Dover Canyon Winery

2008 Paso Robles Zinfandel Festival

The annual Paso Robles Zinfandel Festival kicks off this coming weekend, March 14-16th.  We will be breaking out the spring releases for tasting (see below).

As part of the celebration, we will be grilling lambsicle appetizers all weekend (from noon to 4 pm), spiced with our handmade lavender salt rub and wasabi herb rub, using fresh herbs from our garden.  On Saturday, we'll also be serving some saffron-infused bouillabaisse.  Fresh-baked coriander-spiked bread and Pasolivo orange-olive oil will be available all weekend for palate cleansing.

At right, Dan rescues some grilled paper towels. 

On Saturday, soil scientist Dr. Tom Rice will be on hand to sign copies of his new book, Paso Robles, An American Terroir.  Dr. Rice is a fun guy who knows the dirt on Paso--he has spent years trenching and mapping the vineyards of Paso Robles and studying the soils beneath our vines.  Come learn why the central coast is significantly different from Napa and Sonoma, and what makes our area unique.

On both Saturday and Sunday, grower Denny Colbert will be here to sign bottles of our 2006 Carmenere, Colbert Vineyard.  Only 65 cases were produced.  Denny will be happy to answer questions about this rare varietal and his other entertaining projects. 

I hope you can join us for a fun-filled weekend with lots of great food.  For more information on winery events and activities, visit the Paso Robles website.

Spring 2008 Wine Releases

Our 2008 Spring wine club selections will soon be available for pickup, beginning Friday, March 14th.  Shipping will begin March 17th.

The Spring selection includes:

• 2006 Old Vine Zinfandel, Benito Dusi Vineyard
• 2006 Tre Noce (66% zinfandel, 34% syrah, all estate grown)
• 2006 Syrah, Starr Ranch

Other new releases include the 2007 White Bone (60% viognier, 25% marsanne, 15% roussanne) and the 2006 Carmenere, Colbert Vineyard.  Visit our Current Releases page for pricing and links to our wine profiles.  Please visit us soon to taste these limited releases!

Recent Mentions

Everything Typepad, our blog service provider, recently featured Dover Canyon.

"We always love it when our customers — and the great things you are doing with TypePad — are spotlighted in the media."

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Who would expect a mention on a investment site like Investor Village?

"Wine pairing: For a VWSI of -9, I continue to recommend carmenere as an ideal pairing. The last time around, I sugested a Concha y Toro 2003 Terrunyo Carmenere, some favorite carmeneres listed at Cellar Tracker, and an American effort at Dover Canyon. For ideas about varietals I do not have a lot of experience with, I often check out what is selling at one of San Francisco’s best wine stores, K&L Wine Merchants. A quick search on their site yields a good number of carmenere blends, as well as several selections where carmenere is the dominant varietal."

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From Britain:  The Podcast Sisters

"A story of a small winery. Dover Canyon Winery was recently highlighted . . . You don't have to have a big budget to create customer engagement with your brand...you just need a BIG imagination...."

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From France:  SOWINE

"On peut certes s'interroger sur la réplicabilité du modèle et sur la pertinence d'une approche me-too en la matière mais je gage que nous ne sommes qu'au début des succès et les témoignages de retours positifs se multiplient (lire l'article de BusinessWeek sur la Dover Canyon Winery dont les ventes à distance ont doublé en un an)."

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I have no idea where in the world this is coming from.  Sweden?  Denmark?  And what the heck are they saying?  Omatt Oimeksiannot

"Juttujen tilaajaksi sopisivat kaikki yritykset, joilla on verkkosivuja, koska blogi elävoittaa sivustoa ja saa aikaa sivuille palaavia asiakkaita. Mainostaminen blogin avulla on siis aika edullista. Muutenkaan verkkomainonta ei välttämättä tule kovin kalliiksi varsinkin, kun vertaa sanomalehtimainontaan ja vastaaviin julkaisuihin. Pari hyvää esimerkkiä: Restaurant Girl ja Dover Canyon Winery."

Our Podcast Premiere: WineCast

This week Dover Canyon was a guest on Winecast's Unfiltered podcast series, with hosts Tim Elliott and Jeff Lefevere of Good Grape, and guest Alyssa Rapp of Bottlenotes.

Join us for an hour-long round table conversation as we discuss Alyssa's successful wine club, the 2007 central coast harvest, recent wine news, high alcohol in wine, the story behind our carmenere, online wine forums, and wine writer Dan Berger's latest commentary at Appellation America. 

• Winecast:  Unfiltered
• Good Grape
• Bottlenotes
• Dover Canyon 2005 Carmenere
• Dan Berger's article: The Berger Merger Report
• Appellation America

Thank you to Tim and Jeff for inviting me! 

Countdown: Viognier, Carmenere, Old Vine Zin

We have limited quantities of the following wines available.  With two busy weekends ahead of us, we anticipate these wines will sell out in 10-15 days.

Today's report:

• 2005 Carmenere ~  8 cases

Our rare U.S. carmenere release will sell out this month.  As we pointed out in our interview with vineyard owner Denny Colbert, the wine is rich with plum and chocolate flavors, and clocks in at a tender 12.8% alcohol.

• 2005 Old Vine Zinfandel  ~  8 cases

This unique, peppery zin from Benito Dusi Vineyard usually sells out in 6 months.  Although you will find other Paso Robles wineries producing 'Dusi' zinfandels, only Ridge and Dover Canyon are allowed access to the original vines on Benito Dusi's portion of the ranch.  Our next vintage of Dusi Old Vine Zinfandel will be released in March 2008.  Classic zinfandel aromas of raspberry, pink peppercorn and sage lead into rich, deep flavors of cherry and black raspberry, and a lingering finish of pastry, pepper and briar in this production from Benito Dusi’s 90-year-old vines.

• 2005 Viognier  ~  12 cases

Our sturdy, mouth-filling viognier from the black, carbon-rich soils of Hansen Vineyard is nearly gone.  This viognier is an excellent choice to pair with autumn bouillabaisse, winter stews, and Thanksgiving courses.

Today's report:

• 2005 Carmenere ~  8 cases

Dover Canyon Profiled in BusinessWeek

BusinessWeek magazine is featuring Dover Canyon Winery this month in their quarterly magazine, SmallBiz. The article, Make Some Noise, is part of a special report on small businesses making creative use of Web 2.0 to reach their audience.

The article points out that over 660,000 small businesses in the U.S. use blogs or podcasting to communicate their messages. Five of those small businesses, including Dover Canyon, are profiled in the article.

There is also a full page photo of Mary sitting on the porch with her laptop, Rebel Rose laying across her feet, with the sky blue house, white trim and pink door in the background and a partial view of the hills behind. (The photographers were here for four hours in early July. They said their other assignments for the article were all office buildings, so they were delighted to get some colorful shots from our farm.)

SmallBiz print edition is available by subscription through Business Week, and the articles are also available online. With a print circulation of 675,000, you can imagine that our website and blog has enjoyed some heavy traffic since publication of the article, and our email signup list is increasing every day. I hope you’ll join us in welcoming new guests to our virtual front porch!

Dover Canyon Wine Club is Full!

Our Dover Canyon wine club is now capped, due to our limited production and loyal fans. We are still accepting wine club applications, but there will be short wait for new members to join the wine club.

We have finished our spring wine club shipping, and after all the shipments and pickups, we find we have only 7 cases of the 2005 Starr Ranch Syrah left, and 12 cases of the 2005 Tre Noce! Yikes.

Our heartfelt thanks to our new and long time members for your support and enthusiasm!

Dover Canyon is on the Map

Dover Canyon debuted this month on the AlaWine Top 100 list of wine bloggers at #58!  Alawine author Ken Waggoner sent us this nice message:  "You can take some substantial pride in having one of the very few winery blogs crossing over into mainstream popularity."

And today, Dover Canyon is one the first winery blog markers on the Wine Blog Atlas.  This cool site is just getting started.  By clicking on the map markers, you can visit wine and winery blogs from all over the globe.  Got travel plans?  Find a wine blogger covering your destination and get the scoop on local wines before you go.  Be sure to bookmark the atlas--new markers are being added all the time.

Also, our original blog article Taking Your Dog to Wine Country is now a feature article in this month's issue of Fido Friendly--a nationally published dog/travel magazine. 

And we were asked by the award-winning podcasters at GrapeRadio to contribute an article for their quarterly newsletter, "Over the Barrel."  The spring publication includes my article, Wine: The Last Frontier.  Sign up for GrapeRadio's free newsletter here.

Cheers!

Spring 2007 Wine Club Selections

Our next wine club shipment will begin in late March! 

Packages will be shipping at regular intervals throughout April and May, and we will have the new releases ready for pick up during the Paso Robles Zinfandel Festival March 16-18.  We'll be serving lavender-rubbed lambsicles and saffron-infused bouillabaisse to go with our spring releases.

If we are shipping your wine, please let us know in advance if you have any changes or special requests. 

• 2005 Tre Noce   $36    ( 67% Zinfandel, 33% Syrah)

Our first 100% estate bottling, this is a blend of our head-trained, dryfarmed zinfandel, and stress-irrigated syrah, all farmed organically and sustainably.  "Tre Noce" is Italian for Three Nuts.  And no, this does not refer to Dan--it's in honor of the three walnut trees still standing in the vineyard. 

• 2005 Old Vine Zinfandel,  Benito Dusi Vineyard   $27

If you are not already familiar with our unique Old Vine Zinfandel from this 80-year-old vineyard, please check out our previous posts and accolades:  Wine Reviews, Robert Parker Reviews, San Francisco Chronicle Zinfandel Tasting  and A Visit With Benito Dusi.  This is a briar and black pepper style zinfandel--a favorite among those who prefer a more classic style of zinfandel.

• 2005 Syrah, Starr Ranch  $32

Always a favorite release among wine club members, we are pleased to present another fine vintage from Starr Ranch, a high elevation vineyard in the Adelaida Hills.  Our 2004 release got a "wow" review by Appellation America. 

Please send your address and credit card changes now!

We will also have very limited quantities of:

• 2005 Zinfandel Reserve    $32   ( 75% Zinfandel, 25% Petite Sirah)

Aromas of raspberries, blueberries, and a whiff of campfire smoke lead into deeper, woodsy flavors of  black raspberries, sage and licorice in this rich, expressive release from west Paso Robles.    Only 4 barrels produced.

• 2005 Carmenere, Colbert Vineyard   $36   

The first 100% bottling of this 'forgotten Bordeaux' variety in Paso Robles, and possibly the United States.  Carmenere was originally considered one of the six classic Bordeaux varieties.  It disappeared from France entirely and was considered extinct until genetic testing identified vines in Chile as carmenere.  Paso grower Denny Colbert has devoted his entire vineyard to this gentle giant.  Plum, black cherry, chocolate and nutmeg dominate in an inky hued wine with soft, merlot-like tannins.  Only 50 cases produced.

Members who selected the Rare, Reserve & Estate optional shipment will receive these wines in late March:

• 2 bottles of 2005 Zinfandel Reserve and
• 1 bottle of 2005 Carmenere

For more information on our wine club and mailing list, please visit our website.  To order, use our printable order form.  If you have questions about shipping and long-term holds, please glance at our Wine Shipping and Storage Policy, or email your questions to us at dovercanyon@tcsn.net.

Countdown: Vineyard Designates and Special Blends

We receive lots of questions about  availability for our current releases.  We have limited quantities of the following wines available.  Click on each wine to view flavor and production details.

Today's report:

• 2003 Zinfandel Port  ~  9 cases

Dan's sweet-tart style appeals to port aficionados who are looking for a dessert style that retains varietal flavors and is not raisiny or pruney--lots of fresh raspberries and concentrated black pepper.

• 2004 Jimmy's Vineyard Syrah  ~  9 cases

A Fall 2006 wine club release, this excellent syrah is nearly sold out.  If you would like more for cellaring, please order now.

• 2004 Alto Pomar  ~  12 cases

Another Fall 2006 release, the Alto Pomar has been very popular in the tasting room as well.  The grenache base has a food-friendly strawberry profile, the syrah gives the wine some smoky depth and roast beef character, and the tobacco flavors of the mourvedre bridge the strawberry-roast beef banks, creating a wine with interesting layers and complexity--and highly versatile with food.

• 2001 Menage  ~  24 cases

A blend of cabernet, cabernet franc, merlot and petite verdot, this Bordeaux-style blend tastes great now, and will also cellar well.  Customers who are drinking the 1997 and 1999 blends are stocking up on the 2001.  Only 200 cases were produced of this unfiltered, unfined release.