Darren Delmore's Platinum Plates of 2024

It's that time of year where I try to make sense of all the food pictures on my phone and my newly XL shirt size. My nationwide travels selling Tablas Creek take me into phenomenal restaurants of all kinds, spearheaded by passionate people putting out platinum plates best paired with wine. 2024 was chock full of revisiting some classics and new discoveries, and this list represents a very small fraction of memorable meals worthy of being on here. I hope this activates your appetite, and you go support your local favorite restaurant soon. I'm already hungering for what I'll find in 2025. 

The Spoon Trade, Grover Beach, CA

Jacob and Brooke town enjoyed some National limelight recently on Guy Fieri's TV show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives", and if you saw it, you'll see how much complexity is behind their take on comfort food. This Tri-Tip Tartare has been on the menu since day one, served with tonnato, parsley, and buttery slices of grilled sourdough to slather it all upon. Brooke's wine list is just as contemplative, with an ahead of her time focus on wines in keg, and boasting a vertical of Tablas Creek Terret Noir.

 

Lupi and Iris, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I spent my birthday in Milwaukee this year, which you don't hear too often. In my favor, the "evening shift" was hosting a five wine/six-course dinner at Lupi and Iris. I snapped only one picture, in between chatting up tables and introducing the wines, and aside from a later course with braised rabbit, this pairing stole the show. Seared sea scallop, caramelized fennel, Wisconsin sweet pea puree, and citrus beurre blanc, served with 2022 Patelin de Tablas Blanc. 

Merchant, Madison, Wisconsin

Curd nerds, hear me out. I'm good with a bag of Wisco string cheese from a grocery store, but I'm awfully down with these elevated cheese curds at Merchant in Madison. A bonus was their American Wine Night they were rocking for most of 2024, urging their guests to drink domestic. 

NOSA Kitchen and Inn, Ojo Caliente, New Mexico

Chef Graham Dodds has a tiny, 12-seats-a-night culinary gem an hour outside of Santa Fe. When in the land of enchantment, go lamb if you can. You're in New Mexico Dahl sheep country after all. This drippin' shank was full on last supper status, served on a bed of Taos fall mushrooms and dreamy polenta. 

  

Pennyroyal Farm, Boonville, CA.

My family was blown away by the entire experience at Pennyroyal Farm in Anderson Valley. They are a creamery, a kitchen, farmstead, and a vineyard/winery. The food menu is farm to table at its finest, and this estate grown cauliflower soup was as delicious as it was beautiful, not to mention the cheese and charcuterie board with house made cheeses and pickled things that we could barely put a collective dent in.  

Truly Pizza, Dana Point, CA.

Chef Chris Decker is a legend at fermentation and, I'll say it, a bonafide pizza celebrity. After meeting and tasting through all of our current releases back in early 2024 after Truly had just opened up, he sent me off "with a snack" that he went back and personally whipped up. I popped this box merging onto the I-5 North and nearly hit the hazards to pull roadside.  No dough bones remained when I was finished. This buzzy hotspot became our biggest Patelin de Tablas Rosé account last year, and is a must for any pizza aficionado.  

 

Gralehaus, Louisville, KY

I'm happy to introduce you to the juiciest, fluffiest, bubbliest breakfast sandwich in the world, served in an old funky church with the best coffee in town. If this thing puts you to sleep there are three epic rooms to stay in upstairs (which I did). Upon waking, traverse the mellow, grassy courtyard behind Gralehaus to the newly opened Bar Grale (wine bar and bottle shop), focusing on organically grown wines. You might not have to go anywhere else in all of Louisville, save for the nearby grave of Muhammad Ali to pay your respects. 

 

Juan Jasper, San Diego, CA.

Tiny Juan Jasper in North Park San Diego is a place where you can grab a bottle of wine off their wall to uncork at a minimal markup, and even pick out a steak from the butcher case for the owner to sear up on the spot. With two close buddies in tow in December, my friend Rogel pulled out an absolute legend from his slick, black, assassin-looking wine and stemware case - 2005 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf-du-Pape - to match with this decadent monster ribeye.  

Hope you're hungry, and that you might find yourself at one of these excellent spots sometime soon. For me, off to get this Ozempic prescription filled. Happy 2025! 

Five Reasons Why Winter Is the Best Season to Visit Wine Country

Most people think of wine country in the autumn, with colorful grapes on the vines, golden hillsides, and clear blue skies. And that is a pretty great backdrop for a wine country visit. But I'm here to tell you that as excellent as the fall is, it's the winter that you should be looking to visit Paso Robles or really any California wine country. To give you a sense of why, a photo to start:

So why do I think you should schedule your next wine country visit in winter?

• No crowds. There's not really an "in season" and "out of season" period in wine country, but our weekly traffic numbers should give you a sense. In March, April, and May we averaged 584 visitors per week. The summer is a little quieter, and in June through August we averaged 496 visitors per week. September through November we averaged 544 people per week. But unless your visit is in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, or over either MLK or President's Day weekend, our average weekly visitors last December through February was just 321 people per week. That means that you'll likely have the tours to yourself and tasting rooms nearly so, especially if you come during the week.  
• The weather is lovely. You might think that people avoid Paso Robles in the winter because of the weather. Of course, there is the occasional rainstorm, but even in winter here we get on average five sunny days per week. And relative to other parts of the country, the winter climate here is downright glorious. On those sunny days, the average high here is in the 60s. About a third of days between December and March top out in the 70s. That sounds pretty nice to me. Nights are chilly, yes. It's not unusual for it to drop below freezing. But that's what sweaters are for. And if you're worried about snow, don't be. The last time we saw any out at Tablas Creek was in 2011, and it was gone an hour later.  
• Winemakers and proprietors are around. One of the charms of a place like Paso Robles is that most of the wineries here are locally owned, and there's a pretty good chance that when you visit you'll meet the people who run the place and who make the wines. But during harvest, winemakers are buried in grapes, working 60-hour weeks. Vineyard managers become nocturnal. And the owners who aren't also doubling as vineyard managers or winemakers are likely on the road trying to sell their wines before the holiday season. By mid-November the selling season is over, as is the grind of harvest. Wines are largely pressed off and quietly finishing fermentations in barrel. And the wholesale market doesn't really get going again until March. So the key people are around. 
• Animals are out in the vineyards. OK, this isn't applicable to every winery. But more and more, wineries around California are realizing that one of the best ways to increase fertility and biodiversity (and therefore soil health) in their vineyards is to integrate grazing animals, mostly sheep, in the off-season. You can get sheep in the vineyard as early as the end of harvest, but there's not much for them to eat until the grasses get established at this time of year. But starting in mid-December, the next four months are when the flocks are most important in the vineyard. Most operations time lambing for November or December, so the lambs are being weaned when there's the most food available. So this is the time of year to see this piece of regenerative farming in action. Come budbreak in April, the sheep have to be exiled to unplanted areas so they don't switch over to eating the new buds and leaves.  
• The beauty. Back to my first point. Winter’s beauty here in Paso Robles may not have the drama of summer's golden hills and deep blue skies, but it's profound nonetheless. This is a more subtle beauty: layers of clouds and sky, carpets of green growing over deep brown earth, and textures that seem like they change daily.⁠ Right now, you have the end of the fall colors as the last leaves hang on the vines, at the same time as the hillsides are turning from brown to green. The earth, dampened from the first rains, turns dark brown. As the winter goes on, the green of the grasses deepens, eventually in March bursting into wildflower glory.

I'll share a couple more photos to give you a sense. First, a look west across one of our many dry-laid limestone walls toward a section of Grenache Blanc with a few yellow-green leaves hanging on above the rapidly growing cover crop.

And finally one more photo that to me captures the atmospheric loveliness of this time of year. This is taken at my home vineyard looking east over the town of Templeton. You can see the winter fog that sit over the Salinas River Valley and the towns of Templeton and Paso Robles. You can see the wild tangle of bare but unpruned grapevines. And you can feel the warmth of the day approaching. That day started at 28°F and was probably 33°F when I took the photo around 8am. By 3pm it was 71°F.

If you're coming in the next few months, you're in for a treat. If you haven't yet made your plans, put it on your list. You won't regret it.

A pilgrimage to a reimagined Beaucastel, built of the earth and with the Earth in mind

I just got back from two weeks in Europe. The first two-thirds of the trip involved visits to work with our importers in the UK (thank you, Liberty Wines) and Germany (thank you, Veritable Vins & Domaines). The last third of it I got to spend with the Perrins, checking in on their many projects in and around Chateauneuf-du-Pape. I've been visiting Beaucastel for my whole life¹, and the lovely cream-colored stone chateau with its cellar filled with foudres and unlabeled bottles has been the one relative constant among an ever-growing collection of estates, projects, and partnerships that the Perrin family have built over the last half-century. Now, Beaucastel, which has been run by the Perrins since 1909, has received its reimagining that manages to be ground-breakingly innovative while preserving a deeply traditional aesthetic.

I am excited to share with you the photos that I took of the new building and cellars at Beaucastel. It's jam-packed with the out-of-the-box thinking that the Perrin family is famous for. But first, an appreciation of the family that we've partnered with to develop Tablas Creek for the last 35 years. As a group they are so smart, and so innovative, and there are so many of them (nine family members at the moment all working on different aspects of the business) that their capacity to develop new projects and see them through is truly remarkable. They have been leaders in progressive farming since the 1950s, when Jacques Perrin converted the estate to organic before there was even a word for it in French. They've been innovating in the grape varieties they grow for just as long². They make some of the world's best wines under $10/bottle at La Vieille Ferme, a diverse collection of terroir-driven explorations of their Rhone Valley home through Famille Perrin, and some of the world's most collectible treasures at Beaucastel. They own and operate a Michelin-star restaurant, l'Oustalet in Gigondas.

Tablas Creek isn't their only foray into collaborative projects. The Perrins have developed partnerships with Nicolas Jaboulet to make the Les Alexandrins wines from the Northern Rhone, and with Brad Pitt to make Miraval rosé in Provence. They and Pitt partnered with renowned Champagne winemaker Rodolphe Péters to make Fleur de Miraval Champagne, with Master Distiller Tom Nichol to make Gardener Gin, and with two renowned French research professors on Beau Domaine Skincare, which uses the active ingredients in grape skins, sap, and trunks to make cosmetics. They recently purchased a woodworking studio that is allowing them to reimagine the wooden case boxes that they're famous for at a lower carbon footprint than cardboard. Internationally, they are one of twelve members of Primum Familiae Vini, one of the largest wineries to commit to membership in International Wineries for Climate Action, and founding supporters of the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation.

Is your mind reeling yet? Mine always is a bit after spending a visit with the Perrins. 

For all the change and growth in the Perrin world, Beaucastel has been relatively unchanged over the last thirty years. The central chateau, which houses the offices for the estate, was until about a decade ago the home of Jacques Perrin's widow Marguerite. A collection of outbuildings had grown up in a rough quadrangle around the back of the estate, housing a collection of workshops, tractors and equipment. The cellar, with its dramatic array of foudres and stacked bottles, was one of the most recognizable in the world. One of the major challenges of this construction project was doing it around this treasure of aging wine. It was great to see that this centerpiece was unchanged even as it had been surrounded by entirely new access and infrastructure:

In their reconstruction project, the cellar's viability in an ever-hotter world and the desire to minimize the resources required to make their wines were of paramount importance. Everything other than the original chateau was taken down to the ground and a new cellar excavated two stories below the surface. At the bottom of this newly-excavated cellar is a series of four reservoirs that together hold nearly half a million gallons of water, refilled naturally with rain harvested from the building's roof. Because of their depth, these reservoirs maintain a constant year-round temperature of 14°C (58°F). One of the reservoirs:

These reservoirs are more than just a supply of water. Their principal purpose is to cool the rest of the cellar. The building was reoriented so that on the north face it includes a series of wind towers that catch the prevailing wind (the famous Mistral that blows more than 100 days each year) and directs it down over the water to cool it. That air is then used to cool the cellar. The view from the north, from where most guests will arrive, shows the five towers taking up both stories of the left half of the building's facade:

The materials used in the construction are a big part of what makes the building so exciting. Instead of sourcing virgin concrete or quarrying new stone, the vast majority of the building is made either out of the stones and concrete that were deconstructed from the previous building, or from rammed earth and site-made concrete from the materials excavated to dig the cellar. And the textures of the new building's materials are one of my lasting memories of my visit. In the below photo, you can see the rammed earth walls that surround the olive courtyard, with another repeated element of the construction: views of one element from another (in this case, the vineyards outside):

A second example of that same idea -- to connect the different spaces visually -- is shown in the next photo, looking from the entrance into the cellar:

One more photo of textures and materials, before I move to the fermentation and aging spaces. This is the entrance stairway, showing the site concrete, which absorbs CO2 as it cures. I read a review of the architectural style that described it as "monastic" which I thought was evocative. There's a timelessness in the spaces, a connection between cool, dark insides and warm, earth-colored exterior courtyards, that hearkens back to the monasteries that dot the Mediterranean landscape.

The ecclesiastical feel to the architecture isn't restricted to the materials. The underground rooms are vaulted like Gothic cathedrals, and the lighting is marvelous. This room will be an aging room, with bottles stacked on each side of a central corridor:

The old bottle storage space has been reimagined as the cellar dedicated to their barrel-fermented whites. The vaulted ceilings are highlighted by new lights:

One of the goals was to create multiple spaces where guests could taste. They don't have a traditional tasting room at Beaucastel, but welcome thousands of visitors, mostly trade, to the property each year. I spent a summer there in my youth where helping with these visits was one of my responsibilities. I can attest to how valuable it will be to have different areas with different ambiance where they can bring different groups for their tasting. They even have small vault dedicated to their Hommage a Jacques Perrin wines, like a royal chapel tucked away on the edge of a larger cathedral:

In the lower level of this cellar they have left a window through the walls into the layers of soil -- a mix of calcareous clay, loam, and pebbles -- that makes Chateauneuf-du-Pape such a coveted terroir. I framed the photo with the edges of the window in view in the hopes that you can feel how much the materials of the construction are in fact the earth in which it was dug:

The exit back to the surface is dramatic as well. The warm Mediterranean light suffuses the stairway back to the Olive Courtyard, reconnecting you with the region's famous color palette:

Back in the courtyard, work was proceeding like a hive of activity, with a team of Portuguese tile specialists installing the walkway around the olive garden:

For me, it was inspiring to see Beaucastel be reimagined in a way that feels so timeless. I spent the beginning of my visit trying to remember what had been in a particular place before the construction, but I have a strong feeling that once everything is done and the interiors complete it will be almost impossible to imagine it having been put together any other way. That this renovation was also achieved in a way that is so conscientious about its use of resources also feels fitting. From construction materials repurposed from the construction itself, to the cisterns that will keep the cellar cool with minimal use of refrigeration, to the water harvesting and reuse that will allow it to use less of scarce resources, all this feels appropriate for an estate with such a long tradition of environmental sustainability.

Most importantly, the building feels appropriate for Beaucastel. The Perrins are remarkable in the degree to which they balance a reverence for tradition with a relentlessly innovative approach. And this building embodies that duality. It thinks about the next century while embracing an aesthetic that feels of the region and appreciative of its history. It is of the earth while also being light in its impacts on the earth. It should be a marvelous place to make wine, and to experience its magic.

How cool. 

Footnotes:

1. If you're unfamiliar with how our two families got together back in the late 1960s, my dad tells the story in a blog from 2014.
2. I think it's very likely that some of the thirteen traditional Chateaueuf-du-Pape grapes would have gone extinct if not for Jacques' efforts to find all the ones that had survived into the 1950s and bring them back to plant at Beaucastel. I chronicle those stories in my Grapes of the Rhone Valley series on this blog.

Paso Robles gets it right, eventually, on downtown parking

In early May, the Paso Robles City Council voted 5-0 to repeal its five-year-old parking ordinance and restore free parking to downtown. This decision came after several false starts, legal challenges, and a petition drive opposing the parking plan that eventually gathered an estimated 2,400 signatures. And it came over the opposition of the town's Mayor, who commented to the San Luis Obispo Tribune, “It appears this is how a small group of Roblans with little business sense wants to manage downtown public parking for their own gain or in reality, loss” and “I am absolutely done with parking.”

How did we get to this bruising debate? And why did it take so long to come to a conclusion that was overwhelmingly supported by both residents and visitors? The good news is that, in the end, I think they came to the right decision. As for why it became such a saga and why it took so long to come back to where things were at the beginning, that's for me a fascinating story that boils down to the intersection of local politics and market economics. The effort to understand what happened gave me a good chance to dust off my old economics degree, as it pitted two different core theories of economic behavior against each other. 

Back in 2019, in response to the frustrations of some downtown merchants, the city of Paso Robles implemented a kiosk parking system for the eight square blocks immediately around our downtown park. These business owners were worried that their customers were being displaced by employees parking all day in prime downtown spots. So, between 10th Street and 14th Street, and between Spring Street and Pine Street, the city installed 35 kiosks where you could register your license plate for two hours of free parking, or you could pay by the hour for more. The goal was to incentivize employees to park a little further away from the most in-demand parking spots, leaving those spots open for customers. The kiosks were active weekdays during business hours (9am - 6pm). This is a classic implementation of the economic Theory of Price. One of that theory's core postulates is that the optimal market price is the point at which the total number of items available can be reasonably consumed by potential customers. In this case, the marketable good is parking. And the potential customers are parkers. When the price of that parking is zero, it encourages overconsumption, in the form of the employees of downtown business choosing to take up prime spots all day and displacing those stores' potential customers. In theory, raising the price should reduce the demand for those parking spots, meaning that enough of the spots should be open when a customer is looking that they don't have to circle endlessly or park several blocks away. The city quoted a goal of having 85% of the spots filled at peak times.    

From the beginning there was unhappiness with the plan. The kiosks and the downloadable app that paired with them were clunky; the WayToPark app has a 3.2/5 star rating on the App Store, and the fact that there are only 17 reviews is an indicator of how few places used it. It became routine to see worried-looking visitors hurrying from their cars to the kiosks to make sure they figured out what they needed to do before they got ticketed. Older residents filled comment sections of local newspapers saying they just wouldn't go downtown. And the kiosks weren't making enough money to pay for their enforcement, let alone repay the cost of putting them in. In 2021, the City Council expanded the active hours to include weekends and weeknights until 8pm after reporting that the kiosks generated only $45,000 in parking fees during the first 18 months the parking ordinance was in effect, and that the loan balance for the program's research, purchase, and installation was nearly $600,000. To help enforce the parking, it also authorized three part-time enforcement officers (estimated annual cost: around $60,000) to supplement the parking supervisor (annual salary: around $80,000).

Fast forward another two years. By late 2023, significant resistance to the parking plan had grown among residents. And I get it! I'm tech-savvy, and I understand the town of Paso Robles and could usually find a free place to park. I don't think I ever paid for parking, and never got a ticket (though I did have to argue my way out of one when I parked in a loading zone, hazards on, to pick up some take-out). But I still thought it was a mistake. In September of 2023 I sent a note to some community leaders pointing out that we were in a competitive market for tourist visitors, and any friction created by the parking system put us at a disadvantage. I had noted in trips in the fall of 2023 that other attractive California tourist destinations had a simple 2-hour parking limit. The relevant piece of my note was:

I think that the parking app/regulation we have in Paso is a mistake, and puts us at a disadvantage compared to other wine destinations. As I've been traveling around California, I've noticed that towns like Healdsburg, and Sonoma, and Carmel all have a simple 2-hour parking limit in their downtowns. No app to download. No need to text. No payment required. Just move your car after two hours. I don't know the finances of what we have, but I'm guessing it doesn't bring in enough money to pay for itself. And if it leaves a slightly frustrated feeling in visitors' minds as they try to navigate it, that's going to color their experience of visiting Paso overall and make it (by I'm sure a very small margin) less likely for them to want to come back. In this environment where every guest is valuable and we know everyone is worried about traffic, I think we need to be advocating for town policies that benefit us. If I've noticed recently how much easier it is in other places, I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I evidently wasn't the only one expressing my opinion. The City Council had already responded to constituent feedback by creating an ad hoc committee to investigate parking options, which held several sessions soliciting community input. They presented their recommendations to the City Council at a meeting on November 21st. Perhaps not surprisingly, the recommendations that they said had universal support all carved exceptions out from the parking requirements, including free parking on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, more free parking permits for local seniors, free parking in the city lot behind City Hall and the Paso Robles Library, and better signage. After the head of the committee presented the committee's recommendations, the City Council opened the floor to public comment. One commenter after another gave impassioned pleas to urged the city to do away with paid parking in favor of something simpler and friendlier to visitors and locals alike. Against at least 20 comments opposed to the parking plan, there was just one in support of it.

After the commenters were done, the City Council members weighed in. Everyone agreed that the current system was nearly universally unpopular. And yet the decision that emerged was somehow even more onerous. New City Councilmember Sharon Roden asserted that the parking plan didn't satisfy anyone because it was too easily manipulated, that there was a convoluted system in place that people had to navigate which still didn't bring in enough money to cover its costs. She proposed a $2/hour parking charge from minute one. Her plan, she said, would actually achieve the goal of forcing people to think hard about how much they valued downtown parking spots, and would have the additional benefit of raising over $1.1 million dollars to fund the program and pay for another project, adding better lights downtown. Although some council members expressed doubts -- I was impressed, particularly, by Councilmember Fred Strong's reconsideration of his support for paid parking after listening to his constituents -- the Council decided to implement her plan, though at only $1 per hour rather than $2. You could hear audible gasps from the audience.

From an economic standpoint, she wasn't wrong. Putting a value on a scarce commodity encourages its responsible use. But she (and the majority of the Paso Robles City Council) had fallen victim to another classic economic theory: the sunk cost trap. People, businesses, and governments have psychological biases toward evaluating the future value of a project in part through the past costs that have been invested in it. It doesn't matter if those costs can't be recovered. The fact that they were spent means that there is extra incentive to continue forward to justify the past expenditures. In this case, the more than half a million dollars that the city was carrying on its balance sheet that was earmarked as due from the downtown parking program encouraged the city councilors to try to take actions that would repay those costs, even if those actions did not help their constituents.

To me, it was clear that this latest change would result in more harm to their constituents. If even the relatively cost-free system that was in place tended to discourage people from going downtown, adding costs while requiring the use of the same clunky app and kiosks couldn't improve people's experience. We (the city of Paso Robles) are in a competitive market for out-of-town tourists, and compared to the ease of parking in a comparable destination like Sonoma, or Carmel, or Healdsburg, the hassle of dealing with the kiosks, and the potential for a ticket, would act in a small way to color visitors' impressions of their experiences. If even 1% of visitors left with a less-happy memory of their visit here, we had lost their future business. The community had lost their referrals. And the town had lost their future tax revenue. 

If City Council members were in doubt of the community's viewpoint, that doubt was dispelled with the outpouring of glee from residents and businesses that greeted the town's announcement in February that all parking fees would be suspended due to the receipt of a cease and desist letter from a community member that pointed out that the proposal to overhaul the parking system wasn't on the published agenda of the November meeting, and therefore the decision violated the Brown Act. The parking free-for-all was originally supposed to be temporary, but after hearing from business owners at the May meeting that their traffic improved during the free parking period, and receiving the petition signed by 2,400 residents asking them to restore free parking, the city council voted to end it permanently. And now the 35 kiosks are for sale. If you want to track the former footprint of these kiosks, their locations are individually numbered around the downtown square:

Even though I agree with the City Council's decision to restore free parking, it's hard to be happy about the process it took to get here. The city of Paso Robles paid a consultant hundreds of thousands of dollars to decide on a system that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more. It hired multiple people to enforce a system that never covered its expenses, let alone recouped its initial investment. The debate that resulted pitted business owners against each other and many locals against the out-of-town customers who drive so much of our local economy. The system's clunkiness likely resulted in some degree of guests feeling like a visit to downtown Paso Robles was cumbersome, while a small number of guests likely have an acutely unpleasant memory of a parking ticket. And all because some business owners complained that employees were taking up too many prime parking spots -- and yet couldn't make the case to those employees that they needed to park elsewhere.

As much as I've enjoyed just pulling into a downtown parking spot over the last six months -- and I feel compelled to point out that I haven't once had to park more than a block away from my destination -- it's worth wondering if we're just going to find ourselves back in the same situation the original parking system was designed to address. It seems possible. Maybe businesses will do a better job of instructing their employees where to park. But I'm hopeful that the experience of sourcing, implementing, staffing, and ultimately decommissioning this kiosk-based system would encourage the city to take a different approach should they revisit the issue. If they do, I hope they look to the neighboring communities that I've mentioned a few times in this post, and look to a simple two-hour parking limit. If you overstay your limit, you are subject to a ticket. It doesn't seem like a system like this would require a lot of enforcement, or much in the way of implementation cost.

While it may not be an economic theory, there is a final principle that I think could shed some light on where things went wrong. That principle is Occam's Razor, which states that when presented with multiple solutions to (or explanations for) a problem, the simplest tends to be the best. In this case, a simpler solution seems like it should have been tried before the plan that was adopted. Meanwhile, take a visit to downtown Paso Robles. Spend that minute you saved not having to enter your parking info enjoying the beautiful downtown park. And if anyone you know is in the market for a used parking kiosk, I know where they can find one.

You aren’t hearing as much about the Rocks District as you should be. You might be surprised why.

I’m not sure there’s any American Viticultural Area (AVA) as aptly named as the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. Located in north-east Oregon just 15 minutes south of the city of Walla Walla, Washington, it’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to the look of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Vines grow in deep beds of basalt cobblestones, the product of ancient volcanic eruptions, rolled and smoothed as they were tumbled down from the nearby Blue Mountains by the Walla Walla River and then deposited on the valley floor in an alluvial fan. Adding to the region's allure, it sits at roughly the same latitude as the southern Rhone. A majority of the vines are Rhone-derived; more than 45% of the vineyard acres are planted to Syrah, with other Rhone grapes like Grenache, Picpoul, Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache Blanc, and Roussanne all represented too. In just a few short years, the Rocks District has built a reputation as a place to find some of the most interesting Rhone varieties in America.

Neil, Cesar Perrin, Nicolas Brunier and I had the pleasure of exploring this remarkable terroir with Delmas Wines’ Brooke Robertson while we were in town for the recent Hospice du Rhone celebration.

If great wines are borne out of struggle, this region is destined for greatness. Not only do the vines have to navigate the rocks and the paltry twelve inches of rainfall, but they have to live through winter freezes so cold that most producers (including Delmas) now bury their vines every winter to provide insulation, and then unbury them in time to prune and start the growing season¹. The 300 days of sun, the long summer days due to the northern latitude, summer daily high temperatures routinely in the 90s°F and not infrequently in the 100s°F, allow for enough ripening in the short season, which can end with a freeze any time after the calendar flips to October. And did I mention the rocks?

At Hospice du Rhone, the wines from Rocks District fruit were among my highlights of the Grand Tasting, with as clear a signature as any AVA or appellation I can think of. The fact that it’s a small AVA (just 3,767 acres, or less than 1% of the acreage within the Paso Robles AVA) surely helps, along with its climatic uniformity, but I think that the rocks themselves play an important role. As in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, those rocks absorb and reflect the sun, warming the ripening clusters, producing rich, powerful wines with a distinctive umami flavor of baked loamy earth.

The AVA was created relatively recently, with work beginning in 2011 and formal recognition from the United States Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) in 2015. There are now, according to the AVA’s website, 52 vineyards encompassing 640 acres. More than 50 wineries source fruit from these vineyards, although there are only five production facilities within the AVA’s boundaries. Many more facilities are just a few minutes away, in Walla Walla, the center for wine production (and wine tourism) in the area, and the namesake of the larger AVA in which the Rocks District is nested. And that distance, minor though it seems, provides one of the region’s biggest challenges.

In the federal regulations that govern the American Viticultural Area (AVA) system², there’s a clause that I’d never noticed before this visit. It says that a wine may be labeled with a viticultural area appellation if it satisfies a series of criteria, one of which is that “it has been fully finished within the State, or one of the States, within which the labeled viticultural area is located”. This clause means that all the wineries with production facilities in Walla Walla (in Washington State) can’t label their Rocks District vineyards with its AVA because that AVA lies entirely in the state of Oregon. Delmas is one of those wineries, so their labels just say Walla Walla.

Neil, Cesar, Nicolas and I were frankly flabbergasted by this restriction when we learned about it. After all, what does a state boundary (or for that matter, where a production facility is located) have to do with viticultural distinctiveness? It seemed to me that this goes against the stated purpose of an AVA, which as explained on the TTB’s website, is:

“An AVA is a delimited grape-growing region with specific geographic or climatic features that distinguish it from the surrounding regions and affect how grapes are grown. Using an AVA designation on a wine label allows vintners to describe more accurately the origin of their wines to consumers and helps consumers identify wines they may purchase.”

That I never knew about this clause in the AVA regulations stems from California’s central place in the firmament of American wine. We’ve never seriously thought about getting fruit from other states. We’re excited, with the launch of our Lignée de Tablas program, to explore other California AVAs, and that’s no problem. But the fact that we can get fruit from the Sierra Foothills (6 hours away from Paso Robles) and use their AVA but Delmas can’t get fruit from their own vineyard, 15 minutes away from the winemaking facility they share with dozens of other local wineries, feels unfair.

The TTB in fact foresaw the challenge that the creation of this new Oregon AVA so close to the region’s winemaking nexus in Washington state would pose for producers. In the 2014 notice of proposed rulemaking for the Rocks District AVA, they solicit feedback on the topic:

“TTB is interested in comments from persons who believe they may be negatively impacted by the inability to use ‘The Rocks District of Milton– Freewater’ as an appellation of origin on a wine label solely because they use facilities located in Washington.”

The TTB must have received enough feedback to convince them that there was support for modifying their rules, because the next year they proposed a rule change to address it:

“The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is proposing to amend its regulations to permit the use of American viticultural area names as appellations of origin on labels for wines that would otherwise qualify for the use of the AVA name, except that the wines have been fully finished in a State adjacent to the State in which the viticultural area is located, rather than the State in which the labeled viticultural area is located. The proposal would provide greater flexibility in wine production and labeling while still ensuring that consumers are provided with adequate information as to the identity of the wines they purchase.”

I would have thought that the TTB’s proposed rule change would have been uncontroversial, but it ended up far from the case. Organizations that submitted letters in opposition included Napa Valley Vintners, Family Winemakers of California, the Washington State Wine Commission, and the California Wine Institute. Some included proposed changes that would satisfy their concerns, while others just requested that the proposed new rule be scrapped. Even the Oregon Winegrowers Alliance & Walla Walla Wine Alliance submitted a comment in opposition, although the change that they requested was minor. In every case, the stated reason for opposition was because the regional associations worried that state laws that modify the federal regulations overseeing wine production would be unenforceable in a neighboring state. A good example would be the Oregon requirement that to be varietally labeled, a wine must contain 90% of the listed grape, a more restrictive standard than the federal requirement that a varietal wine contain at least 75% of the named grape.

A few of the comments hinted at a second reason: that they were worried that if a cheaper nearby state could make wine from a prestigious appellation, there might be an exodus of jobs to that lower-cost (or less regulated) state, with economic damage to the established reason.

As typically happens when it receives conflicting feedback, the TTB backtracked and the proposed change was never made. This may have avoided the unintended consequences that the regional associations were worried about, but it leaves the producers in the Rocks District with the same challenge that the TTB identified back in 2014. Are they supposed to all build wineries in Oregon when they’re already established in Washington State? Or establish the reputation of their new AVA without the powerful tool of identifying the wines’ place of origin on their labels?

I don’t have a lot of sympathy for the economic argument (made mostly by commenters from the Napa Valley) given that California is already so large, and with such different costs of production, that any negative damage would likely have already happened. Does Napa Valley’s economy suffer when a Paso Robles winery buys grapes and puts out a Napa Valley AVA wine? I don’t see it.³ And even if you did see it, given the size of California, that ship has sailed. 

The other objection, that state wine laws that try to ensure a higher quality product would be unenforceable out-of-state, doesn’t seem to me like an unsolvable problem. In fact, the Wine Institute proposed an elegant solution in their comment objecting to the proposed rule (their addition emphasized):

“(iv) In the case of American wine, it has been fully finished (except for cellar treatment pursuant to §4.22(c), and blending which does not result in an alteration of class and type under §4.22(b)) within the State the viticultural area is located in or an adjacent state, or for, a viticultural area located in two or more States, within one of the States in which the viticultural area is located, and it conforms to the laws and regulations governing the composition, method of manufacture, and designation of wines in all of the States where the viticultural area is located.”

It seems to me like this solution gives something to everyone. Appellations like the Rocks District get to build their reputation by appearing on wine labels. Winemakers get the flexibility to source grapes from diverse regions and tell consumers where they come from, without having to build new wineries across state lines. Grape growers are able to benefit from the reputation of the region they help establish. States retain the ability to enforce regulations designed to enhance quality or distinctiveness. And consumers get more clarity on where the wines they love come from. Let's hope that the TTB revisits this issue soon, with a more tailored approach.

Meanwhile, go out and do a little research on which Walla Walla AVA wines actually come from the Rocks District, and try to find a bottle or three. You won’t be disappointed.

Footnotes:

1. How cold? This January 13^th, the low was -8°F and the high just 4°F.
2. That would be the Federal Register Title 27 Chapter I Subchapter A Part 4 Subpart C § 4.25(e)(3)(iv) for anyone keeping score.
3. I would also note that I think this argument raises commerce clause objections about a state using regulation to protect its businesses from competition from competing businesses in other states.

Taking Paso Robles on the Road to Japan and South Korea

This past Wednesday at around 6:30pm, I got home, on the same day and at almost exactly the same time that I'd left Seoul roughly 17 hours earlier. This miracle of time travel (thank you, International Date Line) was just the final marvel in what was an amazing 10-day trip through three cities in Japan and South Korea in support of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance and the California Wine Institute's Export Program, which promotes California's wines abroad. The specific program was their "California Alive" tour that brings the wines of California to Tokyo, Osaka, and Seoul. 

While the California Alive tour happens each February, the event features a different California wine region each year. This year, the featured region was Paso Robles, and so representatives from ten local wineries made the trek across the Pacific Ocean for the tastings (which were open to all California wineries and their importers) and for a dedicated Paso Robles seminar in each city, along with media, influencer, and consumer events that were organized for us by the Wine Institute around the three trade tastings. The events were spaced out enough that there was time in each city for us to work with our local importers and even do a little sightseeing. Given that this was my first trip to Asia, that was very much appreciated. Even better, my brother-in-law Mark Dunn flew up from Bangkok to help me pour and explore:

The event began in Tokyo. Six of us got in at more or less the same time on Sunday evening, and our introduction to the local food was an informal but delicious dinner at a local place orchestrated by the Wine Institute's Hiro Tejima:

The next morning, I woke up early enough thanks to jetlag that I had a chance to explore the Imperial Palace grounds before my work responsibilities started:

My sightseeing itch scratched, I headed to the offices of of our Japanese importer Jeroboam for a staff training for their sales team and a lunch visit to a one of the restaurants that sells Tablas Creek in Tokyo, all before our first formal Wine Institute event: a tasting with local influencers at one of the Tokyo locations of the Weber Grill Academy:

After the event, I hopped in a taxi to get to Cellar Door Aoyama, the Tokyo retailer and restaurant owned by Jeroboam, for what turned out to be an amazing dinner:

The next day included the first of the big tastings, where I was assisted by Jeroboam's PR & Marketing Director Yoko Yamashita (foreground left):

The next day, we hopped on a bullet train and headed to Osaka to repeat the program. Somehow, I didn't get many photos of the official events, just all the delicious food that we ate before and after (for that, you can check out my Instagram feed). Then, we headed to the Osaka airport and flew to Seoul. As in Tokyo, the first event was a media and influencers event in conjunction with a Weber Grill store. This is the full Paso Robles plus Wine Institute contingent who made the Korea leg of the trip:

The next day was Sunday and our first day off since we'd arrived, which meant a chance to see the city. The owner (Yongbin Choi) and our brand manager (Katie Kang) of our South Korea importer Shindong Wine gave us an amazing insider's tour of the city, from palaces to markets to an end-of-day visit to Seoul Tower for an amazing view overlooking the city: 

The Wine Institute tasting was outstanding again and included a terrific seminar where we got to dive into what makes Paso Robles unique:

That was the end of the official events, but I stuck around Seoul one more day to take the Shindong Wine team through the Tablas Creek story, visit one of the enormous and gorgeous department stores through which most of the wine in South Korea is sold, and host a lovely, intimate dinner at another Hyundai Department Store location:

I came away from my visit with a new appreciation for the work that goes on behind the scenes in helping a region thrive. California wineries, whether they are members or not, all benefit from the tireless promotional work that the Wine Institute does. Looking at their 2024 calendar is eye-opening, with events in 14 countries this year as well as programs that bring sommeliers, retailers, media, and importers to California to experience our wine country as well as ongoing promotion to spread the word about what's going on here to the world. Similarly, the amount of work that the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance team put in to make this tour happen was enormous, and the fact that it went off without a hitch a testament to their planning. I love this photo, of the four people most responsible for the tour's success. Clockwise from left, Joel Peterson, PRWCA Executive Director, Chris Taranto, PRWCA Communications Director, Hiro Tejima, Wine Institute Joint Regional Director, North Asia and Australasia, and Madoka Ogiya, Wine Institute Joint Regional Director, North Asia and Australasia:

It's important to get out into the broader world in order to realize that while Paso Robles has made great strides in recognition domestically, when it come to international markets we're still just getting started. Very few of the knowledgeable and worldly guests I met on the trip had ever visited Paso Robles, and the majority didn't know where it was or what made it special. Now there are thousands more members of the wine trade in Japan and South Korea who've been exposed to Paso Robles, and you can feel it rippling out from there. I came away inspired by the potential of both markets and with a new appreciation for all the work that goes on behind the scenes in making this possible.

Thank you, Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance. Thank you, Wine Institute.

Darren Delmore's Most Memorable Meals of 2023

By Darren Delmore

As my 2023 National Sales travels for Tablas Creek swirled into a smooth finish, I noticed my phone's photo collection featured as much food as family. Miraculously, my waist line remained the same at the close of the year, but it did entail adding yoga to my repertoire to pull that off. Here's a round up of some of my most memorable dishes and meals of the year.  

Gjelina, Venice, CA

My 10 year old son and I did a mid-summer trip to LA, and besides a visit to Hollywood Forever Cemetery and some tennis in Echo Park, we mostly ate our way through my favorite food spots. Every cuisine on the planet is available in the city of angels, from food trucks to fast casual to prix-fixe, and on the last night we braved the crowd at Gjelina and snuck into a communal table straight away, where chef Travis Lett's "Braised Sweet Corn with Fresno Chile" dish, dressed with cilantro, briny feta, and lime, was warm-weather perfection, as was the sun gold tomato, burrata and squash blossom pizza.  

Joseph's Culinary Pub, Santa Fe, NM

This Santa Fe gem has the most lamb options I've ever seen on a menu, and the best lamb tartare in the world. When I'm out representing Tablas Creek at the Santa Fe Wine and Chile Fiesta every September, you can find me here on two of the three nights in town, at the dark, friendly little bar, dipping some glistening, salted, house fried tortilla chips into the tender, raw lamb puck topped with a cured egg yolk and parsley emulsion. I recommend pairing this with wine manager Starr Bowers' Rhone focused list, or a bowl of green chile-spiced beef bone broth. You'll leave like a well fed, culinary vampire.

The Waverly, Cardiff, CA

I'm not one to get excited about salads, having been raised in the iceberg ages of lettuce, but the Caesar salad at The Waverly in North County San Diego has changed all of that. Fresh, textural Romaine with a garlicky Baja Caesar glaze, shrimp if you want to add it, but what you don't see buried inside here are the infamous, lovingly deep fried, cheese filled crouton blocks. During happy hour you can just order the croutons! To deep dive, watch this clip of chef Brian Redzikowski in action, or just cut to the two minute mark to have him blow the very notion of a "crouton" out of this galaxy. And that's my glass of Patelin de Tablas Rosé, poured on tap from kegs here since 2019. 

Chez Bacchus, Long Beach, CA

We get asked to do a lot of wine dinners on the road, and the most successful ones tend to be when the chef tastes the wines first, then plans the menu accordingly. Such was the case at the Tablas Creek wine dinner I hosted in June at this new restaurant in Long Beach. The amuse alone of Sushi grade ahi, with a chunk of avocado, crowned with tobiko red Caviar and served with Esprit de Tablas Blanc, was practically worth the price of admission.    

Gemma, Dallas, TX

I'm pretty sure the Rabbit Pappardelle at Gemma has made it onto this list before. One of our first Tablas Creek keg accounts in the lone star state continues to be an industry hot spot, open later than most fine dining establishments, with killer service and a beautiful long bar to comfortably consume a solo meal. Though the menu has plenty on offer, I stick to this classic dish every time. Fluffy housemade pasta, braised juicy slabs of rabbit, pancetta, Swiss chard, pecorino and thyme, wisely paired with a glass of Patelin de Tablas Rouge.

Easy Bistro, Chattanooga, TN

If you'd told me I'd end up in Chattanooga and fall in love with a gluten free pasta made out of squash, I would've said you've lost your mind. Easy Bistro got interested in Regenerative Farming a few years ago and sought our wines out in Tennessee. I did a Covid-era Zoom presentation with their entire team in late 2020. This fall, in person, I grabbed a bar seat in front of their large wood oven and enjoyed this guanciale-enriched twist on a carbonara with some Patelin Blanc, and left feeling light as a feather. 

Ember, Arroyo Grande, CA

Ember continues to blow SLO county minds with their wood fired cuisine. When in season, the local Halibut pictured here, puts the bounty of Central Coast waters and farms on show. We were shocked to hear of Ember selling, but apparently the staff is staying on and the new owners are big fans with plans to keep things blazing. Congratulations to Brian and Harmony Collins for believing in their backyard and bringing Chez Panisse-style fare to our palates.  

Burger She Wrote, Los Feliz, CA

Best Burger of The Year (and restaurant name) goes to these guys. They don't serve wine, but just marvel in the majesty of this one for a second or two. If they opened a Paso Robles outpost, I'd surely be on heart medication. 

Grater Goods at an AirBnB, Jacksonville, FL

Oftentimes the most memorable meals don't happen in a restaurant. In early October, between working Georgia and Florida, my good friends Mike and Brianna from Charleston went in on a Jacksonville Beach AirBnb with me in hopes of scoring some surf. As the autumn time Atlantic ocean is unpredictable, the chances of getting good waves in a three day window was risky. I popped into this great cheese shop in Jacksonville en route to the rental, filling up an exotic sack of cheeses, all from Georgia's Sweet Grass Dairy. This photo is the afterglow of surfing epic, warm water waves for three hours on that Saturday afternoon, in spite of bull sharks all around us, celebrating our luck, timing, and friendship. We complemented this golden platter with a bottle of Vincent Girardin 2020 Le Cailleret Chassagne Montrachet. 

I hope this inspires you to go out to eat and support your favorite restaurant before the year's end. Or, if geography is in your favor, maybe seeking one of these specific spots out. I'm already getting a tad hungry for 2024, so I'm going to go now. Happy feasting! 

That Wine Enthusiast headline about $50 average tasting fees in Paso Robles is… just not true.

Last week, the Wine Enthusiast published a piece by Matt Kettmann celebrating the recent decision by Matt Trevisan to lower his base tasting fee at Linne Calodo Cellars from $40 to $20 in order to entice newer wine drinkers to experience his wines. I applaud Matt (Trevisan)'s decision, and think it's great that Matt (Kettmann) decided to write about it. In his intro, Matt (Kettmann) says "Tasting room fees have jumped to more than $50 per person at many wineries, even reaching $100 in some cases, triggering alarm amongst tourists and industry folk alike." While I'd quibble with his characterization of there being "many" wineries in Paso with $50+ tasting fees -- I'll share the actual numbers shortly -- that's a judgment call. But then the Wine Enthusiast made a much more inflammatory claim on social media. Do you notice it?

The authors of articles don't generally write their headlines, let alone the copy that's used to promote the articles over social media. But saying that many fees are high is a far cry from saying that the average tasting fee is that high. And (spoiler alert) this second claim just wasn't true. This information isn't hard to find or verify. According to the 179 listings on the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance winery guide, the most common tasting fees are between $20 and $29.99, with an average of $24.36. Eight wineries (4.5%) show tasting fees of $50 or more:

I became aware of the controversy through British wine writer Jamie Goode's Twitter post, which has as of this morning received 49 replies, 21 re-tweets, and 176 likes. I was sure it wasn't right, given what I see around town, and made a quick response, breaking a self-imposed Twitter hiatus to do so:

Coming late to this, but the headline is simply untrue. Average tasting fees in Paso are in the $25 range. And nearly all are comped on a purchase or club signup, as well as for members. At @TablasCreek only 15% of guests pay our $25 fee. Still, that doesn’t change that… 1/2

— Jason Haas (@jasonchaas) October 8, 2023

The reaction to the Wine Enthusiast's posts was predictable. There was a chorus of voices saying, essentially, "California wineries are all greedy and overpriced" while another chorus of people with connections to Paso Robles pointed out, with varying degrees of outrage, that this data didn't seem right. A few of the 49 comments to the Wine Enthusiast's Facebook post will give you a sense:

Finally, this morning, there was a correction posted to the Facebook post, adding "UPDATE: A previous version of this post indicated that average tasting room fees jumped to over $50 per person. This was misleading and has adjusted accordingly." No correction yet on Twitter that I can find. But to my mind, the damage has already been done. The original characterization became a lead story in the widely-distributed industry news roundup Wine Industry Insight and continues to echo around the wine ecosphere:

To what extent does this color the general perception of a place like Paso Robles? It's not insignificant, I don't think. The Twitter post got something more than 34,000 views. Facebook doesn't make view counts public, but given Wine Enthusiast’s 417,000 fans and the number of comments, reactions, and shares their post got, it's probably even more. And then there's the reach of the emails, which mostly go out to people in the business and in a position to further influence consumer behavior. I suggested to the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance that they ask for a public retraction, but don't know if they will.

All this matters because it plays into a narrative that is convenient and ultimately destructive. The Lettie Teague article Who Can Afford Napa Now? Not This Wine Columnist in the Wall Street Journal last April -- to which I wrote a response on this blog -- is probably the highest-profile such piece. The temptation is to look at the most expensive options in a region and conclude that those are representative. But they are no more representative than the least expensive, such as the local example that Eberle Winery still doesn't charge a tasting fee. And wine is always susceptible to claims of elitism, given its historic association with aristocracy and the way it's often portrayed in popular culture. Perception drives customer behavior, and if people think that Paso Robles (or Napa) has gotten too expensive, they'll decide to go elsewhere. 

All this is why I think that what Matt Trevisan is doing is such a good thing. I wrote about the dilemma wineries face in my response to Lettie Teague's piece:

Do they raise their prices to keep up and risk losing their historic audience? Do they keep their prices and risk being seen as less elite than their neighbors? Or do they try to split the difference (as, if I read between the lines in the article, it seems that the lovely, historic Spottswoode Winery has done) and feel guilty about it? Unfortunately there's not a great solution once a critical mass of wineries has set dramatically higher prices for themselves.

But the same way that having a critical mass of wineries raising prices on visits puts pressure on their neighbors to do the same, having wineries publicly cutting those prices leaves room for other wineries to forge their own path. That's likely to keep visits to Paso Robles approachable, which should help set us up as an appealing destination whether you're a first-time visitor to wine country or a regular who makes several trips a year.

So, kudos to Matt. Go visit Linne Calodo. And thanks to all of you out there who stuck up for Paso Robles over the last few days.

A Regenerative Organic Certified Vineyard Tour of the North Coast

By Ian Consoli

As the vineyard that participated in the Regenerative Organic Alliance's pilot program and the first Regenerative Organic Certified® vineyard in the world, we at Tablas Creek have kept a watchful eye on the growth of wineries pursuing and achieving ROC® status (For more info on ROC, start with this blog post from our viticulturist Jordan Lonborg). Their current membership is 15 vineyards from around the world. That number includes wineries in California, Oregon, Chile, and Argentina, with 15-20 more applications from wineries in Austria, Japan, Italy, Chile, and California. I recently had an excuse to stay on the North Coast (Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino) for a week, and I thought, "What would my perfect wine trip look like?" The answer is one composed of all ROC vineyards. After looking at the ROA's directory, I found five on the North Coast (four with tasting rooms and one without), and the four with tasting rooms line up to form a perfect one or two-day wine trip.

I took notes on my experience to share it here and encourage you to take the same trip. Here they are in the order in which I visited each of the four ROC wineries, with a bonus vineyard visit at the end:

Donum Estate

Donum Estate is an absolutely stunning 200-acre estate in Carneros. The property went through two significant revolutions since its original planting in 1990. First, when it was purchased by art collectors Allan and Mei Warburg in 2008, who adorned the estate with a globally renowned sculpture collection. Secondly, when they hired Director of Winegrowing Tony Chapman in 2019, and he made the ambitious decision to pursue biodynamic and, eventually, regenerative organic agriculture. These two passions combine to make one of the most memorable vineyard experiences in the world.

Tony and Associate Winegrower Derek Holmgren were my guides when I visited Donum. These guys both worked at Tablas Creek in 2013-2014 and witnessed the start of our animal program. What they are doing at Donum is extraordinary, from composting to on-site biochar production, a beneficial insect habitat program, and multi-species grazing with sheep, chickens, and ducks. Their cover crop included insectary rows of flowers like bachelor buttons, farewell to springs, California native poppies, and yarrow to attract beneficial insects that combat mealy bugs. They create compost teas from on-site biodynamic preparations. They even have their own Huglkultur site. Combine these practical, beautiful applications of regenerative agriculture with the world's most extensive accessible private sculpture collection, and you have one of the most beautiful vineyards I have ever seen. Donum has 340 acres over four properties with 160 acres under vine in Carneros, the Russian River Valley, and Sonoma Coast, all certified ROC, with a recently purchased 52-acre estate in Anderson Valley that they plan to convert over.

Donum specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with other small plantings of Merlot and Pinot Meunier. I tried their Rose of Pinot Noir, White Barn Pinot Noir, and West Slope Pinot Noir. One Pinot showed lovely bright yet intense fruit, while the other showed an earthy, serious character. You can find their wines and book your visit on their website. Their first ROC vintage is 2023, so expect to see the seal on their wine labels over the next year or two.

Grgich Hills

Grgich Hills was founded by Napa pioneer, Miljenko "Mike" Grgich, who happens to be celebrating his 100^th birthday this year! Happy birthday Mike. The pioneer of California wine is also a pioneer of organic and biodynamic agriculture. Our history with Grgich goes back over a decade. It was after a visit to Grgich that Robert Haas took back in March of 2010 that we decided to pursue biodynamics. So it was no surprise to hear Grgich joined ROC earlier this year.

I visited Grgich Hills' American Canyon vineyard, one of their five ROC vineyard sites. My hosts were the Head of Regenerative Organics, Bernat Sort Costa, Marketing Director Sally Camm, and Digital Marketing Specialist Luke Jeramaz. The site is stunning. There are beneficial flower plantings all along the road. They have begun experimenting with row hedges, where they sacrifice four rows of vines to plant a beneficial flower habitat that never gets mowed. They are one of fifteen wineries participating in a bird monitoring experiment with UC Davis. Each winery has multiple birdhouses staged to attract specific native birds. The houses track habits and collects feces to determine what birds eat what bugs. They graze hens, ducks, and Guinea fowl along with their sheep. They also built permanent beehives to home bees within their vineyards.

After touring the vineyard, Luke took me to their tasting room on Highway 29 to try some wine. An incredibly friendly and inviting staff was there to greet me near their closing time. I very much appreciated the experience. I tried multiple wines from their estates with standouts like the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Yountville Old Vine and 2018 Zinfandel. Their wines showed why they are Napa classics that I could go back to repeatedly.

You can purchase their wines and book a visit to their tasting room on their website. They also received ROC in 2023 and will put the seal on their bottles starting with the 2023 vintage.

 Medlock Ames

Medlock Ames was established in 1998 by college friends Chris Medlock James and Ames Morison. Ames grew up on his father's organic farm but was really pursuaded by the value of organic farming when he was stationed in Guatemala with the Peace Corps. He saw how unsustainable crop planting led to a need for synthetic inputs and limited farmers on what they could do. So when Ames and Chris bought their vineyard, they knew they would farm and certify organic. More recently, Ames heard individuals he admired in the wine industry talking about regenerative viticulture. Their team visited Tablas Creek shortly after we became ROC, and they jumped into the certification process. They have a tasting room in Healdsburg with more immersive experiences at their Bell Mountain Ranch location. I met with Ames and their Head of Sales Operations, Isabella Bandeira de Mello, at the Bell Ranch location.

Their property is 338 acres, of which only 44 are planted to vines, all farmed ROC, and straddles the line between Alexander Valley and Russian River Valley appellations. Their practices include on-site composting, cover crops, and grazing sheep within vine rows. I joined Ames on a tour he gave to guests thrilled by the pillars and concepts of regenerative agriculture. Ames took the time to emphasize the importance of the Social Fairness pillar in regenerative agriculture. This pillar is one we see overlooked as the term "regenerative" is used increasingly, so seeing the founder of Medlock Ames' emphasis on it was what I would expect from a Regenerative Organic Certifed brand.

The wines at Medlock Ames are absolutely fantastic. I have seen their labels multiple times and, for whatever reason, their contents haven't made their way into my glass. It almost happened on this visit as well because I spent so much time absorbing the property I had to run to my next appointment. Luckily, I stopped into the tasting room on my way out for a splash of 2019 Bell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon and 2019 Fifty Tons Cabernet Sauvignon. Both are different in character, despite being made with the same grape. Bell Mountain is almost refreshing on the palate, with bright fruit flavors and soft tannins. Fifty Tons shows more of the new oak it was aged in with a robust palate. Their flavor lingered on my palate even as I ran off to my next visit.

You can purchase their wines and book a visit on their website. I highly recommend the Bell Mountain Ranch experience.

Truett-Hurst

Truett-Hurst Winery was co-founded by the late Paul Dolan. A true pioneer in organic, biodynamic, and regenerative agriculture, his recent passing was felt deeply by many in the wine industry. Paul was instrumental in establishing the Regenerative Organic Alliance by serving on its board and recruiting Executive Director Elizabeth Whitlow to run the organization. The Truett-Hurst winery is a tangible piece of his lasting legacy in viticulture, nestled along Dry Creek. Their tasting room is beautiful, serene, and a must-see experience.

The Truett-Hurst estate underwent revitalization after they purchased the land in 2007. It had been farmed conventionally for decades, and the process of converting to organic, biodynamic, and ROC was a challenge they were happy to accept for the sake of the land and the wine. They focused on the soil, creating on-site compost from pomace and organic cow manure, cover cropping, biodynamic applications, and grazing their goats and sheep during the dormant season. They utilize their property to help with Dry Creek's restoration, which reflects their appreciation for life and the land. Their estate stands as an example for conventional farmers interested in ROC but hesitant because of the road ahead. Truett-Hurst proves that the conversion can be done, and the results are worth every effort.

In addition to what they grow on their estate, they source exclusively from organic and biodynamic vineyards. I wanted to try all of their ROC wines, so the tasting room attendant was kind enough to pour me their 2019 Estate Zinfandel, 2019 Estate Petite Sirah, and 2019 Dark Horse GPS from Paul's home vineyard in Ukiah. All were rich and delicious.

You can buy the wines and book your visit on their website. You won't see the ROC seal on their bottles anytime soon because they use a custom crush facility for making their wines. It brings up a hurdle for smaller producers who go ROC in their vineyards but don't have a wine production partner willing to certify their facility organic.

Bonterra

Bonterra Organic Estates, formerly Fetzer Vineyards, is the bonus winery on this list. They do not currently have a tasting room, but I was invited to visit their estate in Mendocino County, the old Fetzer property called The McNab Ranch. In 1985 the Fetzer family built a food and wine center on this property, and the then-CEO of Fetzer Vineyards, Paul Dolan, inspired the company to pursue organic grape growing and establish the brand Bonterra in 1993. Bonterra grew to become one of the world's largest wine producers to exclusively utilize organic grapes. Their decision to pursue ROC is huge for the certification and wine industry. With about 850 acres Regenerative Organic Certified, they have the power to make wines with the ROC seal on their labels commercially and readily available. Their Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon bearing the seal have already hit shelves nationwide. I met with their winemaker, Jeff Cichocki.

The McNab Ranch location is around 200 acres in Mendocino County. It is a beautiful place with beneficial flowers planted throughout and a creek running through the center of the property. Bonterra was an early adopter of biodynamics, and they continue to utilize biodynamic preparations and techniques. They limit their tillage, plant cover crop, and work with a local sheepherder to bring in around 3000 sheep to graze the property. Jeff showed a marked enthusiasm for ROC because of its benefits to the soil and how well consumers respond to the three pillars in the market. We were both in agreement that brands like ours still have a long way to go in communicating what makes regenerative agriculture important, but the Regenerative Organic Alliance developed a valuable platform for helping a broad range of consumers understand why regenerative agriculture matters to them.

As I mentioned above, Bonterra already released their ROC Chardonnay and Cabernet into the market. They currently sell them as a two-pack on their website for $40! Delicious and accessible, the opportunity to get great ROC-certified wines around $20 will open up the ROC world to a whole new audience of consumers.

Conclusion:

It was evident from my trip that enthusiasm for ROC is at an all-time high. We have already heard from multiple wineries in the process of going Regenerative Organic Certified. It is exciting to feel what early pioneers of organic viticulture must have felt as they educated an entire generation of wine drinkers on the importance of organic grapes. I hope you'll take the time to visit these wineries and support everything this new age of pioneers is working towards.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments!

What does it mean that Napa Valley is too pricey for the Wall Street Journal?

The article making waves in wine circles this weekend was Lettie Teague's most recent column for the Wall Street Journal: Who Can Afford Napa Now? Not This Wine Columnist. In it, she uses the opening of a $1300/night hotel and a $900 tasting package as examples of a region whose increasing focus on high-priced experiences runs the risks of alienating long-time customers and locals while also pricing out the new generation that the local industry hopes will become future Napa wine lovers. In her conclusion, she includes a comment from Tor Kenward, the winery owner with the eye-opening $900 tasting:

"Of course there are many other wine regions in California where the prices are lower and winery tastings are even, often, free. 'I tell wine lovers to go to Mendocino, to go to Santa Barbara,' Mr. Kenward said. I decided to follow his advice myself. Stay tuned to this column."

It is of course true that looking only at the most expensive hotel rooms and winery tasting packages (many of which are signaling to their hoped-for audience with the price) isn't the full story. As Lettie explains in the article, the average tasting fee for a "base" experience in Napa Valley has risen, but is still just $40.62 according to CellarPass. An "elevated" experience averages $82.26. And a quick check of Expedia for a two-night Thursday/Friday stay in June offers budget lodging options in the low-$200s and nicer hotels and resorts starting around the mid-$400s (yes, there are more expensive options, including the $1799 price tag for the Stanly Ranch whose $1300 base mid-week rate was the article's main example). So, while Napa Valley is an expensive place to visit, it's still possible for a consumer used to buying $50+ bottles of wine and spending $100 per person on a meal to build a viable trip without totally breaking the bank. But her point remains: people who want to feel that they've experienced the best the region has to offer must now budget several thousand dollars for a visit.

In my nearly three decades in business, it's been drummed into me that it's a very good idea to focus on your core product, and to tailor your other offerings to support that main product. In our example at Tablas Creek, we want to sell wine and add (and keep) people loyal to our wine club. So we've priced our other offerings accordingly. Our tasting fee is $25/person, and we comp that on the purchase of two bottles of wine. Tastings are free to all our club members. Our tours are free. We pour guests 6 or 7 tastes of wines priced between $28 and $65, so the cost of the tasting just covers the cost of the samples. For what it's worth, I consider each tasting fee we collect a failure, because it means that the guest didn't like anything enough to buy two bottles or the experience enough to sign up for one of our wine clubs.

So why do we charge a tasting fee at all? Two reasons. First, we want to weed out people who just want a cheap place to drink wine. If people look at our fee and think "that seems like a lot" they're probably not great candidates to buy our wine, and we want as much of our limited capacity as possible to go to current or potential future customers. Second, people often don't value what they don't pay for, as this article from Business Insider explains well. You are signaling how much you believe your offerings are worth when you put a price on it. Your decision to offer it for free sends a signal about how much someone should value that product or experience. 

Still, the 15% or so of our visitors who pay a tasting fee isn't a big piece of our profitability. Even if we changed our policies and 100% of our 30,000 annual guests paid the $25 it would be less than 10% of our revenue. So it's easy to be generous with our visiting policies, and use them to support the wine sales and wine club signups that are our bread and butter. For me, the sign that this is working is the relatively small percentage of visitors who pay a fee, and the long median tenure of our wine club members, which at the end of last year was a little more than four years, roughly triple the industry average.

So, what's going on in Napa? I think it's best understood as a shift of business priorities, with some unintended follow-on effects. At $100+ per experience, unless it's for a very expensive wine, the tasting fee is not a supporting product. And at $900, it's not a supporting product no matter the price of the wine. That experience, and the fee it comes with, is the main event. And that's what I think is at the root cause of some of the sky-high prices there. With the massive popularity of Napa Valley as a tourist destination, and many of the tourists coming from international locations where it's impossible or impractical to ship wine, a winery is behaving rationally by looking to turn the visit itself into a profit center. Yes, it may shock and disappoint a regular visitor to the region, but the high prices are telling those visitors that they're not the winery's target audience anyway. For someone coming from far away and looking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I get it. It's not what I'd look to do as a wine lover. And it's not what I'd want Tablas Creek to do as a business. But I get it.

The unintended consequences come in for the wineries who see their neighbors (who may have different target audiences or production levels than they do) raising prices and are then left with the dilemma that pricing, as I mentioned earlier, is seen a proxy for worth. Do they raise their prices to keep up and risk losing their historic audience? Do they keep their prices and risk being seen as less elite than their neighbors? Or do they try to split the difference (as, if I read between the lines in the article, it seems that the lovely, historic Spottswoode Winery has done) and feel guilty about it? Unfortunately there's not a great solution once a critical mass of wineries has set dramatically higher prices for themselves.

But whatever the downstream results, it seems clear that Napa Valley has set itself up for a future with higher, and perhaps dramatically higher, prices for visitors. With that, it seems inevitable that some wine lovers who are turned off by the change will decide to branch out and come to places like Paso Robles, where creating life-long customers for our wine remains the primary focus. And that writers, like Lettie, who have previously focused a large share of their attention on Napa Valley, will decide to write more about other California wine regions. Those are downstream consequences that would be just fine with me.