2010 Tango is Here!!

June 23, 2011

The long awaited 2010 Tango is finally in the bottle and will soon be ready to hit the shelf! Many of you have been inquiring about this wine for some time and we couldn’t be more excited about finally getting to share it with you! Many of you had a chance to sample this wine out of the barrel at the Wine Festival in May and after seeing your reactions we knew we had something special here.

The 2010 Tango is really a unique blend consisting of 43% Chardonnay, 29% Chenin Blanc, 24% Viognier, 4% Muscat Canelli. This wine has a tinge of sweetness and can be described as “off-dry” with a great sense of fruit coming from the Chenin Blanc and Viognier. The complexity in the fruit profile is complemented with a silky mouth feel, leaving you with hints of vanilla and butterscotch derived from the few months this wine spent in oak barrels.

The bottom line is, you gotta try this wine! According to our winemaker Tom, “The intensity and complexity is there with no bitterness or harshness and the 2010 is as good as ever!”

And remember “It takes two to Tango,” so make sure to share it with a friend!

Cheers,

Luke

June: A month of new releases and anticipation . . .

June 7, 2011

As wild as it may seem, we are now in the midst of June and thus far summer has yet to appear for more than a day or two at a time. As we looked over our data from past years we came to the conclusion that this is the coolest year on record for us since 1999. Although this is not all bad, we do really look forward to that summer heat Paso Robles is known for.

The heat pushes the grapes forward in their journey to becoming ripe and typically eliminates the chance of rain for at least a couple of months. The impact of the rains we experienced last week is yet to be known but is likely minimal. Rains this time of year can effect pollination but we won’t know for a couple more weeks if there is any major impact from this rain. We will, however, most likely experience an explosion of weeds sprouting in the vineyards but that is just the reality of farming, especially organic farming. In other vineyard news, we have just finished planting new lots at our Blind Faith vineyard and will soon be doing some more planting at our Whale Rock vineyard, ever increasing the quality and diversity of Castoro Cellars wines.

At the winery, June isn’t typically considered an extremely busy time of the year but it is an exciting time because we are preparing and bottling new releases. For example, the much-anticipated Tango is now ready and should be in bottle with in a week or two and on the shelves shortly thereafter. We have also recently bottled the 2009 Castoro Zinfandel and 2009 Blind Faith Syrah, both of which are sure to please. Our Blind Faith Pinot Noir has recently been transferred to barrels as well, in order to give the wine a couple months on oak before being bottled.

All in all, we are very excited to share our new wines with all of you! In the meantime we will continue to wait patiently for the summer heat to hit! As usual, don’t hesitate to check out the events page on our website because we’ve got a lot of fun in store for this summer.

http://www.castorocellars.com/events.php

Cheers,

Luke

2011 Paso Robles Wine Festival Recap!

May 23, 2011

First of all, we would like to thank all of you who came out and celebrated the 29th annual Paso Robles Wine Festival with us this year. We had such an amazing weekend and such a great time meeting new people and reacquainting with long time patrons. We had visitors from all over the country and everyone seemed to be in great spirits.

Both Niels and Bimmer agree, when they started Castoro Cellars almost 28 years ago they had a great feeling about the potential of Paso Robles, and both agree that they never imagined it would become what it is today (one of the best wine regions in the world)! Not only is Paso Robles producing world-class wines, it has become a wonderful destination with a plethora of great restaurants, live music and beautiful places to stay.

This year we kicked off our wine fest weekend with a Friday night dinner at the Tasting Room featuring Oysters Shooters and authentic Cajun Tapas provided by Bon Temps catering and live music performed by Luke Byron and his band. The combination of the music, food and wine alongside a great group of people really made it a night to remember and a great way to kick off a festive weekend.

Saturday, which is when the festival really kicks off, was about as beautiful a day as we could ask for this time of year. The sun was shining, there was a light breeze but it wasn’t too hot, as a matter of fact it was just right. Niels and Bimmer spent the day pouring in the park in downtown Paso Robles, while the Tasting Room featured live music by Luke Byron, great food, and of course wine tasting including barrel samples of some soon to be released wines.

Sunday proved to also be a wonderful day as well with all of the above and live music performed by Zzah, who played their 16th wine festival performance at Castoro Cellars! Now that the weekend has come to an end we are all a little tired but very grateful for all of those who came out to support Castoro Cellars and Paso Robles wines! We hope to see you all again soon!

Cheers,

Luke

Music, Festivals and Wine . . .

May 10, 2011

Over the past 30, years Paso Robles has really developed as a world class wine region, and because of this development we in Paso Robles have been fortunate enough to enjoy a multitude of live music, great food, festivals and of course wine! One thing that really stands out to me is the development of the music scene over the years. We have been doing concerts at Castoro for well over a decade and it’s hard to believe that we used to hold them inside our tasting room!

To me wine and music really pair well together because both represent what is good in life. Being with friends, relaxing, dancing, eating . . . I could go on and on. We have had so many amazing artists/musicians play at our place over the years and they almost always don’t want to leave because they have such a good time. Due to their great experiences the word has truly gotten out in the music community and now we receive an unbelievable amount of information from bands/artists that would like to play at Castoro Cellars. Luckily for us, SLO Folks (San Luis Obispo Folk Society) helps out with most of the booking and talent searching because, believe me, it is a lot of work, especially when there are so many talented artists out there!

As many of you may have heard, this summer we will be hosting our biggest act yet when we welcome Dave Mason to perform at Castoro on June 25th for Castoro’s 28th anniversary! Not only is Dave Mason a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, he is truly an amazing musician and has played with everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Paul McCartney and was even a member of Fleetwood Mac! He found success originally with his band Traffic and when the band split in 1969 he continued to play, sharing the stage with all of the greats from the 60s and 70s. Tickets are going fast; so make sure to get yours ASAP if you plan to go. This is really a once in a lifetime opportunity to see such a great artist in such an intimate setting.

With that said, we hope to see you for the 29th annual Paso Robles Wine Festival May 20-22nd. There will be great food, great wine and of course great live music! Bring the family, bring a friend (or two) and share some great times with us.

Cheers,

Luke

For concert tickets and event information please call 1-888-DAM-FINE or visit:

www.castorocellars.com

Summer Concerts Powered by the Sun . . .

April 19, 2011

For this blog I wanted to focus on something I think is really amazing and really an appropriate topic for Earth Month. For any of you who have attended one of our outdoor summer concerts, you have experienced what I am referring to, whether or not you realized it at the time! I am referring to our Mobile Solar Generator that provides all of the power for our outdoor summer concert series, completely off the grid and produced locally here on the Central Coast. The generator is manufactured by Mobile Solar based out of Atascadero and currently provided to us by Semmes and Co.

The story behind the relationship with Mobile Solar and Semmes and Co. is really an example of the amazing community we are a part of here on the Central Coast. Travis Semmes, founder of Mobile Solar, is the son of Turko Semmes who owns Semmes and Co. and actually built Niels and Bimmer’s home here in Templeton. Before starting Mobile Solar, Travis had been working for his father and during that time built his first prototype unit, which they began to use at job sites replacing loud and dirty diesel generators. When I asked Travis how he started the company he said a lot of his co-workers told him “you ought to build these things and sell them!” Travis said it took him a while to actually listen to the advice, but he finally did and hasn’t looked back since.

A short time after Travis started building the generators to sell, Niels and Bimmer caught wind of what he was doing and proposed a trade involving wine and concert tickets in exchange for using one of the trailers to power the outdoor concerts. For Travis, just starting out his company this was a great opportunity and as he put it “I thought this was the greatest deal in the world! Castoro makes amazing wine and you usually have a music group I enjoy.”

For us at Castoro it was an amazing opportunity to help out a company we believed in and to take our company further in the direction of sustainability. Already having a full solar array on the roof of our events building this generator was right up our alley. Not only are these generators off the grid but they provide much cleaner power than we would get from the grid, resulting in a much cleaner sound through the PA system during our concerts. With conventional power there is a certain amount of white noise and static present, but with these solar generators the sound is clean as a whistle.

Currently our solar generator is provided by Semmes and Co. while Travis continues to keep busy making units for companies all over the world. To learn more about Mobile Solar and how Travis has been helping with the crisis in Japan check out this recent article from The Tribune:

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/04/12/1560308/atascadero-firm-aids-japan-relief.html

http://www.mobilesolarpower.net/

http://www.semmesco.com/

Until Next Time,

Cheers,

Luke

Spring has sprung (and we hope it’s here to stay)

April 5, 2011

It is now officially spring time and it’s finally starting to feel that way too! We have had quite an interesting year once again and we are all very happy to have some 70 degree weather with sunshine to complement the green rolling hills. I know California is known for its dry golden hills, which we often have, but at the moment we are experiencing some beautiful green hills along with running rivers. The Estrella River, out by the winery, continues to flow as do many other small creeks and streams that haven’t flowed for years.

All of this moisture has been great for the grapes and right about now we are starting to see some bud break in our vineyards. The Chardonnay has experienced some budding and many other varietals are not far behind. It’s seems like just the other day I was writing about harvest and picking the grapes and now I am writing about the beginnings of the next batch of fruit! It really is a year round process!

Out at the winery we have a lot special projects going on and a lot of transitioning. Typically the spring and summer are considered slower times of the year at the winery, with the focus mainly on bottling, cleaning and prepping wines to be bottled, barreled etc. According to Tom, our Barbera and Petite Sirah are looking “exceptional” and our 09 Syrah is currently “very tasty.” I love hearing which wines Tom is particularly excited about because not only does it get me excited, it gets me curious to find out what he has got going on with these particular wines. Tom has been in the business for a long time and he tends to know which wines will be particularly special!

Let’s cross our fingers for a warm spring and a beautiful summer!

Cheers,

Luke

Mikel Olsten . . . Dam Fine winemaker!

March 21, 2011

In this blog I decided to focus on our assistant winemaker Mikel Olsten, who also happens to be our longest standing employee. I have wanted to write about Mikel for quite some time, and over the weekend I finally had a perfect opportunity to chat with Mikel and get the full story about how he met Niels and Bimmer and eventually came to work for Castoro Cellars.

It turns out; Mikel met Niels and Bimmer while playing on a co-ed softball team in SLO called “Foul Play” around 1980 or 81. At the time, Castoro was barely an idea being hatched and their relationship mainly revolved around “Foul Play” and the notorious post game get togethers. While playing on the team, Niels and Bimmer had mentioned they were looking to move out of their current place and into a place with more garden space, and as it turned out, Mikel had a rental unit next to his house that had just what they were looking for. In 1983, Niels and Bimmer moved in and Mikel became their landlord, starting what would become a long-term relationship between friends and families.

At the time, Niels and Bimmer were in the beginning phases of Castoro Cellars and Mikel was working carpentry and construction, building homes from start to finish. Niels had begun to do some private label work for local restaurants and from time to time would need a hand labeling the bottles. As a good neighbor would (and budding winemaker), Mikel always helped out when he could, and Niels never seemed to be short on things that needed to be done. Mikel had been making his own wine with grapes from the backyard since 79 and naturally was quite interested in what Niels and Bimmer were doing. At one point, Mikel met Tom Myers (our current winemaker), who at the time worked with Niels at Estrella winery. Tom told Mikel “you seem to be quite into this; maybe you should try making wine with wine grapes!” Mikel did just that and in 1985 won a gold medal at the Paso Robles mid-state fair for a red table wine.

Eventually Mikel began working for Castoro Cellars half time, which seemed to always be more like full time, and in 1987 became Castoro’s first full time employee. Having studied Biology and Chemistry at Cal Poly, winemaking was right up Mikel’s alley and Castoro seemed to be a perfect fit. When I asked Mikel what has kept him around so long he said, “I always liked the family-oriented philosophy of Castoro and liking the people I work with and for are big reasons I made a career of it. I also like that each day presents new challenges that need to be tackled and there never seems to be a shortage of projects to work on.” Mikel also told me that working with Tom Myers has been a real pleasure over the years. “There is always something new to learn from Tom, even 20 years later!”

Anyone who knows Mikel knows how well he fits into the Castoro family. On top of knowing how to do just about everything out at the winery, Mikel also knows how to enjoy life. In his free time you’ll find him riding his 2007 Black Triumph Bonneville motorcycle up HWY 1 or cruising down the ski slopes in Mammoth. Being a fresh Grandpa, Mikel told me he can never spend too much time with his grandson Corbin who turns 1 this year.

To sum it all up Mikel told me, “I get up in the morning and I can’t wait to get to work. It’s that kind of job.”

We sure have appreciated having Mikel working for us over the years, and as long as he wants to keep working we will keep him busy!

Cheers,

Luke

Wine, snow and wait . . . snow?

February 25, 2011

I know these blogs often start with a segment about the weather but, as we all know, the weather is a very important part of our daily lives, especially if you work in agriculture. Right now in Paso we are experiencing some particularly cold weather and rain with the possibility of snow down to 1,000 feet! The last time it snowed on the central coast I think I was about five years old, so it doesn’t happen too often and Considering my last blog was titled “Blending in the Sun” you get an idea of how unpredictable our weather has been this year. We are also very happy that we have just about reached our normal annual rainfall here on the central coast, which is something that doesn’t happen every year. Luckily for us, cool weather is good for the grapes this time of year and can encourage good “fruitfulness” as Tom put it.

But, weather aside, we are keeping quite busy out at the winery and the Tasting Room. There has been a lot of bottling and organizing going on in our warehouses along with a packed schedule of events and tasting parties at the Tasting Room. At the winery we are slated to bottle our 2009 Blind Faith Syrah sometime early next week which, if it is anything like the 2008 vintage, should be a real treat when it hits the shelves. At the Tasting Room this past weekend we had our wine club pick-up party and the event was a real hit. The turnout was great and there was live music and catered appetizers! For those of you who are not familiar with our wine club, the pick-up party is an event where our wine club members can come to the Tasting Room to pick up their shipment and get an opportunity to taste the wines they have received. Typically our winemakers Tom and Mikel are in attendance so they can answer any questions anyone may have about the wines and it gives them a chance to interact with our wine clubbers and hear their feedback etc. Overall, the event is a lot of fun and seems to be gaining popularity amongst our wine club members.

In other event news, we also had our HWY 46 West Winery Block Party this past weekend at Eagle Castle Winery, where all of the wineries on HWY 46 west got together for an evening of great wine and food. The event was a lot of fun and was absolutely packed! The next block party will be on July 2nd and we are very proud to announce that it will be hosted at our Castoro Cellars Tasting Room. Tickets will go fast so make sure to get them early! There will be food, wine and live music so do not miss this one!

With all that said, stay and dry and warm and come pay us a visit soon!

Cheers,

Luke

P.S.

Zinfest is March 18-20th

Blending in the Sun . . .

February 7, 2011

After some early rain and storms throughout December, the New Year has been quite dry for us on the Central Coast. The past couple of weeks have been quite warm for this time of the year with temperatures even getting into the 70s. It does, however, freeze almost every night! Vast temperature swings are something we are very used to in Paso Robles. In the summer time it is not uncommon to have a 50 degree swing from day to night.

Out at the winery we are really in a transition time and things are not nearly as busy as they were a couple months ago. We are still busy, don’t get me wrong, but everything has slowed down significantly since harvest. We are currently de-barreling some of our 09 vintages and Tom is looking at different possibilities for blends. Our 09 Syrah is very close to being bottled as well and it is looking quite nice. The 2010 Tango is going be blended very soon and Tom is excited to figure out what that blend will be. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the 2010 Fume Blanc has already been bottled and should be available soon.

All in all we are transitioning at the winery and enjoying the warm sunny weather while it lasts. Hopefully we will get some more moisture by the end of February, as it is something we always need here in California.

Make sure to mark your calendars now for the Zinfandel Festival weekend, which will take place March 18-20. As usual there will be barrel tasting, library wines, food, and live music on both Saturday and Sunday.

Cheers,

Luke

P.S.

We are now on twitter, so you if you are a tweeter check out our page!!

SF Chronicle Wine Competition . . .

January 19, 2011

At Castoro Cellars we have always taken pride in the quality of our wines and we have also made an effort to keep our wines at an affordable price. This endeavor has led us to over 25 years of making high quality wines at great prices and nothing feels better than getting recognition for these achievements. Last week the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition results for 2011 were released and we at Castoro Cellars are very proud of what we received this year. Below I have listed the results for Castoro:

For Chardonnay – Our 2008 Central Coast Chardonnay Received a Bronze
For Viognier – Our 2009 Paso Robles Reserve Viognier Received Silver!!
For Pinot Noir – Our 2009 Paso Robles Blind Faith Pinot Noir Received Gold!!
For Zinfandel – Our 2008 Paso Robles Zinfandel Received Silver!!
For Zinfandel – Our 2008 Zinfandel Zinfusion Received Gold!!
For Primitivo – Our 2008 Paso Robles Primitivo Received Silver!!
For Syrah/Shiraz – Paso Robles Reserve Syrah was Double Gold “Best of Class”
For Cabernet Sauvignon – Our 2008 Paso Robles Cabernet Received Silver!!
For Tempranillo – Our 2008 Paso Robles Whale Rock Tempranillo Received Silver!!

That is Four Gold medals, five Silver medals, one Bronze and a Best of Class! We are so fortunate at Castoro Cellars to have such an awesome winemaking team. They work very hard to ensure that our wines are constantly improving and the hard work continues to pay off!

Cheers,

Luke