Tolosa Winery

2009 Restaurant Month

January 2nd, 2009 will be the start of the second annual SLO Restaurant Month. This is one of the greatest opportunities for locals and visitors to take advantage of the amazing restaurants our county has to offer. For 30 days, January 2nd- January31st, participating restaurants will be offering 3 course meals for only $30! Wineries in the area, such as us, will also be participating by offering great wine deals. Tolosa will be offering a free Reidel wine glass with any purchase for those who mention restaurant month. 

Tolosa will also be the featured winery at Cornerview Restaurant.Cornerview has taken restaurant month to a new level by offering 4 course for $30 and for an additional $12 you can add the Tolosa wine flight!  Click here to see the menu choices.

The Tolosa No Oak Chardonnay will also be offered at SeaVenture as part of their wine pairing for their restaurant month menu.

To view of full list of participating restaurants and wineries visit the San Luis Obispo County website.

We hope you take advantage of this great month to go out and visit your local restaurant and wineries, I know the Tolosa crew will definitely be out and about.  We encourage readers to leave reviews or suggestions on where they've been!

Happy eatings...

5 More Days...

There are five days left until we leave 2008 in the dust and begin a new year! This also means there are only 5 days left of our amazing 2005 Pinot Noir SALE! December 31st is the last day to receive 35% off our signature Pinot Noir.  You can purchase online, by phone (805.782-0500) or in the tasting room.

We hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and if your in town bring the family or friends by for tasting! This Saturday, as every Saturday, we'll have wine and cheese pairings from 11-3pm.  The menu for this weekend consists of; 2007 No Oak Chardonnay paired with Humboldt Fog, the 2005 Tolosa Chardonnay paired with Ibores, 2005 Pinot Noir with Truffle Tremor and 2005  Syrah with Mimolette also offered in the Heritage Room will be our 3 Block Select Pinot Noirs along with the 2006 Grenache Noir and 2006 Saalal. (Click here to see the full Menu)

Tolosa Tasting Room will be closing early at 2:00pm on December 31st and will be closed New Year's Day, re-opening on January 2nd, 2009.

We wish you a happy and safe New Years! Cheers!

Menu for Hope

   
As Tolosa dives into it's second year in the blogging world, we came across this amazing online charity event called Menu for Hope.  The event started by Chez Pim, a world known food blogger & more, started this event 5 years ago and promotes it through wine and food bloggers from around the globe. The event  runs online from December 15th to the 24th and raises money for hungry children in Lesotho, Africa. It's so easy (a cave man can do it) all you have to do is donate $10 and you get a raffle ticket that you can put towards the prize of your choice! There are amazing prizes offered, so be sure to browse the master list of prizes. As for Tolosa we have offered the following prize:

Past, Present & Future Tour for six, Wine & Cheese Pairing, &  an Anniversary Magnum
Join Tolosa winemaker Larry Brooks for a past, present and future tour of the Winery in San Luis Obispo and finish with a artisan wine and cheese pairing. A Magnum of our 10th Anniversary wine will also be given to the winner upon arrival.
PAST: Guests will learn about the origin of our name and the story behind our brand. They will also have the opportunity to taste past vintages from the Tolosa library collection.
PRESENT: After a brief talk about our vineyard and outside production area, guests will be toured through our tank and barrel rooms.
FUTURE: The tour finishes with a futures tasting from select French oak barrels. This intimate tasting will take place in our private barrel designed area with our finest wine selections.
Following the tour you and your guests will be guided through an artisan wine and cheese pairing with Tolosa's wine and cheese educator & sommelier, John Shakley. As you relax in our beautiful private Heritage Room, John will pair five limited production wines with five artisan cheeses from around the world. Value: $400. Prize Code: WB29.

HOW TO ENTER:
If your interested in participating in this great cause, here's how to get involved:
1. Choose a prize or prizes  from the Menu for Hope at http://chezpim.com or view wine related items at www.vinography.com.
2. Go to the donation site at http://www.firstgiving.com/menuforhope5 and make a donation. 
3.  Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code.
For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win.  Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Goodnight Vines...

Our mild maritime climate sometimes poses problems when it comes to getting the vines to go to bed for the winter. The very cold nights of more northern or continental climates come late here. Since we're getting ready to put the winery to sleep for a couple weeks between Christmas and New Years we thought that we'd all put PJs on and sing the vines a few lullabies in the hopes of making them surrender to slumber. Imagine our dismay when instead of the vines getting sleepy our erstwhile production manager, Ian Herdman, succumbed instead. With Ian in what looks like deep hibernation mode, it is going to be very difficult to get everything tidied up for the mid winter break.
 


 

 

View a video of pictures by clicking on this link: Download Goodnight vines_0001

35% off 2005 Pinot Noir, Edna Ranch!

This is definitely the best deal we've offered all year! All customers from now until December 31st, 2008 will receive 35% off any purchase of 2005 Pinot Noir! This is an amazing value for our flagship wine and whether you purchase one bottle or 3 cases you will receive the 35% discount.  Click here to purchase online or call the tasting room at 805.782-0500 to place an order, and remember shipping is still half-off on purchases of 12 bottles or more!

2005 Pinot Noir: $30 Retail  Now 35% = $ 19.50  

2005 Estate Grown TOLOSA Pinot Noir
Varietal Composition:
100% Edna Ranch Pinot Noir
Appellation:Edna Valley
Production:3,691 cases 750ml
Vineyard Information
Tolosa’s Estate Pinot Noir originates primarily from a handful of our consistently excellent vineyards on the eastern slopes of the Edna Valley AVA. Exposed to cool winds from the Pacific ocean throughout the season, they ripen their balanced crop load (2.25 tons/acre in 2005) slowly, developing intensity while preserving varietal aroma. Pinot Noir clones 115, Pommard, and 2A predominate in this bottling, with a supporting role played by 667 & 777. Nighttime hand harvesting delivers cool, intact fruit to the winery at daybreak, ready for immediate gentle handling.
Winemaking & Cellar Information
Tolosa’s Estate Pinot Noir is carefully destemmed into 4 & 8 ton open-topped fermentors for a 3-4 day cold soak before fermentation. A gentle extraction is achieved by traditional punchdowns 3-4 times daily over the course of the 10-14 day fermentation. The new wine is then drained to quality French oak barrels. Selection for the Estate bottling is rigorous, with declassification of all but the highest quality lots prior to assemblage at 7 months of barrel age. This selection then returns to 30% new, 30% 1-year, and 40% 2-year old barrels to complete the final 4 months of barrel aging prior to bottling.
Analytical Information
Alcohol:14.2%
T.A.:5.7 g/L
pH:3.6
Brix at Harvest:23.7-25.4
Tasting Notes
The color is dark ruby red without being inky or overly dense. A jammy red berry tone announces the aroma and is then backed up by many layers of complex undertones: cinnamon, tea leaf, bergamot, and fennel, with elements of vanilla and cola as well. The flavors are in harmony with the aroma – this wine is not a flirt. It delivers what it promises with soft fruit opening the palate and ripe, dynamic tannins carrying through to a sweet finish.

It's Official...

It's officially the holiday season, the Tolosa Tree is now decorated, the christmas music is playing (not for much longer if John Shakley has any say in it...) and best of all you can find great gifts for family and friends while you get to sip on wine! Tolosa also has complimentary gift wrapping and now through December 24th all Tolosa Oranaments are 50% off.

Also don't miss out on our upcoming Holiday Events:

Saturday December 6th, 11-5pm: Art in the Park presents: Art in the Vineyard at Tolosa.
30 artists will be displaying various art including paintings, jewelry, glass, sculpture, bath & beauty and much more... Live music, hors d'oeuves and $5 wines by the glass.  

Friday December 12th, 4-7pm: SLO Wineries Holiday Open House
Visit the SLO wineries for thier annual Holiday Open House. This year visit Tolosa for an additonal 10% off any purchase of 6 bottles or more or 35% off all Clothing for one night only. Tolosa will also be featuring Joy of "Honey Pieces" Jewerly and serving homemade butternut squash soup!

Cheers!

Katie Noonan

50% off Shipping

Tolosa is offering 50% off shipping prices when you order 12 bottles or more. Whether you need to stock up for holiday gatherings or would like to purchase gifts for those lushes in your life, now is a great time to do so...

We also have great gift sets, such as our Pinot Envy. It includes our 2006 "1772" Pinot Noir, 2005 Heritage Pinot Noir and our 2006 SLO Pinot Noir.

 if you really want to impress someone we have the Reserve Wine Gift Set, with 6 bottles of Tolosa's "cream of the crop" wines.

To see more of our gift sets visit www.nexternal.com/tolosa.

Cheers!