Made it to Riverbench Vineyard & Winery!

I was immediately impressed with the turnout (all ages and backgrounds) and the desire to learn from the other attendees. Jim Stollberg, Vineyard Manager for Riverbench and owner of Maverick Farming Company, led us into the vineyard first. Jim was the perfect tour leader. He’s extremely knowledgeable and down to earth, allowing attendees to interrupt with all kinds of questions about what goes on in the vineyard during the spring. He talked about bud break (which is in full force at Riverbench), pruning styles, and how to protect your fresh, new buds from frost.

This bud already has all the fruit inside it for 2011 harvest!

Did you know that by turning on sprinklers during frost, the freezing of the water droplets creates heat which in turn protects the fragile buds from being frozen? I didn’t!

Jim also talked about the importance of getting SIP Certified and how it challenges them to become a cohesive company working together towards a common goal of sustainability and promoting a healthy environment.

Listening attentively!

No vineyard tour is complete without a wine tasting of the final product. Jim stuck around and chatted with all the guests as we sipped Riverbench’s fabulous Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on the patio. It was the perfect day and I loved all of the intelligent questions and education. Everyone left confident that they had learned something new!

Lining up to taste some fabulous wines!

Stay tuned for the next Vineyard tour with CCWGA at Laetitia Vineyard on May 21 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. RSVP with John Burke, Executive Director for CCWGA.

**SIP hats are available for purchase for $15! Email info@vineyardteam.org to purchase yours today!

How many would you guess?

The guesses are in and the corks have been counted! The final count was 465 corks in our vase with the winning guess very close at 468. Congrats to our winner who won two tickets to our Earth Day Food & Wine Festival on April 16, 2010 at Pomar Junction Vineyard & Winery!

Our runner up, with a guess of 460, won a bottle of SIP Certified wine.

Thanks again for playing!

Love the stemless glassware!

If  you’ve been in downtown San Luis Obispo recently, you may have noticed the quaint little tasting room on Chorro Street. This oasis of goodness is Pithy Little Wine Company and on Monday night I stopped by their Wine Industry Open House for a taste.

Felicia, owner of Pithy Little Wine Co., and me!

Amy Bakes vegan cupcakes, Joycups gluten free, organic peanut butter cups, Vivant cheese platters, and of course a plethora of Pithy wines left me in taste bud lala land. Not a wino like me? Pithy also makes classic Italian sodas that everyone can enjoy.

Amy Bakes cupcake anyone?

I love the atmosphere in the tasting room, a little modern and a lot welcoming. The word pithy, defined as concise and forcefully expressive, perfectly describes the wine, the tasting room ambiance, and even the wine bottle with wine tasting notes on the back. So after a fabulous evening filled with sweets and great wine, I headed home with a bottle of their 2009 Sangiovese Rose and a Joycup for the road!

Straight off the vine - Beth's got a zucchini and a squash

Mmm...nothing says summer more than a juicy cantaloupe!

These winter squash will make a hearty dish!

Hunting for tomatoes!

Steinbeck Vineyards and Winery is a multi-generational sustainable farm boasting 500 acres of vineyard property and producing 2,000 tons of fruit each year. In 2008, Steinbeck Vineyards introduced the Vineyards Growing Veggies program to their farm. A one acre plot was set aside for a variety of fruits and vegetables and has been producing ever since. All the vegetables go to the local food bank, a whopping 8,000 lbs annually! When Beth and I went out, Steinbeck and its volunteers were harvesting zucchini, squash, watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, and tomatoes. Steinbeck Vineyards and Winery welcomes volunteers who want to get involved and are especially looking for volunteers to help tend the garden (picking, planting, transitioning, and weeding) and start plants.

But wait, Steinbeck does even more to promote a healthy environment and community… they recycle natural, non-synthetic wine corks! Currently, there are 250,000 corks in use around the vineyard and winery. The corks help keep moisture in the soil and prevent unwanted weed growth.

These natural corks have found a second life!

Corks can be mulched or remain whole as seen here.

For more information on the Vineyards Growing Veggies project, visit the following sites…

www.urbanfarming.org

www.winerymusicawards.com

www.steinbeckwines.com

For more information on wine cork recycling, visit the following sites…

www.recork.org

www.steinbeckwines.com

www.vineyardteam.org

Steinbeck Vineyards & Winery, located on Union Road in Paso Robles, has found a new home for thousands of recycled natural corks. Steinbeck partnered with Urban Farming’s Vineyards Growing Veggies™ program to use natural cork in a summer community garden.

When spread out over the ground, cork acts to keep weeds down and moisture in. The plants and seeds used in the garden were donated by Nature’s Touch, Farm Supply, and Hometown Nursery. Half of the garden has already been planted and Steinbeck hopes to finish planting on Saturday. All of the produce harvested will then be donated to the local food bank.

Central Coast Vineyard Team’s Sip the Good Life program has partnered with ReCORK America to create a cork collection center at our downtown Paso Robles location. If you have natural corks you would like to recycle or would like to become a collection center on the Central Coast please contact us at 805.369.2288 or visit www.sipthegoodlife.org.

Cozy bird abode by Etsy

Comfy armchair by Gabriel Wiese

Need light?

Who needs wallpaper when you have recycled corks?

Nice ride!

So get creative and share your clever cork creations!

To learn more, become a local collection center for your community, or drop off recycled cork contact:

Sip the Good Life
835 12th Street Suite 204
Paso Robles, CA 93446
805-369-2288
www.sipthegoodlife.com

For additional information:

www.recorkamerica.com

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On Mondays, the Cal Poly Organic Farm’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program drops off a box overflowing with fruits and vegetables on the Central Coast Vineyard Team’s doorstep. They provide a crate with seasonal, locally-grown, and interesting produce. Cal Poly merges its personally grown produce with that of local farmers in order to provide a well-rounded box-full-of-goodness. The Vineyard Team staff joined together and subscribed to a large share box which feeds about 3-6 people for about $15 per week per person. When that box shows up, we gather around to see what’s included in the week’s delivery. The mere smell of the fragrant herbs and the sight of the colorful berries is enough to catch anyone’s attention.

I can barely contain myself. Did I mention that the path to my heart is drawn, no permanently marked, in food? You laugh, but it’s true. “Now that’s a carrot!” I exclaim, not realizing that everyone hears and giggles from my discovery. As I’m munching away on my delightful carrot, I’m already scheming at how I can get my hands on a couple more. Luckily, there are a lot in this week’s batch so I don’t have to fight anyone. Not that I would ever resort to that of course…

A “real” carrot is such a treat. I’m talking crisp, sweet, and straight out of the ground. I didn’t even hesitate to wash the thing off. I started chomping away the minute it was handed to me. So while I’ve obviously mastered the art of eating carrots plain, my next challenge is finding tasty recipes. While my little salads are note-worthy, I need to provide my carrot every opportunity to showcase its full potential. I’m thinking a carrot cake…oooh or maybe carrot and raisin bread…hmmmm.

To Find CSA’s Near You – Check Out Local Harvest