Tolosa Winery

Come dine with me...

Welcome to Palazzo Giuseppe’s

Years ago, I remember arriving in Bari by car, en route to Greece via ferry, only to realize it would have been better to have made some sort of arrangements in advance!  During the ensuing days in Bari, I got a brief glimpse of not only the city and the surrounding countryside, but its warm culture, kind people, and, most of all--rustic cuisine.

Cuisine of Puglia ranges from fresh seafood from the Adriatic Sea to pasta, meats and of course, piping hot, paper thin pizza.  All of this of course, to be accompanied by unassuming and inexpensive, honest wine.

As residents of San Luis Obispo county, most of us realize that this is available to us every day, not just when we missed the ferry.  And not just in Pismo Beach, but San Luis Obispo where the owners of Giuseppe’s have outdone themselves in the presentation of “cucina genuine”!  A beautiful building with a choice of outdoor, semi outdoor or formal indoor dining, all beautifully appointed.

Brittney and I were greeted warmly, even without reservations and handled flawlessly and professionally by the hostess, two wait persons and even the busser!

Our goal was to pair Tolosa Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc with a three course meal. 

Chardonnay has a unique ability to pair its acid with the foods, so we selected two different Tomato based anti pasti.  The first was “Eggplant Alla Parmigiana, a baked eggplant with mozzarella and tomato.  The second required almost no thought at all:  Crab Cakes, made of local Dungeness with avocado and a sweet chili vinaigrette.  Both selections were well executed and delightful.

Pinot Noir, known for its versatility, was perfect with their Osso Buco and Scottaditi(rack of lamb).  The Osso buco was slow cooked in a gremolata sauce on a bed of saffron risotto.  Rack of lamb was smoked with grape cuttings and roasted corn mascarpone polenta with amarena cherry demi glaze.  Perfect. Thank God also, I saved some of their fresh bread to clean the plates of their sauces. The only problem was getting Brittney to share her food more fairly!

For desert, Giuseppe’s had our Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, which just seemed to beg for one thing in particular on the menu.  As a native New Yorker, I only recognize Cannoli and cheese cake made of Ricotta cheese and this it was!  Sicilian Cannoli in a crisp pastry shell sprinkled with pistachios.  Marone!  All in all, this evening at Guiseppe’s surpassed my expectations and brought to mind many fond memories of my time spent in Bari.

- John Shakley  (stay tuned for more resturant reviews from Mr. Shakley)

The Final Days of Harvest

This is the final week of harvest. Tomorrow, Saturday the 18th, will be our last day of picking. We'll be bringing in Syrah from Salaal Vineyard. The last few days we've been the beneficiaries of some perfect Indian Summer weather. Clear skies, mid day highs in the high eighties and low nineties, and cool fogless nights. It was just that final kick of warmth that the late varietals needed. Yesterday was particularly fun. We picked Grenache to make both a Blanc de Grenache and Rose, as well as a tiny bit of Syrah to add a bit of color and complexity to the Rose. These wines like all white wines are made in the press and the pressing of red grapes into white and rose wine is a particularly "hands on" activity. It is also exceptionally beautiful to  watch the light ruby colored juice falling out of the press lit by the bright autumnal sunlight. Altogether a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.
All in all it has been a successful harvest. Most of the Chardonnay is now finished fermenting or close and it looks like a fine vintage for this signature varietal of the Edna Valley. Pinot Noir, our most important wine also looks quite good. The very best fermenters are being drained now and the last will go to barrel over the next few days. It is a medium bodied vintage for Pinot. The structure of these wines is old fashioned - traditional in a good way. They are balanced, aromatic and slightly lower in alcohol than average. 

Thanks for reading the harvest updates,please feel free to ask any questions or leave comments!

-Larry Brooks, Winemaker

SLO Harevst Celebration

November 7th-9th, 2008
The 2008 San Luis Obispo Harvest Celebration is just a few weeks away! See below for the full details on each day's events!

Friday, November 7th, 2008 6:00pm at Tolosa Winery
Join us for this elegant winemaker dinner to kick off the Harvest Celebration. Maegen Loring of the Park Restaurant will work her magic in the kitchen, pairing each course with the finest Tolosa wines. As part of the evenings fun, six one-of-a-kind wine barrels-creations by local artists- will be auctioned off to benefit the TEACh Foundation (The Endowment for the Education of Children) and the SLO Vintners Association.
Tickets are $100 and can be purchased by phone at 782-0500 or by clicking here.

Saturday, November 8th, 2008 1-5pm
Grand Tasting & Auction, the Biggest party of them all!
More than 30 of the Central Coasts best wineries and restaurants will be presented to help you enjoy the afternoon by the beach. Wine tasting, food, live auction, music and much more are included. The ticket price includes free admission to Sunday's open houses at the wineries.
Tickets are $80 per person and can be purchased at www.slowine.com. 

Sunday November 9th,11-4pm Open House
Tolosa will be relaxing on the patio with a Sunday BBQ of local sausages and garlic bread paired with flights of past, present and future wines. Try our Library Pinot Noirs and Syrah next to our new releases. Also enjoy artisan cheeses from Monterey Street Wine and Cheese Co. paired with our white wines.

Cheers!

Harvest Update 10-6-09

As we cruise into the first full week in October the days of full ripening sunlight are getting short. In general you have good ripening weather till mid October when the combination of shorter days with lower angle weaker sunlight and colder nights tends to end the productive life of the leaves.

We got a little bit of rain Saturday morning just before dawn. It barely got the ground wet and didn't do any harm to the vines. I had a friend who taught me a lot of my basic winemaking and he never panicked. When it would rain or threaten rain he'd say, "It always rains during harvest." That's true but some types of rain can be catastrophic. Luckily this wasn't one of them.

We picked our "minor whites" a few days ago. By minor I mean in quantity not quality. We brought in the Pinot Gris, the Sauvignon Blanc and the Viognier all on the same day. By juice flavor both the Viognier and the Sauvignon blanc look like they'll be tremendous wines. Crops were very light we only got a couple hundred cases of each. The Pinot Gris did a bit better. We'll have about 300 cases of that.

The very last Pinot from block 597, my favorite on the ranch was scheduled to be picked today, but we've pushed it off till the day after tomorrow. This is the block that we've made the "Beyond" bottling from the last two vintages, and it's one of the few blocks of Pinot where we use whole cluster fermentation. I'm saving some extra delicious barrels for these final two fermenters. It's likely to be one of our very best wines.

-Larry Brooks, Winemaker