Vino V Wine Tasting!!!

Started in 2004, Vino V is a winery in Ventura, focused on making distinctive, handcrafted wines from grapes grown in the cooler growing regions of Santa Barbara County. After 15 years of making wine with two other winemakers that Michael felt made some of the best wine in California, Jeffrey Patterson (Mount Eden Vineyards) and most recently Adam Tolmach (The Ojai Vineyard), Michael and his wife decided to take the leap and strike out on their own.

Come meet Michael, he will be pouring his 2004 wines along with some barrel samples of his 2005 wines this Friday and Saturday.

*Notes from Winemaker

2004 Vino V Confundido Santa Barbara County Grenache Blend $24.99
This version is made of Grenache (50%), Pinot Noir (25%) and Syrah (25%). It is a wine that begs to be drunk with food. It has a good amount of fruit and earth from the Grenache with structure and liveliness provided by the Syrah and Pinot. An unusual blend, but we think it works. Production: 49 cases

2004 Vino V White Hawk Vineyard Santa Barbara County Syrah $41.99
This was another vineyard that was a no-brainer for me. The site is just outside Los Alamos off Cat Canyon Road towards the North. It is on the cooler side of the scale when ranking Santa Barbara County vineyards. Amazingly a small section was available so we jumped on it. Our blocks of Syrah are at the upper reaches of the vineyard which is basically a big sand dune. We love the wine made from this vineyard and have added two blocks since this wine was made. This wine was made entirely from the Estrella River clone of Syrah. It spent 21 months in barrel (1/3 new) and was racked twice – once at about 12 months and again at bottling. It has always shown a beautiful dark plum and violet aroma thrown in with oak spice that reminds me of some sort of exotic Indian dish. The fruit is lush and the tannins are slightly chalky and fine which make it drinkable now but give it life to age well. Production: 74 cases

2004 Vino V Clos Pepe Vineyard Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir $44.99
When we first started looking for fruit, my first thought was to call Wes Hagen at Clos Pepe Vineyard. I had worked with the fruit for 4 years at The Ojai Vineyard and fell in love with the depth and concentration of the fruit that comes from this cooler region of the St. Rita Hills. Made entirely of clone 115 this wine spent 19 months in barrel (1/3 new) and slowly crept through malo-lactic fermentation due to the great (as in low pH) acid profile found in most wines from the appellation. The wine was racked only once - into the bottling tank, then bottled and corked via gravity. It’s on the decadent side but still elegant. It should age well over the next 5+ years. Production: 74 cases