Garage bands conjure up images of unseen talent lamenting
away in near obscurity before they make it big. And the same is true with
winemakers. The term garagiste is from the French meaning, well, garage, and it
has nothing really to do with garages with the exception of winemakers in that
country who are making small lots of wine, a few hundred cases to maybe a thousand
cases, and who defy conventional winemaking to do their own thing. Frankly
anyplace you visit has undiscovered hard-to-find wines, but they’re not easy to
find…wait, we just covered that. Fortunately, the Paso Robles Garagiste Festival does the gathering work for you,
enabling you to meet face-to-face with these elusive wines and winemakers.
 |
| Relaxing at Windfall Farms |
The 2nd iteration was held at Windfall Farms in Creston, just east of
Paso Robles on a crisp autumn day. There were 48 winemakers pouring 130 wines
so realistically you can’t cover everything, but I can say from my experience
as a wine writer, I did not find a bad wine out of the limited wineries I was
able to visit. The wineries represented make less that 1,200 cases, and most
make considerably fewer cases than that and the majority are off the radar.
“You have to do a little digging to find us,” Per Cazo Cellars owner Dave Teckman told me. The sheer diversity
and small allocations are one of the reasons to come to this. There is a
propensity towards Syrah and Rhone blends, as Paso does these quite well, but
make no mistake, this is not the usual suspects. For example:
 |
| Phillip Hart of Ambyth |
Ambyth Estates makes
biodynamic wine from biodynamic grapes. There has been so much mis-information
about biodynamic wine and whereas it’s a convoluted subject to go into here,
the bottom line is that it goes beyond organic and frankly, anything that does
not add chemicals to our soils is a good thing. Phillip Hart’s wines ($38 -
$45) will absolutely change your perception about biodynamic wine and just how
solid they can be. Other producers include Paso
Port whose seductive port wines ($30 - $45) are flat out comprehensive and terrific
little numbers, and Bodega de Edgar,
a rather sloppy name (named for owner/winemaker Edgar Torres) but who makes
impressive Tempranillo ($32) and Tempranillo blends, as does Bodegas M who produces excellent Albariño
and Tempranillo, both at $25.
Also observed at this festival are some of the Iberian
varieties such as Albariño and Verdejo, and fun, funky blends like the
energetic ZinG ($29) from Per Cazo
which is a blend of Zinfandel and Grenache, two partners you don’t see dancing
together, showing that wine need not be merely a standard offering of straight
Cabernet. Of course, having said that, Mike Sinor’s Sinor-La Valle’s Pinot Noirs (only $30 - $40 and worth every penny)
are true, delicate and straight forward Pinots with a slight backbone of
Central Coast roughness.
There are wine-centric seminars, winemaker dinners and the usual
trappings of any wine festival, but what sets this apart is that these
winemakers are celebrated for being obscure. So plan on attending and plan
early, it always sells out.
