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September 27, 2007
Paso Robles EOS Estate Winery is getting an eco-friendly makeover. Recently acquired by Tennessee-based Sapphire Wines LLC, the winery will install about 2 acres of solar panels to supply 100% of its electricity. The project is still pending approval, but is expected to proceed unimpeded. CEO of Blavod Extreme Spirits, Jeff Hopmayer, told redwinebuzz.com today that the panels will not be visible. "They're not going to be on the roof" he said. "We're going to pull some vines, 23 year old Cabernet franc, and use a 3/4-acre grassy area between staff parking lots behind the buildings" he explained. The solar panels will be installed by SunTechnics Energy Systems. Hopmayer plans to continue the green trend: "After the first of the year, we're going to conduct a water study to see how much bottle we use to make one bottle of wine and see how we can reduce our water consumption".
Weekend showers not significant enough to offset harvest.
The much feared storm, which developed over British Columbia and was projected to affect much of the western seaboard seems to have bypassed most of Central Coast wine country without threatening harvest, and instead wreaked havoc in Los Angeles and Orange Counties where it caused some flooding and power outages. "We were missed by almost the entire storm—may have been an hour total of sprinkles, and not even enough to knock down all the dust on the roads" said Clos Pepe winegrower Wes Hagen in an email update. Dan Zurliene, tasting room manager of Koehler Winery in the Santa Ynez valley, related much the same, saying the Los Olivos area experienced a small cloudburst: "It seems the rain went south and hit the Los Angeles area". Hagen, invoking his observations of the past 14 years, also expects to see a heat spike in the middle of this week, possibly with a Santa Ana Condition. If that happens, harvest might take on a hastier pace.
weather.com precipitation reports:
|
Location |
Weekend total rainfall |
|
|
Carmel Valley |
<0.5" |
|
|
Salinas, Greenfield, Soledad, |
<1.0" | |
|
Lockwood |
0.02" | |
| San Luis Obispo, Templeton, Paso Robles | 0.02" | |
| Arroyo Grande, Santa Maria | 0.02" | |
| Lompoc, Buellton, Los Olivos | 0.07" | |
| Santa Barbara | 0.3" | |
Foley acquires Firestone Vineyards - Santa Ynez.
As part of a plan to expand his portfolio of small specialty wineries up and down the western coast, William Foley II acquired Firestone Winery and surrounding 400 acres of land (300 acres under vine) yesterday. Alan Phillips, General Manager and Winemaker at Foley told redwinebuzz.com today that only the Santa Ynez Valley winery and surrounding vineyards will be changing hands. This property will belong solely to William Foley, whereas Kobrand Wine is a minority partner in his other winery holdings. The Paso Robles Winery, Firestone Walker Brewing and Curtis Winery, will remain in Firestone hands. Curtis Winery focuses on Rhône wines from Ambassador's and Crossroads vineyards (Firestone family owned, and retained in the deal) and Voglezang vineyard (independently owned).
The winery staff, including the winemaking team (with the exception of Andrew Firestone) as well as the current sales and distribution team for Firestone will remain unchanged. Andrew Firestone, will manage the family’s Paso Robles winery. Also staying in Firestone hands are the Jarhead Red and Rock Hollow labels. The deal adds the Firestone vineyards to holdings which consist of Rancho Santa Rosa (Foley's Sta. Rita Hills estate vineyard) with Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Syrah and Pinot gris solely for the Foley label) and Rancho Las Hermanas (formerly Gaia and formerly Ashley's Vineyard) which will supply Pinot noir and Chardonnay from 220 acres in the Sta. Rita Hills for the Lincourt label. The Lincourt property was the original Curtis winery and its 28 acres of vineyards in the Santa Ynez Valley are planted to Bordeaux varieties.
"Bill's plan is to build a portfolio of small, specialty wineries." Phillips told redwinebuzz.com. He added: "He's aiming for a portfolio of 5 to 6 wineries". These are likely to be in Sonoma, Napa or the northwest (Washington and Oregon) "...to provide the Foley Wine Group with diversity and non-competition". There will be no stylistic or line-up changes at Firestone (with the exception of the two labels mentioned above), says Phillips: "Firestone produces good wines at a fair price. We don't want to make a $30 Firestone wine. Our goal is to make the best 15-dolar wine".
Christopher Weir of Mooncatcher Communications, Firestone and Curtis media relations representative, in a phone call later, stated that the deal had been brokered over a period of three months. The winery was never publicly offered for sale. Rather, the deal evolved organically. Addressing the Firestones' motivation for the sale he said: "They were interested in focusing on some of their other endeavors which have recently flourished: Firestone Walker Brewing which was started in 1996, Curtis Winery, started in 1995 and the Paso Robles winery opened recently". The sale price remains undisclosed. Full press release
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