Established in 1981 by the Van Steenwyk family, Adelaida Cellars is located in the Adelaida Region of Paso Robles. This region has calcareous, chalky, rock soils that stress the vines. According to winemaker Terry Culton, "these characteristics ... lowers the yields but produces more intensely flavored fruit." The vineyards are not tilled, encouraging native grasses, wild sage and rosemary to flourish between the rows.
They produce Zinfandel under two of their four labels. The "White Label" offering is made from Westside fruit in a "Pinot Style". The "SLO" label's offering (San Louis Obispo) is "SLO Zin". This is also 100% Paso Robles fruit, with some of the contributing vineyards dating back to the 1920s. A future offering will come from a new vineyard which was planted with a heritage clone, and is head pruned.
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After moving to Paso Robles, Dave Caparone was unable to find wine of the quality he wanted. In 1973 he purchased some Zinfandel grapes from the Benito Duse Vineyard and made a batch of homemade Zindfandel. He has made wine every year since then. Encouraged by those who tased his wine, he started Caparone Winery in 1979. With his son Marc, they continue to produce unfined, unfiltered red wines. Their motto is "simple winery, complex wines." Dave has always kep extensive records. These numerous notebook have provided a wealth of knowledge to Marc about winemaking.
The Zinfandel vines used for this wine were planted in 1980 after 6 years of searching for the best location. Lightly touched by oak, this is a wine to enjoy with food. The alcohol level is only 13.3%. The fruit and spice really come to the forefront. This is a little known winery that doesn't have a fancy tasting room, and the price is amazingly low.
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Nadeau Family Vintners has a laboratory right in the tasting room! Along with other interesting varietals, they make some BIG Zinfandels which are priced in the mid $20 range. Robert and Patrice Nadeau are the owners, winemakers, and tasting room staff. It is indeed a micro-winery.
Nadeau Winery produces a core of five Zinfandels, with 1 or 2 additional every year. Four of these are produced from West Side fruit. These are "Critical Mass", "Bouncer", "Home Ranch" and "Epic". The "Estrella" is made with fruit from the East Side. They release their wines quarterly, with 1 or 2 wines per release. A Late Harvest Zinfandel is among the wines you may run into.
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Art and Lei Norman came to Paso Robles in 1971 to realize theri dream of growing grapes and making wine. They purchased 40 acres in the Adelaida Region, which has a thin layer of topsoil over calcareous limestone. They planted the vineyards, mainly with red wine varietals, and for years sold the fruit to local wineries. In 1992 they started making their own wine, which included one Zinfandel offering. With winemaker Steve Felten they have increased their total quite a bit, and now have a variety of Zinfandels.
The two large production Zinfandels are the "Monster" at about 3,900 cases and the "Classic" at about 2,900 cases. The "Monster" lives up to its name with an alcohol level of 16.3%. It ages for 14 months in 22% new and young French and American oak. The "Classic" is more sedate, with 13.9% alcohol, and 14 months in French and American oak with 88% neutral. Along with the first two, the "Mephistopheles" is made from Westside fruit. With just over 500 cases made, it comes in at 16.2%, and ages for 20 months in French and American oak, with 25% new. The "Old Vine", with less than 1,000 cases made, comes from Cucamonga Valley fruit. With 15.9%, it aged for 20 months in 2 year old barrels. The "Old Vine" Port is also made with Cucamonga Valley fruit. It spends 40 months in 5 year old barrels.
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Opolo Vineyards, owned by Rick Quinn and Dave Nichols, consists of 270 acres spread across both the Eastside and Westside of the 101 freeway. The winery is located on 70 acres west of Paso Robles.
Current production is 6,000 cases of the "Mountain Zinfandel", 6,000 cases of the "Summit Creek," 2,000 cases of the "Reserve Zinfandel," and 1,000 cases of the "Late Harvest Zinfandel." All of the Zinfandels spend 10 months aging in neutral oak. The alcohol levels are in the low 16% region for all four.
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Erich Russell was a home wine maker, and a track teacher in San Diego when the winemaker at Chateau St. Jean offered him a cellar job. Two years later, in 1981, Erich founded Rabbit Ridge Winery in Northern California. It was named after his track nickname in school, "The Rabbit". His new winery, that was recently built in Paso Robles, is a Mediterranean style, high-tech, gravity flow winery which uses the natural slope of the hillsides to transfer the wine. There is a 22 foot drop from the crush pad to the tank room, and another 22 foot drop down to the barrel room.
The "Paso Robles Zinfandel Westside" uses fruit from the Cristalla Ranch and Live Oak Road vineyards. A small amount of Petite Syrah is added. The "O.V.Z. Reserve Zinfandel" is made from vines over 60 years old. Only about 1,400 cases of this wine is made. The "Central Coast Zinfandel Barrel Cuvee" is their entry level Zinfandel. In addition they produce a "Limited Paso Robles Reserve Red Wine" which is a blend of 42% Zinfandel, 25% Primitivo, 22% Petite Syrah and 11% Syrah. A final entrant for Zinfandel fans to compare flavor profiles between "Brothers" is the "Paso Robles Primitivo Westside".
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Fling and Annette Traylor realized their retirement dream by opening San Marcos Creek Vineyard. The winery was completed in 2002. It now features a Tudor style tasting room and a bed and breakfast in separate buildings. The grounds are graced by 3 peacocks.
They offer an "Estate Zinfandel" and a "Late Harvest Zinfandel". Both are small production lots, with 525 and 199 cases made of each wine.
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Josh Gibson is the owner and winemaker of Tolo Cellars. He is a firm believer in minimal intervention winemaking. Only wild yeasts are used for fermentation, and the fermentation is finished in the barrel. The tasting room is an old farmhouse built in the 1880s. There is a chance that Josh's sister will be using the old style stove in the kitchen / tasting bar, offering food pairings for each wine.
The Zinfandel is made from purchased grapes from the northwest region of Paso Robles. For the past 5 years he has also made "Asini", a blend of 60% Sangiovese and 40% Zinfandel.
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Vista del Rey translates to "King's View", which is appropriate since Dave King is the owner and winemaker for this extremely small production winery. Dave only produces around 700 cases a year, mainly Zinfandel. He gets his estate fruit from two vineyards. Hacienda, or "Home", is 8 acres of dry farmed, head trained, spur pruned vines. It was planted in 1981. Colina de Roble, "Oak Knoll", is an 18 acre plot, with 14 acres of vines, 7 of which are Zinfandel. All of the grapes from both vineyards are harvested by hand..
Dave makes one Zinfandel, which he names each vintage. "Mundo Viejo" was the '02 offering, and "Tes Elementos" was the '03 wine. It is worth the drive up the dirt roads to the tasting room in his garage to sample these hand crafted, old style Zinfandels.
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Gianni Manucci purchased a 40 acre dry farmed orchard in 1996, and set about converting it into his dream. He wanted to have one of the finest "boutique" wineries in Central Coast California. He terraced the hillsides and planted his vines, including Zinfandel. He produced his first wine with the 1998 vintage. He plans to stay in the 3,000 to 5,000 case annual production range. The winery, along with tasting room and a Bed and Breakfast, is an adobe style set of buildings on the hillside.
He produces a single estate Zinfandel each year. Since 2001 he has designated each one with a unique name. In '01 it was "Licentious", followed by "Philander" in '03, "Resurrection" in '03 and "Red Tail" in '04. The '04 Zinfandel Port goes by the name "Little Fawn".
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