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Ventura Hillsides Benefit Concert

I know it’s harvest time, and usually my blogs this time of year are harvest related, but I wanted to take a minute to write about an event Castoro has been involved with the past few years. Niels, having grown up in Ventura California, loves the beach and loves surfing. As a kid he surfed daily and often spent time in the Ventura hills, camping and exploring with friends. Although he settled in Paso Robles he never lost his love and appreciation for his stomping grounds, which is why it was an easy decision to get involved with the Ventura Hillsides Benefit Concert, benefitting the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy.

The Ventura Hillsides Benefit concert is a wonderful outdoor event that hosts amazing musical acts from year to year, including Jack Johnson, Keb Mo, Toots and the Maytals, David Lindley and many more. For Niels and Bimmer, getting involved with this event was a no brainer, not only is the event for a wonderful cause, it’s a great excuse to spend a weekend on the beach in Ventura with wonderful music and hopefully some good waves! This year the line-up is as solid as ever and the wine will be Dam Fine, so if you live in the area or if you just want to get away for a weekend please check out this wonderful event. The setting is fabulous and the music is always well worth it!

For more information on the event please visit http://www.venturahillsides.org/

The Ventura Hillsides Conservancy is a land trust operating in the Ventura region to protect and conserve open space resources through acquisition of land and easements, stewardship of protected lands, and public education about local natural resources.

– And don’t worry, there will be more grapes in soon and many more harvest updates to come!

Cheers,

Luke

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Let the harvest begin, grapes are in!

It seems like only yesterday I was writing the first harvest blog for the 2010 harvest and now I’m writing the first harvest blog for 2011! Crazy how time flies, especially when you’re having fun! As many of you may know, this year is another “late harvest” (not referring to the dessert wine) brought on by milder summer weather. The grapes love the summer heat and when we don’t get that intense heat they take a little longer to ripen.

This week we are happy to say our 2011 harvest is officially underway and one of my favorite varietals, the Dos Viñas Fume Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc, was the one to break the ice. By the end of the week we will have picked all of the Fume Blanc and Viognier from our Dos Viñas vineyard with the Stone’s Throw Viognier soon to follow. The Blind Faith Pinot Noir is getting close as well and is looking to be our first red of 2011.

As long as the weather holds out and we don’t see any early rains, we are looking to have a very good harvest in 2011. So far, this year is looking very similar to last year in terms of temperature and last year was a great harvest, minus the early rains in September and October. Our winemaker Tom is anticipating a very high quality crop based on this year’s weather patterns and crop level and I have a feeling he knows what he is talking about!

In other good news, our winery is now certified organic, which was quite the process, but well worth the mountains of paperwork! We can now put organic logos on our labels and even produce organic wines if we choose! Pretty exciting stuff if you ask me!

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more harvest updates and enjoy the warm days while they last! (Maybe even with a glass of Dam Fine Wine!)

Cheers,

Luke

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