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Alta Colina is the Tillman family winery in Paso Robles, CA. We grow 100% of the grapes that go into our wines, we make our wine, and we post 100% of the stuff on our blog! We're focused on making the best wine from our 31 acre vineyard and we want you all to be a part of it. For the full run-down on what we're doing with our days and nights check out www.altacolinawine.com.
Alta Colina Vineyard is such a beautiful place—it’s always good when a day like this come so we can be reminded.
Even if there wasn’t a single vine, this piece of the planet would be pretty amazing. Knowing that is also produces world-class fruit is a bonus. A delicious, delicious bonus.
HUGE thanks to Janis Switzer of the Paso Robles Press for featuring Alta Colina in today's issue. We had a great time on the Vineyard with Janis, her husband, and Lisa Pretty a few weeks ago. Thanks again to Janis for this great piece on our history.
And isn't this a great picture of Bob?! Thanks to the Forbes family for lending us their amazing photography skills! Check out the Bryn Forbes Gallery for more.
The Rhone Report is a newer voice in the world of wine criticism and it's a great addition to an often quick-to-judge community. Jeb Dunnuck is the man behind The Rhone Report and even before meeting him this summer (full disclosure: yes, we did taste the wines he reviewed with Jeb personally) we've been consisitently impressed with how much work he puts into his newsletter. For a thoughtful and dedicated set of reviews of Rhone producers from across the world check out The Rhone Report. He's also on twitter!
Now, on to the tooting of our own horn! As we talk about all over the place, we've been so pleased each year with the even greater quality of our wines. Each year the Vineyard grows up, and so do we in our vineyard and winemaking practices, which have yielded awesomer and awesomer wines every vintage! With so much excitement in the family it's great to see our thoughts about our wines reflected in reviewers' feedback.
Here are some highlights from Jeb's current issue of The Rhone Report. For the full reviews of our wines and many of our peers and inspirations, pay Jeb the money!
2008 Keystone Syrah: "...delivers a gorgeous array of raspberries, flowers, violets, and crème on the nose. Full bodied, pure, intense, and more than a little impressive...93+ points"
2008 GSM: "...this beauty delivers loads of perfectly ripe berry fruits, licorice, toast, and earth to go with a medium to full-bodied, beautifully textured palate...91 points"
2009 Grenache: "...a serious, mineral driven beauty that yields black cherry and creamy raspberry styled fruits to go with loads of crushed stone, licorice, pepper, and sweet spice on the nose. Decidedly tannic and firm on the palate, yet with a supple texture, this shows solid acidity, notable purity, and an overall balanced, pure profile. I love the finish here...92 points"
2009 Toasted Slope Syrah: "A rich, full throttle Syrah, the 2009 Alta Colina Syrah Toasted Slope exhibits a deep, layered profile with raspberry and cassis styled fruits that are supported by roasted meats, chocolate, tar, and graphite characteristics on the nose...93 points"
2009 Old 900 Syrah: "...an inky purple color to go with smoked black fruits, meat, chalk, bitter espresso, and violets that lead to a full-bodied, rich, concentrated Syrah. There‟s no shortage of structure here, yet this has beautiful fruit, a thrilling texture, and a long, classically styled finish...93+ points"
2009 Mourvedre: "...textbook Mourvedre aromas of tree bark, smoked black cherry fruits, pepper, and charred earth that gives way to a medium to full-bodied wine that is structured, beautifully balanced, and finishes with loads of chalky, fine-grained tannin...92 points"
Check out Google Maps' current satellite image of Alta Colina Vineyard. The bottom third of the image looks right. The lack of vines planted on the rest of the property is a bit suspicious though!
American Rhone-Style Whites
2009 Skinner Stoney Creek Vineyard Fair Play Grenache Blanc
2010 Donkey & Goat Coupe d'Or El Dorado Roussanne-Marsanne
2010 Kinero Alice Paso Robles Grenache Blanc
2010 Cowhorn Spiral 36 Applegate Valley White
2010 Unti Cuvee Blanc Dry Creek Valley White
2010 Andrew Murray Vineyards RGB Camp 4 Vineyard Santa Ynez Valley White
2009 Alta Colina 12 O'Clock High Estate Paso Robles White ($28, 14.8%): This relatively new label owned by Lynn and Bob Tillman has found a great white expression from an estate mix of Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne and Grenache Blanc. Big but plenty energetic, with a subtle honeysuckle kick from the Viognier but also a quicksilver nerve - think hay and steel and dried apricots.
2010 Clayhouse Red Cedar Vineyard Estate Cuvee Blanc Paso Robles White
2010 Kunde Family Estate Sonoma Valley Viognier
Jon Bonné is The Chronicle's wine editor. Find him at jbonne@sfchronicle.com or @jbonne on Twitter.
This article appeared on page G - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Ch ch check it out! Our 12 O'Clock High white blend made Jon Bonne's cut for his annual SF Chronicle Thanksgiving wine recommendations. It's very exciting to see our name in print in the Chronicle plus we couldn't agree more with his recommendation! This Viognier blend will likely make a cameo on our Thanksgiving table. With all the delicious fruit on the palate and fuller bodied style, it's a great pick to pair with the diverity of a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
A huge thanks to Jone Bonne of the San Francisco Chronicle for not only tasting our wine but including us in this great lineup!
To read the full article and read Bonne's reviews of the other wines visit the SF Chronicle website.
We are very excited and proud of these wines! We consistently feel that the quality of our wines improves each year. Not only are our vines growing up and becoming more established, but we’re better farmers and winemakers. It will be interesting to see how these wines do with the critics in the coming months but the opinions we care most about are yours of course!
Check out what Mr. Raynolds has to say about our 2009 reds. And as always, let us know what you think! Email Maggie or Bob with any thoughts, questions, or comments.
2009 Grenache Paso Robles ($44) (includes 9% syrah): Deep ruby. Powerfully scented bouquet ofplum jam and blackcurrant liqueur, dark chocolate and violet; seems like there's more syrah in here. Inky, palate-coating flavors of ripe dark fruit flavors, with a slow-mounting smoky note. This high-octane wine finishes with velvety tannins and echoes of dark berries, plum and bitter chocolate. 87
[Just to be clear, we always show the true blends on our labels--there is 9% Syrah in this wine. I guess great color is just something we'll have to learn to live with on Alta Colina Vineyard!]
2009 Mourvedre Paso Robles ($44) (includes 14% syrah and 11% grenache): Inky ruby. Vibrant raspberry and cherry aromas are complicated by spice and candied floral nuances. Offers sweet dark berry and bitter cherry flavors enlivened by cracked pepper and violet. The long, chewy finish features finegrained tannins and a late floral kick. This is quite elegant for a New World Rhone blend. 90
2009 Gsm Paso Robles ($38) (53% syrah, 24% mourvedre and 23% grenache): Bright purple. Musky cherry and dark berry aromas are sharply focused, with peppery spices providing additional lift. Bitter cherry and cassis flavors are bracing and pure, with a pungent kick of camphor enlivening the back end. Really showing its syrah component today. This assertively perfumed, juicy style offers very good energy and finishing cut. 90
2009 Toasted Slope Red Wine Paso Robles ($38) (90% syrah and 10% gernache): Opaque purple. Highly perfumed aromas of blackcurrant, cherry, olive and tobacco, with mounting spiciness. Sweet, deep dark fruit and floral pastille flavors coat the palate. Finishes smoky and long, with a lingering olive quality. 90
2009 Old 900 Red Wine Paso Robles ($48) Glass-staining purple. Seductively perfumed bouquet of dark berry preserves, potpourri and black olive, along with a spicy overtone. More graceful than theToasted Slope, showing impressive focus to its spicy blackberry and mulberry flavors. Finishes sweet,sappy and floral. For a rich wine this is quite lithe. 91
Here's an excerpt from a great article about the upcoming Garagiste Festival in the Santa Barbara Independent by Matt Kettmann.
Gathering of Garagistes
Proudly Small-Time Winemakers Show Off Hard-to-Find Stuff at Paso Robles Festival
By Matt Kettmann
Thursday, November 10, 2011
For a gourmet industry like wine, associating oneself with a garage might seem counterintuitive. Not so for garagistes, those proudly small-time producers who believe that some of winemaking's soul can get lost in bigger wineries.
“We believe that the undiscovered artisan wine producers, or garagistes, are making some of the most thrilling wine on the planet right now, much of it right here in Paso Robles,” explained Stewart McLennan, whose Paso Garagiste organization (pasogaragiste.com) is hosting The Garagiste Festival, a first ever tasting event on November 12 at Windfall Farms. “But they have a hard time finding a large audience of passionate wine consumers and this audience has a hard time finding these winemakers. So we founded Paso Garagiste to bridge the gap.”
McLennan knows that those who make the trek to the farm, which is about 25 minutes southeast of downtown Paso Robles, will get their eyes opened to some of the more creative vintning going on anywhere. “We believe that there is some truly exciting and innovative winemaking going on under the wine radar with these smaller lot winemakers — and what is more exciting than being one of the first to discover, and experience the winemaking of, one of the future rock stars of the wine world?” he asked. “These winemakers make wine in smaller lots and have the freedom to experiment and break the rules. And because there is a greater opportunity to get to know the winemaker and truly support the brand, the experience can be much richer and go well beyond drinking wine for wine’s sake.”
To get an idea of what a guest at the first ever Paso Garagiste Festival might expect, I sent some questions and tasted wine from four participants who pride themselves on making smaller batches of wine and keeping their businesses intimate. Here’s what they had to share, both in words and in wine.
Alta Colina Winery
Proprietors: Bob and Maggie Tillman
Wine: Alta Colina GSM Paso Robles 2008
Smooth as satin, this wine's herbal, tobacco-tinged nose is reminiscent of the Old World, but its New World berry fruitiness keeps the tongue happy.
“We literally got our start in my parent’s garage!” explained marketing guru Maggie Tillman, who's dad Bob began by making beer and wine amongst their vehicles in the 1970s. The father-daughter duo comprise the full-time staff for the winery, which purchased a Paso Robles property in 2003, planted it in 31 acres of eight different Rhone varieties the next year, and celebrated in 2007 with their first commercial vintage. They actually sell off about 70 percent of their juice to other winemakers, but keep just enough to make about 1,000 cases, the third vintage of which came out last month.
“Being small lets us focus all of our energy on producing the highest quality wines we can,” said Maggie. “You just can’t take the time and energy to handcraft a superior product when you’re buried in hundreds or thousands of tons of grapes!”
But it's more than that for the Tillmans. “The idea of a 'garagiste' is more than just small production — it really encompasses the figure-it-out attitude that is required when it comes to small-scale winemaking without an endless checkbook,” she said. “It’s really about making the best wine possible with what we have to work with.”
That's not to say there aren't challenges. “We only have a handful of tanks so making sure we have what we need when we need it can be a puzzle of Rubik’s cube proportions!” she explained, noting “looong” days as another hazard. “Working on a small scale is a lot of work so it’s a good thing we love what we’re doing! Working like a dog to make the best wines possible because you love it — that makes a true garagiste!”
The Wine Weirdos tasted our 2008 Keystone Estate Syrah this week and it did not disappoint. 100 points on the nose?...don't mind if I do!
The Keystone Syrah was our experiment in 2008: a single American oak puncheon bottled as a standalone. And the experiment definitely worked! When we decided to go ahead and bottle the 48 cases yielded by that single barrel we weren't sure if people would love it or hate it. You loved it so much we're making a 2011! Sadly it will be a couple years before Keystone hits the bar again but have no fear, it's coming.
Check out the pics for a glimpse of the harvest action. There's much more to come now that the vines are starting to behave!
