Tolosa Winery

Tolosa featured in NY Times!

On May 15th, 2009 the New York Times wrote an article titled; "Tasting Olives, and the Good Life, in San Luis Obispo"  whichfeatured Tolosa Winery. The article was scene in their"Escape" section of the paper describing the city of San Luis Obispo as great place to escape to enjoy a  weekend with a "laid-back and sophisticated" atmosphere in a college town.

We are happy to be the sole winery quoted in the article, along with some great local olive oil producers and local restaurants.

"...enjoyed the pinots and Rhone-style wines at Tolosa Winery south of the city, dramatic and stirring under the day's clearing clouds. "

For the full article click here to go to theNew York Times Website.
Written by Scott Timberg
Published: May 15, 2009

Bloom

Our earliest blocks of Pinot Noir are in bloom this week. Grapes are no different than other plants, and their fruits are the product of flowers. The grape flowers are tiny, but nonetheless have a sweet aroma that can be detected by putting your nose right up against the cluster during flowering. Once you are acquainted with the perfume you can smell them quite easily from quite a distance on a warm day. I can tell when bloom begins in a given vineyard well before I'm close enough to actually see the blossoms. This is the real start of the vintage as far as I'm concerned, because shortly after bloom the berries which will make this year's wine start forming. The period from bloom to harvest is also the time period whose length is least variable. Traditional wisdom says 100 days from bloom to harvest, but my experience tells me that it is closer to 120 days most years. So for Pinot Noir for 2009 I can say with reasonable certainty that we will do our first harvesting on or about the 10th of September. You can also see variation within the vineyard at this time of year so it is important to visit all the blocks and see how evenly they are going through bloom as this will tell you whether or not the ripening will be uniform within the blocks and also between the blocks.

- Larry Brooks

 

Tolosa Spring/Summer Flights

Years ago while visiting my soon to be sister in law in her tiny upper east side apartment, I marveled at how she kept her three boys, Catholic triplets (one year apart) in line but was somewhat dumbstruck after hearing my brother planned on moving his two in with them.  Five children, all within nine and twelve years of age!

“How do you plan on doing this without going crazy” I asked?  Here were two middle aged executives, madly in love, often times in opposite directions, passing each other in cabs while off or back from La Guardia airport on separate missions and no domestic help to speak of!  “Easy” she replied while taking a drag on her ciggie after setting down a martini, “peanut butter or tuna fish-those will be the only choices!

While adolescents function more efficiently with fewer choices, sometimes we adults do much better with more choices.  Not to mention the fact that we’re now supposed to be having fun!

Which brings me to my point…  Tolosa’s summer white wines have just been released.  After weeks of struggling with just how we could offer our club members and guests so many options without going crazy, we decided to just open them all up at once!

“Without question, our white selection has never been as extensive or as good as 08”.  These are the words of Bob Schiebelhut, though the winemaker, Larry Brooks and all staff certainly concur.  Rather than limit the bottles to be opened we decided to offer everyone the choice of one of three flights, five tastes in each.  They are:

House Flight- 07 Non Oaked Chardonnay, 06 Oaked Chardonnay, 06 Pinot Noir (the previous three all scoring higher 90 or over by Wine Enthusiast), Mission V Rhone blend and finally, our 06 Syrah.

Spring Flight- 08 Pinot Gris, 08 Viognier, 08 Sauvignon Blanc, 08 Rose and 05 Later Harvest Sauvignon Blanc.

Pinot Flight-06 Pinot Noir, 06 “Lily Gil”, 06 “Marley Anne”, “06 Beyond” (previous three all block select) and finally our “1772” Pinot Reserve.

If these choices are still not enough, join me in the Heritage Room on Saturday and Sunday and we’ll throw in a few Rhone blends and perhaps even some library selections.

We’re all adults now, let’s enjoy it!

- John Shakley

Roll Out the Barrels

Unique food, fantastic wines and great people were just a few of the highlights that made for a memorable downtown dining experience!  On Friday, May 1st, Tolosa Winery decided to add a twist to the otherwise traditional onsite Roll Out the Barrels Winemaker’s Dinner.  Guests met at Novo Restaurant in downtown San Luis Obispo to commence their Progressive Downtown Dinner Stroll.  At Novo, they were seated under a tented patio and had appetizers paired with new releases.  Crab salad in lettuce cups, shrimp bruschetta, and brie and apple empanadas were paired with our 2008 Viognier and 2008 Grenache Blanc.  Guests met winemaker Larry Brooks as he described the wines and his enjoyment of progressive dinners.  The weather offered a soft rain that only added to the ambiance of the evening.  Luckily all were prepared with umbrellas for the stroll to the next stop… Buona Tavola Restaurant served an Oso Buco that paired lovely with our 2006 “Lily Gil” Pinot Noir and 2006 “Beyond” Pinot Noir.  At this point, Larry Brooks was renamed as “Lorenzo” by his table.  The evening ended at Native Lounge with artisan cheese plates and delicious cocktail aperitifs.  Tolosa 2006 “Salaal” and 2004 “Legacy” Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc were enjoyed by all.  A change in both venue and cuisine, paired with Tolosa’s finest, created a memorable San Luis Obispo dining experience.  Cheers!

 

Spring is in the air

Spring is in the air.  I snapped some photos of one of our Pinot Noir blocks on Wednesday morning as I was driving through our main entrance to the tasting room. Having endured hot and cold, wet and dry weather conditions over the past month, our vines have emerged from post-bud break to the flowering stage.  Grape flowers are unique in that depending on the individual vine, flowers might be female, male, or hermaphroditic (also known as the "perfect flower", which means that each flower contains both male and female structures). Most cultivated varieties are hermaphroditic. Hermaphroditic vines are preferred because they are capable of fertilizing themselves Thus every vine planted is capable of bearing fruit.  Soon, fruit set will begin and the shoots bearing flowers will develop into tiny berries.  Come visit Tolosa Winery and see for yourself! 

Cheers,
Brittney Blete