!)

 

·       2002 Rosé

We are fond of saying that this is “not your mother’s rose’”  And it’s not!  Completely dry and darker and more complex than almost anyone expects.  The real wine geeks are the ones who know that a dry rose’ is the perfect accompaniment to summer fare, spicy food, or  by itself chilled down on a hot day in the sun!  If you’ve been to southern France, Provence, or Italy in the summer, you’ll know that this is what folks drink!  $14.00/ $11.20 Club Price/ or

$9.80 for additional orders!!!)

·       2001 Grenache

 

Dark this year, with a great tannic structure.   Possibly more Grenache is grown in the world than any other wine grape (mostly in France and Spain) and for good reason.  Easy to drink, it compliments a wide variety of foods without overpowering them.  We drink it with bbq’d chicken (best with rosemary or other provincial herbs), pork chops or a pork roast (with a touch of lavender salt), or we’ll quaff it with pizza!

$18.00/ $14.40 club price, or $12.60 for additional orders!!!)

 

·       2001 Vin Rouge Méditerranéen

 

Most of this goes to our club only!  This year we made bit more after running out and not being able to fill some of the club re-orders.  Read the back label:  “a Red Mediterranean Blend that celebrates the warm and sensuous sunny climate that California shares with the original home of these Noble grape varieties.  34% Syrah, 33% Grenache, and 33% Zinfandel.”  How could you go wrong with this!  Non-traditional, we made it to reflect the terroir, the climate and soils of our vineyard and appellation.

$22.00/ $17.60 Club price and $15.40 for additional orders!!!

 

·       2001 Zinfandel

 

What can we say!  It’s 16.5% alcohol, in spite of our philosophy of trying to make wines that are more complex and refined.  It’s full bodied, but not so opaque as to dull your senses for enjoying your dinner.  We buy the fruit for this wine from two vineyards, one a 40 year old dry-farmed spot northeast of Paso; this gives the wine the alcohol and jammy fruit.  The other is a neighbor on hwy. 46 West, a cool area for zinfandel; this gives it structure and the peppery spiciness.  Try it with BBQ’d ribs or chili!

 

Fall 2002 Harvest

 

Once again the harvest for ’02 stretched from September to November.  We finished picking a day before the first big storm of the season rolled in with 3-4 inches of rain!

 

Overall, the fruit looked extraordinarily dark and tannic.  My initial prediction is that the wines will be full flavored and worthy of some aging!

 

The ’03 growing season started out as the coolest in 10 years; but the last two weeks of 90’s and 100’s has sped us along and we’ve almost caught up to where we should be.  We had a dry

January, but good rains early as I mentioned, and we had some very strong late rains in May – very unusual for this area.  The wild flowers went crazy!  And the moisture is high enough that we will let the vines struggle on their own for most of the summer!

 

Upcoming Events

Great White Wines of the Far Out Wineries!

Saturday, July 5^th

10:30-12:30

Our first ever white wine event!  We’ll showcase our 2002 Viognier and challenge any Chardonnay to a duel!  Honestly Jeff is the only one of the group to have the Shark Credentials – former LAWYER!!!!  Watch out!  Held at Carmody-McKnight on the lawn overlooking the pond! Call 805-238-8592 for res.

 

Sushi Demonstration & Lunch

1:00 Saturday July 5th

Afterwards, Pipestone Vineyards will be hosting a Sushi Demonstration & lunch!  We’ll learn how to make a simple maki roll and then pair more exotic fare with our wines!  July 5^th after the Seminar.  Reservations Required.  $40. Call 805-227-6385. 

 

Mud-Oven Building Seminar

Sunday July 13^th

We are building a mud oven and are inviting you to join us to learn how to construct and use it!  We attended a class in Booneville in February to learn the techniques.  It’s a great way to make bread, pizza, roasted meats, etc.  You’ll never eat pizza from a commercial oven again!!  Simple to build, almost anyone can construct at least a small one in their back yard or on the patio or deck.  Class includes lunch, snacks, materials, and literature.  Reservations Required.  $75.

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Upcoming Events

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Wine Club Appreciation Dinner

Saturday August 16^th

6:00 pm

 

Come one come all to the annual wine club dinner.  Free for all Gold level members!  Includes dinner and wine!!!  Last year, Florence cooked up some great things including a luau roasted boar and a scrumptious chocolate torte!  What will she do this Year???  (Jade members may attend at $65 ea. Upgrade now!!!) Note: Reservations Required!!! Limited Seating.

 

Home Wine-Making Class

Sunday October 12^th  9:00-5:00

Turn your hands (and feet) purple and learn how to make your own wine with a hands-on class.   The workshop is designed to give both new and more experienced home winemakers practical experience in home-scale winemaking.  Once completed, students should be able to make their own high-quality wine at home with little difficulty. 

 

The course will focus on practical aspects of home winemaking. The morning session will include discussion on: picking your grapes, home vineyards, fermentation, using yeast’s and malolatic cultures, red and white wine production, common home winemaking problems, sanitation, small scale home equipment and basic home-scale wine chemistry and analysis.

 

During the afternoon session, we will stem, crush and press white grapes, learn how to settle and stabilize the juice, and start the fermentation.  Then we will crush red grapes, and press off already fermented red wine started at the winery the week before.

 

We will sum up in the late afternoon with discussion on completing alcoholic fermentation, racking, aging and bottling.

 

Participants are invited to return to the winery the following week to see their wine fermenting; we will hold a special blending workshop the following February where participants will taste some of the wine they have made and try their hand at blending barrel samples to produce the final cuvee!

Reservations Required.  Sold out last two years!  $145 includes all materials, gourmet lunch and blending seminar held in Feb./March ’04!  Call us for reservations or info.

 

Fall ’03 Releases

 

Coming this fall just before Thanksgiving, our shipment will include our heavier, richer, by-the-fireplace and holiday dinner wines!!!

·         2001 Syrah: Dark, spicy, excellent structure!

·         2001 Rhône Style Red Wine: Our Chateauneuf du Pape blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre.  This Year it has more Syrah and Mourvèdre and  is very dark and more full bodied!

·         2002 Syrah-Cab.  Oh yea, it’s gorgeous.  We grafted over to

 

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