If you get a chance, take a read. Victor Abascal of Vines on the Marycrest (also a customer of La Vista) is featured quite prominently. There’s also some nice coverage for AmByth Estate, ZinAlley Winery, Stanger Vineyards, Alta Colina Vineyard, Cypher Winery and Giornata Wines.

Be sure to keep on the lookout for La Vista’s other Garagiste customers when you are at the festival: Amy Butler of Ranchero Cellars, Nick Elliott of Nicora Wines, and Ryan Pease of Paix Sur Perre.

Click the link immediately below for the full story!

California wine tour: In the home of the vine de garage – Daily Telegraph

In 2011 with the cool spring and summer we did have a couple of blocks that wanted to shut down early. We dropped a lot of fruit, ripe and unripe to coax the sugars to the level we wanted but that meant that we could not deliver all of the quantity that we wanted. So over the winter in those blocks we ripped the soil between the vine rows about eighteen (18) inches deep and spread compost into the open soil. The slow winter rains drove the nutrients in the compost into the ground to the roots of the vines. This Spring those vines look as healthy as all of the other vines in the vineyard with long shoots and plenty of blossoms. Shortly we’ll be seeing fruit set and, I believe, with the warmer 2012 Spring, we’ll also be seeing a very healthy crop of wine grapes.

We’ve had a good 2012 year in selling our fruit. We are sold out of all our varietals except a little bit of Syrah. But it is only the first of June so it will go. As the vineyard matures (we are in the sixth and fifth leaf this year) we are getting a fine concentration of winery buyers. Some of the wineries, Ranchero Cellars and Hug Cellars of Paso Robles, Nipomo Wine Group from Nipomo and Irie Wines (Paraiso Vineyards) from Soledad go all the way back to the third leaf! We are very happy with their loyalty. And best of all, their wines are excellent and show that La Vista Vineyards produces excellent grapes for their excellent wines.

We are also very happy to have had four wineries to join us for the last few years – Nicora Winery, Oso Libre Winery and Thacher Winery. Nicora Winery is making some of the best Grenache and Syrah blends in the area. Their 2010 will contain their first purchase of La Vista Vineyards fruit and the barrel tasting has been magnificent! The Zinfandel that Oso Libre Winery has and is purchasing is going into their wine club selection so if you want to savor a bit of that Zin join their wine club and frequent their fun tasting room on Vineyard Drive. Sherman Thacher makes excellent wines from all of the fruit he purchases so we are expecting some good things from his 2010 and 2011 grape purchases from La Vista Vineyards. Especially some of the Grenach, Grenache Blanc and 2012 Malbec.

As the Spring progresses with fruit set on us now we expect some very fine fruit for the 2012 harvest. We want to meet the expectations of all of our winery partners so that their wines are all excellent.

Quickly following each of the frosts we irrigated lightly to tell the vines to push and get ready for the warmer weather – and they did!  As soon as the shoots were firmly established and leafing out we treated them with a little sulfur to limit any powdery mildew spores (although there were very few signs of the pest) and a foliar to add a little iron, zinc, manganese and nitrogen to their diet.  Of course, with all of the rain this year, the light irrigations following frosts and the diet supplements the vines have grown vigorously requiring some early shoot thinning starting with the Grenache and Grenache Blanc and then the Viognier.  The other varietals will follow on shortly.  The canopy in the Grenache and Grenache Blanc is very heavy and will require periodic reviews to make sure we get enough, but not too much, sunlight on the clusters as they mature.  We’ve already raised the wires on the VSP trellises to accommodate the early push of the vines in most of the blocks.

The flowering in the Grenache, Grenache Blanc the Viognier is complete and the fruit set looks good and healthy.  I suspect that the flowering on all of the other varietals will be complete following the heat spike of the week of June 20.  We’ve mowed the cover crop and weeds to allow easier access to the vines by the vineyard workers and the vineyard looks immaculate!  The suckering and training the vineyard workers do is a never ending task and I don’t know what we would do without then in the vineyard!  They will continue pulling leaves and suckering to open up the canopy watching to see that not too much sunlight hits directly on the clusters, especially on the Grenache which tends to bleach out if it gets too much sun.

As the weather gets warmer, as it does out here in the Adelaida, we’ll always be watching the tendrils on the vines, and the moisture monitoring equipment for possible water stress.  We try to use the irrigation water to keep a balance in the vines – the root system, the canopy and the fruit.  We believe that a well balanced vine will produce the best quality fruit.

Last year we planted about another acre of Grenache Blanc near the top of the hill in a rocky patch of ground.  The clone is TCVS A – Tablas Creek clone.  It is coming along great and we expect some great fruit in about two-three more years.  We are also increasing the size of block 10, Grenache, by about 200 vines which we hope to plant as “greens” this year.

This is La Vista Vineyards fifth leaf and I am very confident in another great year with the best quality fruit that we have yet produced.  I am looking forward to the harvest this year to show that La Vista Vineyard ranks right up there as one of the premium wine grape vineyards on the Westside.

We’ll be publishing La Vista View weekly or bi-weekly, depending on how much information of interest we find, on Mondays (usually) in the News and Events section of La Vista Vineyard’s website. We’ll also link to the View from our Facebook page and will simultaneously publish a link to our Twitter feed, @lavistavineyard.

Enjoy, and if you have any thoughts you’d like to share about the View or anything else, head over to our Facebook page and post a comment or send us a note. We’d love to hear from you.

Now, let’s get on with it!

First, a little original La Vista View reporting from the Stars of Paso Robles Beverly Hills tasting event, held on May 11, 2011. Organized by Ian Blackburn of Learn About Wine, the event showcased 30 or so great Paso wineries in the courtyard and retail shops at Two Rodeo in Beverly Hills, CA. We especially enjoyed our time with Terry Hoage Vineyards, Hammersky, Turley Wine Cellars, Lone Madrone, Villa Creek, Kiamie Wine Cellars, Hope Family Wines and Chateau Margine.

Ian did a great job of curating this event, from the venue, to the wineries, to the attendees. The vibe was relaxed yet elegant, and the event did a great job showing off Paso’s wines and welcoming disposition. If you are in LA or OC, please check out Learn About Wine. Ian’s events are great ways to learn about and to support the regions that interest you. Make sure you round up your friends for these tastings as they are fun with a group.

Learn About Wine

Check out the Green Traveler Guide article about Paso Robles. Its focus is on green activities in Paso and mentions quite a few of our friends and folks we admire including Tablas Creek Vineyard, L’Aventure, Halter Ranch Vineyard and Lone Madrone. There’s also a nice shout-out to Chef Chris Kobayashi of Artisan, one of our favorite Paso restaurants.

Green Traveler Guide

Unfortunately, the bad news on the Paso Robles April frost keeps rolling in. Here are more stories from Western Farm Press, Wine Spectator and KSBY. Expected crop losses and economic damage continues to mount.

Western Farm Press

Wine Spectator

KSBY TV

On a lighter note, the Chicago Sun-Times did a piece about how technology is slowly infiltrating the wine ecosystem. There’s a nice mention of our friends at Hope Family Wines and their iPhone App, Wine DJ, as well.

Chicago Sun-Times

And last but certainly not least, the 19^th annual Hospice du Rhone, held in late April, 2011 gets coverage from both the San Jose Mercury News and the Santa Barbara Independent. Can you name all 22 varietals?

San Jose Mercury News

Santa Barbara Independent

Until next time, cheers from Adelaida!

Thankfully, La Vista Vineyards suffered little or no damage from the recent hard freeze that hit much of the surrounding area. We credit this to a bit of luck, and a microclimate-driven block layout, which puts early budding varietals (Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Malbec and Viognier) at the top of most ridges, and late-budding varietals (Zinfandel) in the coldest valleys and draws.

Initial concern that the Viognier, spanning from the top of a ridge to the cooler valley along Las Tablas Creek, may have suffered some slight damage at the bottom is laid to rest. After a careful examination of the vines we are confident that the quality of the Viognier fruit will not be impaired as frost burn affected some leaves but none of the blossom clusters.

All of the blocks are now fully budded out with some shoots reaching as long as 12 inches, and we expect another fine crop of high-quality premium wine grapes. Fingers crossed for cooperative weather for the rest of the season!

Additional Info/Links:

› Western Farm Press

› Central Coast News

2010 was La Vista’s fourth leaf and we had a very successful harvest in spite of tough economic times. We started harvesting our Grenache Blanc in early September, 2010 for Amy Butler’s Ranchero Cellars and Steve Lock’s Ecluse Wines and finished with the Mourvedre in early November, 2010 for Hug Cellars. All totaled we harvested about 77 tons of first rate premium grapes for wineries in and around the Central Coast and found a good home for all of the fruit.

The winter rains started shortly after the last fruit was harvested so that meant that we had to start our winter preparations immediately. Barley was seeded in every other row. Straw bales were placed in all of the strategic water course areas and loose straw was placed in the roads between the blocks. Barley was hand sown into the straw for better erosion control. Waddles and erosion fences were placed at strategic places on the sides of the hills and at the bottom of the slopes. November and December, 2010 brought us about 18 inches of good rains that came with no erosion issues at all! Compost was added to several of the blocks and the rains helped to drive the nutrients toward the vine roots. All of the upper blocks were pruned while the lower blocks were only pre-pruned in preparation of potential frosts.

2011 will be La Vista’s fifth leaf and I have high expectations for the fruit crop. The vines are well established, we have the great soil, great sun aspect, and plenty of good quality water. I believe that the key to premium quality wine grapes is balance – balance the roots, the canopy and the fruit. And that is my job and I’ll do it well like I always do!

Ranchero Cellars – 2009 Grenache Blanc

“When I first saw Ken and Marilyn Riding’s La Vista Vineyard, I knew it was the perfect site for the pure, fresh style of Grenache Blanc I wanted to make. In this relatively warm, high-altitude vineyard with dusty white soil and an incredible view of the entire Adelaida region, I saw the potential for Grenache Blanc to not only ripen beautifully but to maintain its considerable acid structure. The Ridings also had the guidance of Alvaro Medrano’s careful hand at farming, which I had come to trust in several other area vineyards. In general, I like to make whites that express the characteristics of the varietal and vineyard, but I also like the palate richness that barrel fermentation brings to the table. I use old, neutral barrels and, with the Grenache Blanc, I do frequent lees stirring to discourage the oxidation that can so easily afflict this variety. Green apple, honey, and quince aromas abound in this wine, bolstered by stone-fruit flavors and culminating in a clean, seamless, flavor-packed finish. I love the way this wine’s refreshing quality pairs easily with light appetizers, and also the way it cuts through the richness of heartier foods.”