I never shy away from the chance to learn something new and Saturday was no different. Sporting my new SIP hat**, I cruised down to Riverbench Vineyard & Winery in Santa Maria for a vineyard tour compliments of Central Coast Winegrowers Association (CCWGA).

Made it to Riverbench Vineyard & Winery!

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Here at the Vineyard Team we spend most of our time on the farming side of wine making so we thought that we would get into the cellar and learn a little about tasting the fruits of our farmers’ labors. The Team loaded up for a trip to Firestone Vineyard in Los Olivos where the fabulous Amy Freeman offered to be our wine tasting teacher for the day.

Our tasting training center

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A little rain didn’t stop anyone from having a Rockin’ time at the 20th SLO Vintners Harvest Celebration. Yours truly was stoked to be pouring SIP wines in between Rays Own Brand sausage and Sextant Wines. The SIP booth got to taste each sausage variety (Bratwurst, Hot Italian, Linguica, Pork Apple Honey) hot off the grill and I have a new favorite Chardonnay from the Santa Lucia Highlands.

Featuring Central Coast Wine & Cuisine!

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It was like Fashion Week came to Paso Robles: perfect lighting, stage settings, cameras flashing…OK, not quite. But it was a very glamorous affair for a few SIP Certified wines featuring the SIP seal on the label. With the expertise of Juice we created a fabulous photo portfolio of great wines made from healthy vineyards.

Photographer Steven Gould in action

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Get your earplugs ready – we are about to toot our own horn, loudly! CCVT Executive Director Kris O’Connor was recently named the 2010 San Luis Obispo County Wine Industry Person of the Year. Woot! Woot!

CCVT Executive Director Kris O'Connor (3rd from left) along with other industry awards winners Clay Brock (4th from left) and members of the Dusi family.

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Aaahhhh, sigh … just now coming off my cloud of bliss following the 2010 Earth Day Food & Wine Festival on April 17. Great weather, great food, great wine, great venue, great attendees … okay, okay you get the point.

One of the big highlights this year was the chance to taste “The Wine” – the wine that recently snagged 100 Parker points, Saxum Vineyard’s 2007 James Berry Vineyard Proprietary Red. Produced by Justin and Heather Smith, this label is near and dear to Central Coast Vineyard Team since Justin’s dad, Pebble Smith, was a CCVT founding member.

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the estate vineyard for Ancient Peaks Winery

Ancient Peaks Winery’s estate Margarita Vineyard is one of the latest to earn SIP (Sustainability in Practice) Certification in recognition of the vineyard’s numerous sustainable viticultural practices.

“We are proud to have met the rigorous standards of the SIP certification process,” said co-owner and vineyard manager Doug Filipponi. “This certification recognizes what we are doing to ensure natural quality in our wines, and it reflects our passion for being good stewards of the land.”

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It was great to see Niels Udsen of Castoro Cellars recently honored by the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance as their 2009 Paso Robles Wine Industry Person of the Year.

A longtime supporter of Central Coast Vineyard Team and the SIP program – some of Castoro’s vineyards are SIP certified, as well as being certified organic – Niels started as a local cellar rat back in 1981, when no one knew what a Paso Robles was. He and his wife Bimmer launched Castoro (Italian for Niels’ nickname: “Beaver”) in 1983, and over the years, it can certainly be considered one of the labels that helped put Paso Robles on the map as a stellar wine region.

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Central Coast Vineyard Team was one of six businesses recently honored with Green Awards from the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce. There were over 70 nominees for the award, which celebrated companies dedicated to saving energy and reducing their waste.

Keynote speaker was Deborah Lyons, an environmental sustainability specialist for Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, the largest information technology company in the country and recently named as the greenest company in America by Newsweek magazine.

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