Veraison and Anticipation

Véraison is a viticulture term meaning "the onset of  ripening". Veraison represents the transition from berry growth to berry  ripening, and many changes in berry development occur at this stage.  Veraison is just starting in many of the vineyards around Paso,  including the Cuevas Vineyard in the east, bordering San Miguel. With  the mild – some say “textbook” perfect summer weather – it seems as  though veraison is late this year. But, it is all happening...

And it just so happens, too, that the Alma Sol Winery story went through  its own veraison of sorts this past weekend. After an initial phase of  growth and development of our plan, we identified in another weekend-warrior trip to Paso two new possible Cabernet  sources for our 2010 vintage. Between work and travel and various other  life events in between, we had stalled our search for new sources, not  quite leaving things to the last minute of harvest-time – but close  enough for discomfort! Yet as in nature, some strange trigger and  subsequent turn of events occurred – in this case, an unplanned tour of a  very well-known family vineyard on the east side. To our pleasant surprise, we met the family in their new tasting room and learned that  we might have the opportunity to source their fruit. And so the plot  thickens...or ripens, in this case. We then scored another victory with a  west side fruit source, so all may be coming together. The “fruits of  our labor” for this micro-boutique plan of ours are maturing (good god,  can we stretch this veraison metaphor out any further?).

Long story short, it looks like we will be sourcing from four vineyards  for our Cabernet and one vineyard for Sauvignon Blanc for the 2010  harvest. Very exciting! The anticipation will build as we watch the  weather and wait for further ripening across the area.


Harvest will be here before we know it! Stay tuned...

John and Lisa

Armonizar: Blending the first vintage

The blend is here! And the taste? Very, very nice. After nearly 8 months total barrel time and 2 months after blending all barrels, we are delighted to report that Alma Sol's first vintage Cabernet Sauvignon is coming along quite well.

The barrel program is 50% neutral and 50% new French oak. With a first vintage and grapes coming from two vineyards, it was of course difficult to know exactly what would be needed to bring out all of the qualities we look for in our cabernets - fruit forward, silky mouthfeel, well-balanced, with some solid tannin structure. But, Seguin Moreau ST and Ana Selecion's (note: Ana Selecion is a female owned-and-operated cooperage...love that!) seem to be working with the fruits' unique qualities very well thus far. Seguin Moreau has imparted more of that traditional vanilla/caramel, toasty oak characteristic. Ana Selecion is also a medium toast, but appears to be much more elegant and subtle in oak influence on the fruit.

So, what stands out? The Cuevas Vineyard fruit carries an incredibly pleasing floral nose. It's a little bit lavender, a whole lot of violet. Licorice is already showing in the nose and taste as well, likely coming from the Stillwaters Vineyard fruit (El Pomar district).

And what's next? We let the wine do its thing. It is a baby; it needs to grow, change, take more first steps towards maturity and developing its full personality. With that, we're looking at at least another 10 to 12 months in the barrel. 2010 harvest will come before that time, but with our first pass at this venture going well, we've learned a bit to carry us forward to vintage #2.

One of our favorite Spanish words for "to blend" is "armonizar" - which translates more precisely to mean "to harmonize." Harmonizing is an art that takes time, understanding, and finesse, so while another year seems so far away, we will be patient in the hopes that we take blending to a higher order.

Hasta pronto!

John and Lisa

HR 5034 and direct shipping

Do you like wine and receiving wine from your favorite wine clubs? if so, please read this great blog post and exchange with Jason Chaas of Tablas Creek Winery and his US Representative for the Central Coast. http://bit.ly/bI6iHS

If you would like to be able to buy wine directly from your favorite winery, keep your favorite small wineries in business, and stop the distributors from taking away your choices and killing off local jobs while filling their pockets with more money, contact your local representatives and tell them to NOT support the passage of HR 5034.

Bud Break

It's official! Bud break has finally come at the Cuevas Vineyard. The picture to the left is of the Cabernet Sauvignon buds at the vineyard. From the looks of it, the buds broke just a week or so ago as the vineyard is sparsely populated by the new bud and leaves.

For the last two weeks, a summer like weather pattern hit the area. Prior to that, rain had been coming down for weeks. As we write this post, the rain has struck again. Although we are only expected to receive a quarter of an inch, it is coming down hard with winds upwards of 25 mph. We do like the rain though as the area was pretty dry for the last two years and the more we can get the better. After March, we will not receive any more rain until October or November. Additionally, this is always a risky time of the year as a freeze could cause chaos in the vineyard, freezing the new buds and causing "shatter." As long as it rains, freeze is not likely.

In the next few months we will head back out into the vineyard to do shoot thinning. With all of the rain, the vineyard is likely to go wild and grow out of control. To maintain a good concentration and balance in the fruit, we will have to cut back a good amount of the shoots. Good times

We wish you a happy spring and will check back in shortly.

John and Lisa Shaw

Alma Sol Winery

Spring is here!

Can you believe that Spring is already here? Well, we are still waiting for bud break in our vineyards. As of a few days ago, nothing was happening in the vineyard except for a lot of very tall grass taking over the grounds (as pictured with Wiley to the left). Other vineyards in Paso Robles have already started to see some action so we know it's coming any day now.

We have been relatively quiet as it has been a slow period for us here at Alma Sol. The 2009 vintage is gracefully aging in the barrels and the vineyard has been shut down for winter. We are still working on obtaining our final licensing for Alma Sol Winery and hope to have some information on this and more very soon.

Although we have been silent here on our primary website, we have been keeping busy on our facebook and twitter sites. Please visit those sites for updates and general postings on Alma Sol and other Paso happenings.

We hope you have had a good winter and look forward to breaking into Spring and bringing you more updates.

Cheers - Alma Sol Winery

Happy New Year from Alma Sol Winery

Lisa and I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. We look forward to sharing more news with you about Alma Sol in 2010!

Cuevas Vineyard - October 2009

Cuevas Vineyard- October 2009

Here are a few photos taken last weekend at the Cuevas Vineyard. The vineyard has some really amazing colors right now. We hope you enjoy these shots. Also, say hi to Bernie and Wiley (our vineyard dachshunds)