True Grit: The Dirt on Paso Robles

Justin Vineyards in Paso Robles, California

(Revisited 02/18/2013)

Just over a decade ago – when only 35 wineries existed in the undeveloped farming community – Paso Robles barely registered on wine drinkers’ radars. While the dusty, down home atmosphere has remained relatively unchanged, today over 200 wineries stretch across 26,000 acres of this Central Coast wine region.

Named El Paso de Robles – The Pass of the Oaks – for its wide canopies of oak trees, the newly fashionable wine region actually has a rich, storied history in grape growing and winemaking. The fathers of the Mission San Miguel planted Paso’s first communion wine grapes in 1815. Thirty-five years later, Europeans began migrating to the area and planting their own vineyards with imported Zinfandel and Muscat grapes, and in the 1880s, rancher Andrew York introduced commercial winemaking to the region when he founded Ascension Winery.

While it officially received its AVA status in 1983, it wasn’t until the turn of the 21st century that Paso Robles experienced its wine renaissance. Seduced by the semi-arid climate, low humidity and low rainfall, not to mention the abundance of open space and (relatively) affordable land prices, winemakers from France, Australia, South Africa and even the Napa Valley have flooded this charming farming community; since 2000, the number of boutique wineries dotting Paso’s winding hills has more than tripled.

Rich with shallow, decomposed shale and limestone as well as mixtures of clay, sand and silt, Paso’s rolling hillsides have proven to be a goldmine for hardy red grapes like Syrah, Grenache, Zinfandel and even Cabernet Sauvignon. Thanks to the cool, coastal breezes flowing over and around the Coastal Ranges each evening, Paso also boasts some of the greatest day to night temperature fluctuations in California (sometimes as great as 50 degrees), which allows fruit to ripen without sacrificing its acidity. For a fantastic overview of the varietals produced in Paso Robles (as well as a hilarious and entertaining video), watch "Paso Man":

Wineries like Justin Winery, Terry Hoage Vineyards and Tablas Creek consistently turn out award-winning wines from these complex soils. We’ve long been fans of Tablas Creek’s biodynamically farmed Rhône style blends as well as Justin’s famous ISOSCELES, a Bordeaux-inspired blend that in 2000 was named one of the top 10 wines in the world by the Wine Spectator.

To purchase these wines and more, click here to view our current Paso Robles wines.

Side Note: Thinking of visiting Paso Robles? Check out the JUST Inn, a luxurious four-suite B&B located on the Justin Vineyards and Winery property. There are no words for how spoiled the staff will make you feel. There are also no words for the local tomato and burrata sandwich found on the menu at downtown Paso Robles’ Artisan. The creamy-crispy-butter sandwich is served with razor thin onion rings and is best enjoyed with a glass of Grenache Blanc from one of the local wineries. Tommy Oldre of Tablas Creek calls it a downtown gem. We call it the feather in Paso’s culinary cap.

Beautiful Places

Moonstone, Napa

The Bounty Hunter staff experienced a real treat this week.  We toured  two exclusive luxury villas in the Napa Valley and enjoyed a wine reception in a 32 foot high observation tower.  Partnering with BeatifulPlaces, a luxury villa rental and epicurean adventure company, our clients can now experience Wine Country in a whole new way.  Villas can be rented for as little as 3 nights or as many as 8 weeks, depending on the particular home.  We explored both the Zinfandel Wine Tower and Moonstone.

Moonstone is nestled on a 20 acre Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard, with nary a neighbor in sight.  This state of the art, ultra-modern villa rents for approximately $25,000/week, depending on the season and length of stay.  We walked around slowly, taking in all the amazing details, unable to decide which piece of the landscape we preferred: the pool, the rose garden surrounded by vines or the outside kitchen equipped with a grill and wood fire pizza oven.

Zinfandel Wine Tower, Napa

We then traveled down Zinfandel Lane to the Wine Tower, a brand new 3 bedroom modern home directly across from Raymond Winery.  This home has a large open kitchen and living space with access from two different sliders out to a large garden area.  One direction takes you to the six-person hot tub, while the other takes you to the curved stairwell that leads to the wine tower.  Fifteen of us enjoyed the beautiful 360 degree views of Napa Valley while sipping some great Bounty Hunter wines and munching on some nifty nibbles.  This property would be perfect for entertaining guests – the WOW factor is off the charts.

We enjoyed ourselves and learned first hand of the high quality villas that BeautifulPlaces represents.  If you are coming to Napa Valley or Sonoma anytime soon, we can steer you straight to our friends over at BeautifulPlaces, where you have an opportunity to experience Wine Country like the locals.

--Summer Olson, Event & PR Manager

An Evening with Rolls Royce…

This year we vowed to spend more time on the road, getting to know our loyal patrons and also meet some new folks who might appreciate special access to “great stuff.” Last week The Bounty Hunter, Mark Pope, and I were invited to an exclusive driving experience in the new Rolls Royce Phantom and Ghost at the Bridges Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California. In typical Bounty Hunter fashion, we brought along with us a dozen or so rare and limited wines to showcase for our friends. A little 2009 Marius Delarche Corton-Charlemagne, 2007 Gaja Ca’Marcanda Magari, 2007 Blind Justice, and a special sneak preview of the 2008 Joseph Phelps Insignia – just to name a few. As you can imagine, the cars weren’t the only thing turning heads that evening.

The event was a blast. We got the chance to catch up with some longtime customers that live in the area, as well as meet a lot of new faces who loved what we had to offer. Oh, and we also got to take a spin in a Ghost – wow! From the brilliance of fine automobile craftsmanship to the majestic setting of the Bridges Club, the event was nothing short of spectacular and a pleasure to attend.

We’re planning to participate in similar events later this year, so when we make it to your neck of the woods, rest assured there will be an invitation in your inbox.

Cheers!

--Stefan Matulich, Sales Director

Battle of the Bay

On Sunday, May 22nd, Bounty Hunter rented the Legends Club Box at AT&T Park. We watched and cheered with excitement as our World Series Champions (that never gets old) defeated the Athletics, sweeping them back across the water in the “Battle of the Bay” series. Burriss came through with a walk-off RBI single that drove in lightning-quick Ford for the win in the bottom of the 11th! It’s only May, but the Giants are thrilling the fans at home already. This was their 9th straight win at AT&T Park and 7th win with a walk-off hit. It seems they have finally found their groove and are working hard to own that first place slot.

It was such a treat to spend some quality face to face time with our devoted customers. We were pouring delicious wines, there were classic conversations going on all around us, and the Giants put on a great show. I know that there are some of you out there who really wanted to attend this game, but the date just didn’t work. Please don’t fret, you may have another opportunity later in the summer to spend the day at the park with your favorite Bounty Hunter Wine Scouts. Check back with us soon.

Next time you hear from me, I’ll be giving you a behind the scenes look at the famous Auction Napa Valley 2011 taking place June 2-4 at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.

Until then, Cheers!

--Summer Olson, Event & PR Manager

2011 Hall Cabernet Cook-off

And Second Place in the professional category of the Peoples’ Choice award goes to….Bounty Hunter Wine Bar & Smokin’ BBQ!

Last Saturday we hitched up our new mobile smoker, put on our best Bounty Hunter duds, and headed up valley to Hall Winery and competed in the 2nd annual Hall Cabernet Cook-off. The sun was bright and the winds were gusty. It was our smoker’s inaugural event and we were excited to show her off. Coming off a 1st place win last year, we were ready! Since we wowed them with our delicious ribs last year, we thought we’d switch it up this year and deliver Cabernet stave smoked pulled pork sliders topped with our one of a kind cole slaw. Well that worked for us…sort of. While everyone loved us and were happy to have some pulled pork, the ribs were missed. I was surprised by just how many people asked, “Where are the ribs?” or “We came just for the ribs!” I guess when you have a hit, you just go with it. Don’t worry, our loyal devotees, the ribs will be back and better than ever next year!

In spite of our sliders coming in second, I’m extremely proud of our team. There was stiff competition and taking the Silver home is a great way to end the day. A little horn tooting…we defeated Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, Mustards Grill, Go Fish, The Kitchen at AVIA, Sunshine Foods Market, Cochon Volant, Champinones Catering and Kara’s Cupcakes. I suppose you are wondering who won first place? It was Paula LaDuc’s Fine Catering. They must have been watching Anthony Bourdain’s show “No Reservations,” as they served his favorite, pork belly, and won over the crowd. I guess I should stop just DVRing him and actually watch an episode or two. It seems he speaks for the masses. He’s pork all the way and in this competition pork saw both the Gold and the Silver!

All in all, it was great fun and we thank Hall Winery for hosting such a lovely event.

We’re headed to AT&T Park at the end of the month to catch a Giants game and drink some of our favorite wines in a luxury box with you, our number one fans…hope to see you there, or maybe at another time, having a glass at the Wine Bar.

--Summer Olson, Event & PR Manager

2011 SF Vintners Market

This past weekend, wine lovers took over the vast Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason in San Francisco to attend the Bounty Hunter sponsored SF Vintner’s Market. Over 200 wineries came together to show off their latest collections. The banners were raised, the glasses engraved…and the customers came!

As Bounty Hunter now produces 14 different brands of our own wine, it was tough to decide what to showcase. We didn’t want to bring too many, but we didn’t want to leave anyone’s favorites left behind – ultimately deciding on 10 of our “children.” While a daunting line up for anyone’s palate, for those lucky folks who tasted their way through all of them – a bright Sauvignon Blanc to a righteous Zin blend – it was a beautiful thing. We had 3 “booths” set up throughout the room – there was no way around it, our wines would be tasted by the masses and hopefully, adored. Our main booth was front and center, so guests arrived with a clean glass and fresh palate. It was a great way to start our weekend.

Once the guests had experienced the fun our first table had to offer, they roamed free and had the chance to taste, learn and enjoy from quite a few other well-respected vintners. As they moved towards the back of the building, they came upon the “Reserve Room.” To access this magical area, one had had to ante up a bit more. Many did, and all found it was worth it. And I don’t just say that because we had our delicious Waypoint Pinots available, or because we had the entire back wall lined with more spirits than you often see on the top shelf of your favorite watering hole, but because this was where all the big dogs came to play – from small production wines blowing your mind to high-octane spirit houses – all represented by friendly and knowledgable staff.

Over the course of this 2-day event, I was able to meet great people and really put a face to our loyal customers. The toast of the weekend was seeing the pure excitement of the visitors when they saw the “Spirits Wall” in the Reserve Room containing Johnny Walker Blue bottles receiving custom etching designs, 209 Gin serving up refreshing Basil Gimlets, Tequila Ocho tasting through 3 different types of Tequila and Diageo sampling some of their finest Classic Malt Whiskies. It was a playground for the senses!

If any of you were there, I’d love to hear what you thought of the event.  If you missed this one and would like to know about our other events, just drop me an email, and I will keep you in the loop.

Until our next great event!

--Summer Olson, Event & PR Manager

Outlook from Europe

Every March, I head overseas to get a read on the previous vintage from the two regions most important to our clients: Burgundy and Tuscany. We sell a good deal of wine from across France and Italy, but those two appellations are clearly the show ponies of our international portfolio. Visiting the producers in the spring following harvest is far from an exact science, however, as many of the wines are going through various stages of malolactic fermentation and maturity in general. A taster basically has to look at the wines in barrel like a photograph that’s in the initial moments of development in its chemical wash. You can see the vague outline of the image, but the details are certainly blurry. That said, one can get a pretty good sense of the overall character of the vintage by conducting due diligence in the cellar as the young wines evolve in tank and barrel.

Burgundy dodged a serious bullet early in the year as an unusually severe frost settled into the region for several days following budbreak. A significant amount of emerging growth was irreparably damaged, effectively acting as a natural “green harvest” by limiting yields. The result was that most domaines were down around 30%-40% in production (though the quality is significantly above average and then some). In a few instances, the vines themselves froze to death. As we drove north through Vosne-Romanée on the N74, I asked about two barren plots next to the highway that I assumed had been replanted by design. It turns out that the 2010 frost had settled heavily into the gentle swale next to the highway and laid waste to several acres of prime vineyards. Forget the loss of crop for 2010 and the cost of replanting for that house… it’ll be at least three years before that grower’s vines show a harvestable yield. It was a grim reminder that grape growing is a high-stakes game of poker with Mother Nature. As a result of this icy hand, we’re unlikely to see any downward price pressure. There just wasn’t enough wine made to create anything resembling a glut, nor would the quality warrant a fire sale mentality. Our enduring dream of Burgundy as a bargain remains fleeting.

The vines surrounding the village of Montalcino

The weather didn’t have such a significant impact in Tuscany, and the quality looks to be high across the board for the bellweather varietals. My visits were concentrated in and around Chianti and Montalcino, so the jury’s still out on the coastal homes to the “aia’s” and other big name super-Tuscans. The young Sangiovese samples I tried from barrel were impressive – 2010 should be a banner year for labels bearing Chianti, Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino by the time everything comes to market. It’s very early in the game to declare a final score for these wines given their infancy, but I suspect it’s going to hold up as a very solid vintage.

More thoughts to come as we see these wines land on American soil... let us raise a glass to research!

--Rhett Gadke, Wine Director