Happy New Year everybody! It’s actually 2012, and I can hardly believe it. I guess time flies when you’re making Dam Fine Wine, right? As we all know, each New Year brings new opportunities, new problems and new solutions. 2012 has already proven to be an eventful year, starting out with what may be one of the driest winters on record. If you’re anything like me you too have had mixed feelings on the unusually warm and dry weather we have been experiencing. One side of me wants to throw on some shorts, go for a hike and soak up the cosmic rays, while the other side longs for snow in the mountains and water in our streams.

Due to the dry weather we have been forced to water our grapes, something that is usually a rarity this time of year. Without water, vines can dry out and young vines can even die (something we don’t want to happen). To offset the energy needed to water the grapes we have undertaken a new solar energy project out at our Dos Viñas vineyard on the East side of Paso Robles. The solar panels being installed will power the well used to water the vineyards along with the home located on the vineyard property. This effort is part of our continued commitment to sustainability in our vineyards and community.

Another project many of you may have noticed is the replanting of our Cobble Creek Vineyard surrounding the Tasting Room. Having grown up just down the street from the Tasting Room I am very familiar with the property and have never seen it without grapes, as the vines were over 30 years old. The current view definitely takes some getting used to but in the long run replanting the vineyard was something that simply needed to be done. The main reason for replanting, aside from the age of the vines, is a disease referred to as dead-arm or grape canker. Dead-arm is a disease of grapes caused by a deep-seated wood rot of the arms or trunk of the grapevine. As the disease progresses over several years, one or more arms may die, hence the name “deadarm”. Eventually the whole vine will die and we definitely don’t want that to happen! The new vines will continue to be organically farmed and will be Zinfandel just as they were before. Unfortunately, the new vines can’t be planted until all frost has ceased, so when you gaze upon the vacant vineyard take comfort knowing good things are on the horizon!

As farmers we constantly have to make due with the cards Mother Nature deals us. When the weather is dry we take advantage of the opportunity and prepare for our spring planting. There is never a dull moment in agriculture! With a little luck we’ll get some rain soon and I’ll be writing the next blog from the lodge in between ski runs!

Until next time,

Cheers,

Luke

This past Friday we had our annual Holiday party, and let me tell you, it was a blast! Castoro rented out the ballroom at the Paso Robles Inn and our wonderful event manager Teresa made sure the party was organized and entertaining. First off, the party had a 1920s theme, which was awesome, especially since a majority of those in attendance were dressed appropriately. There were also poker tables and a live band!

After a wonderful meal, Niels (owner/founder) took some time to thank all of the employees for their hard work and gave an extra special thanks to those who, as of this year, have worked for Castoro ten years and twenty years (Joe Mertens). He went on to tell the story of how Joe turned up for a job interview 20 years ago via bicycle from Cambria to San Miguel, after discovering the winery was not in Templeton! “I saw this guy ride up on a bicycle, and thought wow, this guy is hired,” Niels recalled.

All in all I can truly say it’s wonderful to work with such solid group of people who enjoy being around each other. We’ve all been to the dreaded Holiday party where everyone feels awkward wants out, well the poor employees at the Paso Inn practically had to push us out the door!

As we approach Christmas, Hanukah, new years etc, on behalf of Castoro Cellars, I would like to wish you all the best in whatever you are doing and wherever you are! This a time to be in good spirits with family, friends and loved ones . . . and maybe even a bottle or two of Dam Fine Wine : )

2012 is going to be an exciting year for us, as we will continue to release old favorites and exciting new blends and varietals. We continue to learn and grow each year and we look forward to sharing a new round with you all.

Happy Holidays from the Castoro Crew,

Cheers,

Luke

P.S. How cool are our new shirts! “Peace, Love, Castoro”

With Thanksgiving just behind us, I thought it would be nice to express some of the things we are thankful for here at Castoro Cellars! There are many things we are fortunate to have but a few of these things stand out from the rest.

The first is our wonderful staff! We really couldn’t ask for a better crew (even if we drive each other crazy at times). A number of our employees have worked for us over ten years and some over 20! You really become close over time and I think that is reflected in the way or business is run. I spend a lot time reading over our reviews and comments on pages like Facebook and Yelp and I love hearing peoples’ stories about the memorable experiences they had at Castoro because of our staff! It’s one thing to make great wine, but without a great experience that wine will never reach its’ full potential. Our staff makes great wine and offers that great experience!

The second thing I wanted to highlight is our region. The Paso Robles appellation is truly unique and there’s no place we’d rather be! (Sorry Napa) Located directly between Los Angeles and San Francisco, we are close enough to both for a visit but far enough away to miss the traffic and population density. As for the wine, that speaks for itself. Paso Robles is producing world-class wines in multiple varietals largely in part to the amazing soil and weather here on the Central Coast. Close enough to the coast for cool nights but inland enough for warm days. Castoro has grown up with Paso Robles and it has been quite an experience to see the area blossom.

The third, but certainly not last, thing we are truly thankful for is the industry we are in. The wine business may not be as romantic as many think (we are farmers after all) but it is an amazing business to be in nonetheless. There is so much history in wine and we feel honored to be a part of the story. Wine really brings people together and of course goes really well with food and we all LOVE food! A handful of people shared with us which wines of ours they were having with their Thanksgiving meals and it couldn’t have made us happier knowing that our wines were being enjoyed and shared by many on Thanksgiving.

As more holidays approach, keep an eye on our website for upcoming events and specials. We’ve always got a lot in store for you and this year is no exception! December 10-11th we are having our Holiday Open House at the Tasting Room with all kinds of goodies, discounts and holiday sensations.

Until Next Time,

Cheers,

Luke

(The photo below is our tasting room crew after our “Cyber Monday” orders were completed! And a shot of our Turkey dinner wine! )

Extra, Extra read all about it: “Niels Udsen, owner of Castoro Cellars, says the 2011 Harvest will be over this coming Thursday!” After 30 years of working the grape harvest in Paso Robles, he just may know what he is talking about (maybe). As I spoke with Niels this morning he told me in his 30 years working the harvest in Paso, this year was,”the most bizarre of them all.” “We started out this year with a late frost in April followed by an early frost in the fall, coupled with earlier than normal rains and very mild temperatures. The result of these patterns has been one of the smallest harvests ever in the Paso Robles appellation.” This is pretty crazy stuff if you ask me, but it’s not all bad and fortunately for us, our veteran crew is as capable as any in dealing with the challenges we are facing.

As of now, all we have left on the vine is a little bit of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. With a forecast of rain later in the week, we are ready to pick the last of our fruit and shift our focus out at the winery. As I mentioned, this year has not been all bad, the quality of the fruit has been phenomenal and in the end that is what truly matters. Despite low yields, our fruit this year has given us great color and great sugar content, both very important in the wine making process. As Niels put it, “People always talk about “great” years in wine, but I truly feel this year will go down as one of the best we have ever had in terms of quality.” In other words, this vintage is going to be good and it’s going to go fast! I personally couldn’t be more excited to try the 2011 wines when they are released, because diversity as we experienced this year is what keeps wine unique, exciting and endlessly enjoyable.

As we wrap up our 2011 harvest, we thank you all for keeping us going over the years and we look forward to sharing yet another vintage with you all. The wines this year will be worth holding to and will carry a story with them about a year that was like no other!

Til next time!

Cheers,

Luke

If any of you were at the Harvest Festival this past weekend, I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say that it was an absolute blast! So many happy people everywhere I turned and such a good atmosphere. Not to mention, we had just about perfect weather. Nice and warm with clear skies and little to no wind.

We kicked off the 2011 Harvest Fest at Castoro this year with a Friday night “Barefoot Barrels Bash” dinner catered by local favorite, Thomas Hill Organics. The food was amazing to say the least and the wine wasn’t too bad either! We were also lucky enough to be serenaded by the Barflyz, a group with members from the Steve Miller Band. All in all it was a great way to kick off this festive weekend.

On Saturday and Sunday the grape stomping continued along with live music by Soul Sauce (they were really fun). It was really great to meet a bunch of new people and see lots of familiar faces from over the years. One of the biggest hits over the weekend was definitely the barrel tasting. It’s really exciting to try wine straight from the barrel for a couple of reasons. First of all, it looks pretty darn cool, and second of all you get a hint of what’s to come and what the aging process is like for different wines. I was personally very impressed with the upcoming Zinfandel Zinfusion and the Whale Rock Pinot Noir, which is a first for us from that vineyard. Another really fun wine from the barrel was the 2011 Viognier, which is still fermenting as it was only picked about a month ago. This one really caught people off guard, as it was cloudy in color and very fruity on the nose. Trying the Viognier like that has gotten me very excited to try the finished product.

All in all it was another great Harvest Festival weekend and we survived the party, which is quite a feat when it lands in the middle of the busiest time of the year for us! Thank you all so much for coming out and celebrating the good life with us and please come back soon!

Cheers,

Luke

P.S. The photo of the two drinking from the Barrel wands are Niels and Bimmer our fearless, but fun leaders : )

In my last blog I wrote about the impact of climate and weather on the harvest and how this year we are experiencing a year of low yields and exceptional quality. This continues to be the case and as of late we have been blessed with amazing ripening weather! Warm dry days with little to no wind is the kind of weather that will get our reds off the vine before we run into more trouble! Earlier this week it was 102 degrees in San Luis Obispo, just one degree shy of their record! Yikes!

As of now pretty much all of our whites have been picked and although the yields have been way down, the quality is very high and that is really the most important thing. This week we have been picking Zinfandel from our Dos Viñas vineyard, which is a 30-year-old vineyard and the first Zin we have picked in 2011. If all goes to plan, the rest of our Zin will be next followed by Merlot and finally our Cabernet. Our Whale Rock Pinot has also come in and is looking to be a real gem. This is only the second year we have harvested Pinot from our Whale Rock vineyard in Templeton, which means we have not yet released the first vintage but when we do, be on the lookout because this is a great wine!

In other exciting news, the Harvest Festival is right around the corner, taking place October 21st-23rd. Friday night we are having a “Barefoot Barrels Bash” with dinner provided by Thomas Hill Organics and music by the Barflyz. Tickets are on sale now so don’t miss out! All weekend long there will be live music, grape stomping, barrel tasting and of course plenty of Dam Fine Wine! Please check out the events page on our website for more details on this fabulous weekend. http://www.castorocellars.com/events.php

Cheers,

Luke

As I’ve written many times before, we farmers are truly at the whims of Mother Nature, which is an amazing and challenging reality. Last year we experienced the latest harvest ever at Castoro and this year is right on par with last year. Cooler than normal summers being a huge factor in this shift.

This year we are experiencing another challenge on top of the late ripening of the fruit. Back in April many parts of the Paso Robles appellation were hit with a brutal frost, which left a lot of damage throughout certain vineyards. Until now the extent of the damage was relatively unknown, but we will be the first to tell you now that it is not good! On average, our yields this year have been significantly down from years past and as Niels put it “big crops tend to get bigger and small crops tend to get smaller!” For example, we usually get 3-4 tons per acre on our Chardonnay, this year we got less than a ton per acre and there is really nothing we can do about that! Another favorite, our Blind Faith Pinot Noir comes from two separate blocks and one of them literally has little to no fruit this year (yikes)!

As of now we are about 20% of the way through harvest and even with the grim figures we remain positive and optimistic out at the winery. Resilience is very important in Ag Business and we have been doing this for a very long time. Even though the yields have been extremely low, the quality has been very high on everything that has come in and we are excited about what it has to offer. As I mentioned, one block of our Blind Faith Pinot Noir is looking very sparse but luckily the other block is yielding some good fruit, which will allow us to keep this wonderful wine in production (however small it may be)! If all goes to plan our Blind Faith Syrah will be coming in tomorrow and the BF Zinfandel is looking very strong as well.

With rain in the forecast this week we have more challenges ahead, but rest assured our Dam Fine Crew will make the most of this harvest, however small the yields may be. With that said, expect 2011 to be a harvest of great quality and low quantity!

Cheers,

Luke

I know it’s harvest time, and usually my blogs this time of year are harvest related, but I wanted to take a minute to write about an event Castoro has been involved with the past few years. Niels, having grown up in Ventura California, loves the beach and loves surfing. As a kid he surfed daily and often spent time in the Ventura hills, camping and exploring with friends. Although he settled in Paso Robles he never lost his love and appreciation for his stomping grounds, which is why it was an easy decision to get involved with the Ventura Hillsides Benefit Concert, benefitting the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy.

The Ventura Hillsides Benefit concert is a wonderful outdoor event that hosts amazing musical acts from year to year, including Jack Johnson, Keb Mo, Toots and the Maytals, David Lindley and many more. For Niels and Bimmer, getting involved with this event was a no brainer, not only is the event for a wonderful cause, it’s a great excuse to spend a weekend on the beach in Ventura with wonderful music and hopefully some good waves! This year the line-up is as solid as ever and the wine will be Dam Fine, so if you live in the area or if you just want to get away for a weekend please check out this wonderful event. The setting is fabulous and the music is always well worth it!

For more information on the event please visit http://www.venturahillsides.org/

The Ventura Hillsides Conservancy is a land trust operating in the Ventura region to protect and conserve open space resources through acquisition of land and easements, stewardship of protected lands, and public education about local natural resources.

- And don’t worry, there will be more grapes in soon and many more harvest updates to come!

Cheers,

Luke

It seems like only yesterday I was writing the first harvest blog for the 2010 harvest and now I’m writing the first harvest blog for 2011! Crazy how time flies, especially when you’re having fun! As many of you may know, this year is another “late harvest” (not referring to the dessert wine) brought on by milder summer weather. The grapes love the summer heat and when we don’t get that intense heat they take a little longer to ripen.

This week we are happy to say our 2011 harvest is officially underway and one of my favorite varietals, the Dos Viñas Fume Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc, was the one to break the ice. By the end of the week we will have picked all of the Fume Blanc and Viognier from our Dos Viñas vineyard with the Stone’s Throw Viognier soon to follow. The Blind Faith Pinot Noir is getting close as well and is looking to be our first red of 2011.

As long as the weather holds out and we don’t see any early rains, we are looking to have a very good harvest in 2011. So far, this year is looking very similar to last year in terms of temperature and last year was a great harvest, minus the early rains in September and October. Our winemaker Tom is anticipating a very high quality crop based on this year’s weather patterns and crop level and I have a feeling he knows what he is talking about!

In other good news, our winery is now certified organic, which was quite the process, but well worth the mountains of paperwork! We can now put organic logos on our labels and even produce organic wines if we choose! Pretty exciting stuff if you ask me!

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more harvest updates and enjoy the warm days while they last! (Maybe even with a glass of Dam Fine Wine!)

Cheers,

Luke

Recently my Mom sent me a handful of vintage Castoro photos that she had come across while making an album for our 25th anniversary celebration a couple years ago. When I saw these photos they immediately brought back memories of growing up with the winery and the culture that surrounds it. Some of these memories include staying home from class to help pick grapes, running around during festivals and parties, drinking lots of Castoro grape juice, following workers around the winery with a million questions and of course selling pumpkins at the tasting room! (see photo below). All of these memories and experiences are just as much a part of Castoro as the wine itself and are part of what makes Castoro truly unique. At Castoro we not only cultivate grapes, we cultivate an atmosphere that promotes family, friendship and good memories. If you look at the photo below of my friend Travis and I dancing, you’ll notice a band playing behind us. That band is Zzah who just played at our wine festival party this year for the 17th consecutive year! If I had to guess I’d say that photo is probably around 15 years old and when I saw Zzah this year they had me dancing once again, and who knows I may have even thrown in some of the same dance moves!

Now that September is rapidly approaching it’s starting to feel a lot like harvest time, and before we know it our first lots of grapes will be trickling into the winery for processing. With every year comes a slightly different experience and with each experience comes new memories and new chapters to the story of Castoro. With that said, thanks to all of you who have stuck with us over the years and a warm welcome to those of you who are just now discovering our wines. If all goes to plan, 2011 will be a harvest to remember!

Cheers,

Luke