September News From Rangeland Wines and ASR

Free Shipping on Wine Orders

Your Rangeland Wines stock may be getting low and our next wine club shipment is about 2 months away.  Now is the time to order some more wine! We’re offering free shipping on Rangeland Wines orders (3-bottle minimum) through October 15. Just go to our website (www.RangelandWines.com) and place the order, no coupon required. 

Early Harvest

We picked our first grapes of the season—Grenache and Syrah—on September 5, which is the earliest start to harvest we’ve had in several years. We’ve harvested almost every weekday since then. The winery is now packed with active fermentation tanks. With rainfall at 60% of normal, and this grape growing season the hottest on record, we’re seeing a lot of early ripeness in the vineyard. Small grape berries are producing dark colors, tangy acids and grippy tanins that may make 2013 a particularly vivid vintage. We will likely be finished picking grapes by Harvest Festival (October 18-20), which will really put us in the mood to celebrate!

A typical harvest day begins with vineyard manager Nathan rolling out on clanking caterpillar tractor at 6:30 AM. He has a trailer with empty bins and a picking crew in tow. By mid-day, tons of fruit has been hand-picked by us or labor crews into lug boxes and then dumped into 1000 lb bins. We then truck the fruit, using the family pickup and a flatbed trailer, to nearby Thacher Winery, where we process our wine.

During the afternoon, the fruit is mechanically de-stemmed and then hand sorted by all of us on a vibrating stainless-steel table. It is then crushed by rollers into tall plastic tanks where fermentation can begin converting the sugars to alcohol. Winemaker Shannon oversees all the work: sampling the grapes, calling the pick, blending some lots at birth for co-fermentation, measuring sugars and acids, moving tanks into the sun to speed up fermentations or cooling them in the barrel room—and 100 other details on dozens of lots of wine. All these tanks are punched down manually two or three times a day, which can be a real test of endurance. After a couple of weeks “on the skins”, the fermentations are typically complete and Shannon presses the wine with a hydraulic basket press and puts it in tanks, then barrels for aging. (We are pressing our first 2013 lot this weekend.) At the end of the day, often at sundown, we begin cleaning equipment for the next day’s harvest. The next day we get up and do it again, amen.

Harvest Festival October 18-20

We will be pouring exclusively out at the ranch during Harvest Festival on Friday October 18 through Sunday October 20. We plan to offer tastes of our unreleased 2011 Rangeland wines along with freshly fermented samples from our 2013 vintage. On Saturday and Sunday only, we will also have grilled grass-fed beef and lamb sliders on hand for purchase. You’re free to dine here on our sliders or bring your own picnic. If you’ve never been out to the ranch, this is a perfect opportunity to see where we grow our grapes and raise our cattle, sheep, and honey bees. Club members taste for free. If you join our wine club or beef club, you’ll receive a 20% discount on all ranch products. Our gate will be open Friday-Sunday, 11-5 pm. Check our website for directions. We hope to see you then.

Lamb Shares Available

There are only a few lamb shares left from our summer harvest. We plan to harvest several more lambs in November, but if you just can’t wait, now’s the time to secure some of our delicious lamb for autumn entertaining. Our lamb is extremely tender and mild—we’ve gotten rave reviews. The Lamb Share (20 pounds for $225 before wine or beef club discounts) includes half of a lamb, or approximately: 

• 1 rack
• 1 loin, cut into 1” chops
• Sirloin and shoulder chops
• 2 leg roasts
• 2 shanks
• Riblets and stew meat
• A few pounds of ground lamb in 1 pound packages

Rangeland Pick-up Party November 16 

On Saturday, November 16, we will host our second annual  Rangeland fall pick-up party at our home, the ranch headquarters. Come out to the ranch and pick up your November wine club or beef club shipment and enjoy some live music. We’ll have some newly harvested lamb shares for sale as well. We’ll be pouring wine, serving grass-fed beef chili or lamb stew (we just haven’t decided), and will have plenty to nosh on—home baked cookies, local cheeses and other appetizers. If weather permits, you can tromp through the vineyards or visit our animals, but as farmers, we hope we get rained on and this drought becomes a fading memory. We look forward to opening our home and celebrating with our loyal club members.

Sep 30, 2013 at 1:20 PM Permalink

July News

July Shopping Coupon


To celebrate our new website we are offering a 10% off coupon. Take this opportunity to stock up your wine cellar or meat freezer with a 10% discount coupon on your order (in addition to your club discounts), good through July 31. Just type in the following coupon code when you place your order: july2013
 

Flora Rose’ Special

We’ve had some record breaking heat in Paso Robles the past couple of weeks. Hot days and warm evenings have us reaching for our chilled Flora Rose’ for a post-work drink or preferred wine with picnics, salads and fish. We’re offering a Rose’ special: 6 bottles for $80 or 12 bottles (full case) for $150, through July 31. Your wine and beef club discounts apply, so if you enjoy our Rose' this is really too good to pass up.
 

Day of Horseback Riding on the Ranch

One of the best ways to enjoy the scenery and splendor of our ranch is on horseback. Outback Trail Rides will be leading a day-long ride on Saturday, July 27. Riders will start with a beautiful trail ride through a portion of the vineyard, down through golden pastures to the freshwater farm pond, where you can fish, swim or just relax for a few hours. Enjoy a catered lunch by J&R Meats and sip on some of Paso Robles’ finest from Rangeland Wines. All ages over 6 are welcome and wine is available for those 21 and over.

Limited spaces available, and a minimum of 6 people is required for event to be held. Price is $195/person. For more information call Outback Trail Rides at 805.286.8772, or visit the Outback Trail Rides website.

If you’re interested in a horseback ride at the ranch but can’t stay the whole day, you can schedule an evening horseback or wagon ride through the vineyard with Outback Trail Rides. An evening hour-long wagon ride with wine tasting costs $45/pp, and an evening 1 ½ hour horseback ride with wine tasting costs $95/pp. Contact Outback Trail Rides for more information.
 

Lamb Shares

We’ve harvested about a dozen more lambs this month and will soon have some additional lamb for sale. Our first lamb harvest sold out quickly to wine and beef club members.  If you’d like to be on the Lamb Share wait list, go to the Lamb Share waiting list form. The Lamb Share (20 lbs, $225 before wine or beef club discounts) includes half of a lamb, or approximately:
• 1 rack
• 1 loin, cut into 1" chops
• sirloin and shoulder chops
• 2 leg roasts
• 2 shanks
• riblets and stew meat
• a few lbs. of ground lamb and/or sausage, in 1 lb. packages
 

Beef Club

June is a busy month at the ranch—we gather all of our cattle for branding, and sort and harvest our beef for the year’s beef club boxes. We were able to add several new members to the Beef Club this year, but unfortunately there are many more people on the notification list than we have beef club boxes to share. We wish we could wave a wand and produce more home grown grass-fed beef, but there is no hurrying Mother Nature!
To be eligible for future membership in the Beef Club,  fill out the form (including your credit card info) at: https://www.rangelandwines.com/clubs/ASR-Beef-Club-waiting-list.  For this harvest and for the future, we will use this list on a first-come, first-served basis to allocate newly available Beef Club memberships. We expect our production to more than double in the coming years as our ranch-raised Angus herd grows, so we can likely satisfy all the current demand, given time.  Being on this waiting list will give you a 10% discount on Adelaida Springs Ranch ground beef (we have plenty, available in 10 lb. and 20 lb boxes), Rangeland Wines, ranch events and everything we do here.
Beef Club boxes began shipping July 8, and Beef Club pick-ups are currently available at J&R Natural Meats at 3450 Riverside Drive in Paso Robles.

Jul 14, 2013 at 7:16 PM Permalink

A Day on Horseback at The Ranch... Outback Style!

Join Outback Trail Rides on Saturday, July 27, for a fun-filled day on Adelaida Springs Ranch with Rangeland Wines. Start your day with a beautiful trail ride through a portion of the 40 acre vineyards nestled within a 1500 acre woodland valley. Travel your way though golden pastures to the freshwater farm pond, where you can fish, swim or just relax for a few hours. Enjoy a catered lunch by J&R Meats and sip on some of Paso Robles’ finest from Rangeland Wines. All ages over 6 are welcome and wine is available for those 21 and over.

Your day includes:

•1.5 - 2 hour horseback ride through the Adelaida Springs Ranch vineyard
•Wine tasting from Rangeland Wines
•Catered lunch by J&R Meats
•Afternoon (2-3 hours) at the creek where you can fish or swim
•Gorgeous views only open to the public on this day!

Full day at the Ranch price: $195 per person

Want the horse ride experience but can’t stay the whole day? Schedule an evening horseback or wagon ride through the vineyard.

Evening 1 hr Wagon Ride only price including wine tasting: $45/pp
Evening 1.5 hr Horseback Ride only including wine tasting price: $95/pp

Limited spaces available. Minimum of 6 people required for event to be held. For more information call Outback Trail Rides at 805.286.8772.

Visit the Outback Trail Rides website for more information.

Jul 2, 2013 at 12:43 PM Permalink

2010 The Watershed: 94 pts., Best in Class

We are proud to announce that Rangeland Wines 2010 The Watershed won a gold medal and Best Of Class,  with a score of 94 points in the limited production winery category for Bordeaux Blends at the Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Awards. We are also proud that Justin Vineyards, won Best of Class in the same category for larger production wineries with their 2010 Isosceles, a wine which includes a significant fraction of wine from our Adelaida Springs Ranch estate vineyard. It's interesting to note that Isosceles (93 points) is priced at $62, while Rangeland The Watershed (94 points) is just $30. This double victory says a lot about the rising tide of Paso Robles Bordeaux wines and the major role that our estate vineyard is playing. Learn more about The Watershed : click here. 

Jun 21, 2013 at 1:03 AM Permalink

Field of Dreams

Late in the afternoon I decided to walk to our little rental house to check on the garden. I pulled my cowboy boots on (baby snake season!) called Silver the dog and we set off on our 2 mile jaunt. The clover and vetch on the way down to the lake was thick and buzzing with bees. We came right upon a huge ground squirrel mound with the squirrel sitting right at the “door”. Silver couldn’t quite believe his luck; in his second of hesitation the squirrel dove into his hole. Silver went after him, squirrel squeaking, Silver digging and tossing aside clumps of sod with his mouth. I kept on down the hill and finally had to call him off the hunt.

Right in the middle of the road I found two halves of a fragile, palest blue bird egg. I put a half on each of my thumbs, so I wouldn’t crush them while I walked.

The grass on the flats was tall and green, and the wind was blowing slightly. I took a shortcut to the house across the field and over the little creek. The grasses were soft and waving in the breeze and came up to my thighs. I was reminded of the scene in Gladiator when Maximus is walking towards his home, through the golden grain fields, haunting music, his hand brushing the grass. It felt very sacred and still as I walked with my fingers spread. But with my thumbs up---the egg shells! At the little house the garden had gone wild with weeds; the roses, left unpruned this year, are going nuts too. Maybe the secret to the perfect garden is a little bit of neglect?

As I walked back home up the big, big hill, huffing and puffing a little, the rams and young male lambs in the pasture below the house greeted me. On the very last push, up the bank to the patio, I saw my one and only snake. A baby king snake about 6 inches long, starkly black with white bands, the width of a pencil. He squiggled up the hill as my shadow crossed his path.

May 2, 2013 at 9:14 AM Permalink

Spring Lamb Harvest

We have harvested, dry-aged and boxed our first lamb crop from the Ranch. Based on early sampling, the meat is mild, lean and succulent. We are now offering our Lamb Shares (half a lamb). If you are a wine or beef club member, your 20% club discount will apply to each 20 lb. Lamb Share box ($225 list price), which will include:

• 1 rack
• 1 loin, cut into 1" chops
• sirloin and shoulder chops
• 2 leg roasts
• 2 shanks
• riblets and stew meat
• a few lbs. of ground lamb and sausage, in 1 lb. packages

The lamb can be pickedup starting April 28 at Field Day and can be picked-up at J&R or shipped starting April 29.

Apr 26, 2013 at 12:19 PM Permalink

Readings and Musings

A rich aspect of agricultural life is seasonality and the change of pace that comes with it. Wintertime brings shorter days, longer nights and soggy weeks. After 300+ days a year of sunny and often hot weather in Paso Robles, capped by the long days of the wine harvest, we gladly huddle indoors on occasion and enjoy an oakwood fire. There is more time for reading and indoor work on the business side of ranching and winemaking, as well as time to reflect.
I began my winter reading with Richard Rhodes' Arsenals of Folly, which recounts the history, proliferation and attempts to limit nuclear arms. It is a chilling ride that brings the Cold War to life and reminds us of the fundamental risks of modern life and technology. While reading that book in the deep of a November night (3:07 AM, actually), I was startled to see what I thought was a bright and persistent shooting star out my bedroom window. I went out on our south-facing balcony to watch it arc across the sky when I realized I was watching a missile launch, the ghostly trail of which lingered in the night sky as if left the atmosphere far out over the Pacific. This apparition had been a Vandenberg Air Force Base test launch of a Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), whose designed purpose is to carry a nuclear weapon to the far side of globe. I was profoundly moved at the eerie coincidence. I have not been able to stop thinking about it for very long since.

I was so impressed by Richard Rhodes writing that I sought out another of his books: John James Audobon: The Making of an American. This book provided a rich plunge into the world of early 1800s frontier America. It is, for me, a gripping tale of the great naturalist, artist and publisher spanning decades of misfortune, persistence and eventual triumph. Audobon's _Birds of America_ was the finest ornithological work of its time and his paintings set new standards for natural realism. His scenes have a wild, strange, sometimes violent quality that Rhodes summed up as "the concentrated essence of the wilderness". What really struck me in the book was the dramatic environmental changes already taking place in North America. Audobon observed that through deforestation and overharvesting of wildlife in 1830, "Nature herself is perishing".

Moving on in my literary journey, I read Wendell Berry's The Gift of Good Land. Nathan, our ranch manager,  had recommended it to me and was so moved by the book that he read passages aloud to us. The Gift is a collection of essays on sustainable farming published in 1981 that is still strikingly relevant. Berry's prose is so thoughtful and beautiful that I found myself marking page after page with dog eared corners.

On the work of family farmers Berry comments: "The work of factory workers is ruled by the factory. Whereas the work of housewives, small craftsmen and small farmers is ruled by their own morality, skill and intelligence" and "society...may lose...efficiency and economy of scale. But it begins to gain...independence, pride, respect....love, reverence."

On cattle feedlots: "within the boundaries of the feeding operation itself a certain factory-like order and efficiency can be achieved. But [it] produces biological disorder, for we know that health problems and dependence on drugs will be greater among cattle so confined than among cattle on pasture. And beyond those boundaries, the problems multiply."

On life: "the world, the weather, and the life cycle have caused me no end of trouble, and yet I look forward to putting another forty or so years with them because they have also given me no end of pleasure and instruction. They interest me. I want to see them thrive on their own terms."

On farming: "Agriculture depends on nature and is contained in nature; if you want to understand agriculture, therefore, you must understand what preceded it."

So what does all of this reading and reflection have to do with growing (and enjoying) good food and fine wine? Everything.

Mar 12, 2013 at 2:34 PM Permalink

March News

Springtime, Party Time, Excellent!

Springtime is festival time in Paso Robles. We will be pouring our wines at the following events in next few months:

• Zinfandel Weekend, March 15-17, 11am to 5pm at Thacher Winery, including 2011 Zin barrel samples and advance "future" sales
• Paso Robles Cab Collective, April 27, 2-5pm at Windfall Farms in Paso Robles
• Rangeland Wines Field Day, First Annual April 28, 12 to 3:30pm at Adelaida Springs Ranch (see below for more details)
• Paso Robles Wine Festival, May 18-19, 11am-5 pm; the ranch will be open to visitors for tasting and grass-fed sliders.

First Annual Rangeland Field Day

For years we have talked about a springtime event in the pasture celebrating what we do here as ranchers and winegrowers. Our inaugural Rangeland Field Day will include wine, food, music, educational and livestock displays and tours in our beautiful pasture, including:

11:00 am Vineyard Tour led by winemaker Shannon Gustafson
12:00 - 3:00 pm Field Day Celebration
Wine: taste Rangeland Wines and enjoy a glass with your lunch
Food: grass-fed beef and lamb sliders, salads, homemade baked goodies, lemonade and iced tea
Music: live acoustic music from local singer/songwriter/guitarist Jill Knight, plus some homegrown family and ranch employee performances
3:00 pm Ranch tour led by owner Laird Foshay
Tickets: $40 per person, club discounts apply for members and their guests (when purchased by the club member).

Children 12 and under are free. 

Mar 1, 2013 at 8:59 AM Permalink

Winter Light and Shadow

We went for a Sunday ramble on the ranch, ostensibly to check on livestock and open a few gates for the cattle. Usually there's a point to the ramble, but even when there is one, the ramble turns out to be much much more than its intended beginnings.

So we headed down the road to the vineyard. The horses in the east pasture looked at us nervously…their little thought bubbles would have read "Um, I'm not really up for a ride today. I'm feeling peaky. My legs are sore. I'm too busy eating." And then there was Honey, in the pasture across the road, looking all perky and interested. Laird gave her a good long pat and a handful of grass from our side of the fence…because the grass is always greener. She would have taken us anywhere we asked. Good horse.

At least 50 band-tail pigeons were scared out of the trees and flew in a great arcing pattern above and around us, settling in a cluster of trees across the road. They were large and greyblue in the light, and flew gracefully with beautiful notched wings.

We entered the vineyard and all the sheep were right by the road, sunning themselves in the winter light. Jack and Mia (the guardian dogs) went crazy barking, since our dog Silver was with us. The sheep were not nervous. They were alert and curious. Do you have a treat for me? They are funny, serious looking. Solid and fat. I am ready for lambs!

I wanted to look at my garden plot so we walked down through block 5. Saw the first bush lupine in bloom! So early. So beautiful. Hard to appreciate the beauty when the nagging worry about rainfall diminishes the color.

At the end of block 5 was the line of demarcation: where the sheep had been, and where they had not been. A perfect mowed line. They are amazing grass consuming machines! There were bits of wool stuck to the lower vineyard wires, looked like flocking décor from Christmas. I put a piece in my pocket. We walked the garden plot and talked about different ways to water. I'm already plotting, plotting. There will be canning this year, yes there will.

We went through the lower vineyard gate by the willow tree. There was a party under the willow, calves and mothers and young steers. They were vocal and funny. Didn't see any new calves, but we are on the hunt, every time we go out. We headed over to the gate to open it and lure the cattle into the Yucca Point pasture. We called for the girls and of course, a (halter-trained) fair cow came running. I wonder what will happen to the herd once the fair cows are all gone. They are the leaders, the gentle ones, unafraid of humans, comfortable with contact. The rest, the ones born on the ranch and now breeding on the ranch, are warier and wilder.

We hiked up the steep ridge above the lake and made our way back down to the flats. Just as we crested the hill I saw a golden eagle on the ground; he took a running start and sailed over the canyon, away towards the neighbor's lake. He had been feasting on the little steer that died a few weeks ago from tetanus. Nathan had dragged the carcass into the canyon and the critters have come to clean up.

We were hoping to get the one wild cow, who'd resisted joining the herd, into the lake pasture. She was by the gate, with a greeting committee on the other side, braying at her. But she ran up the hill into the trees when she saw us coming. Lone cow. Not normal!

At the gate between the lake pasture and the house pasture, we came upon the crusty remains of an aborted calf fetus. The skull was the size of Laird's hand, the hooves not fully formed. Sad to see. We are wondering, what caused this? First time mother? Vaccinations that caused a miscarriage? Nature weeding out the weak? That's two in a couple of weeks, one 6 month old gorgeous steer, one calf not yet born . Soon there will be dozens of calves being born on the grass, licked into life, nudged onto wobbly legs. The next day, frisky and running. Life and death on the ranch. Life and death.

The girls sprinted up the hill to the house; how nice to have young limbs and lungs. The daffodils have started up around our old dog Rufus' grave. No blooms just yet, the stems pushing up towards the sun. If I could pick a spot for my own bones, this would be it.

Mar 3, 2012 at 3:13 PM Permalink

Confessions of a Winegrower 1.5

A Day to Remember 

I started this blog last year with the hopes of  keeping up a regular schedule. Now I notice that my previous post was last summer. It turns out that running a ranch as a family business and writing regularly are at cross-purposes. Ironically, after my first career in business, I saw myself as writer who occasionally trotted around on horseback and sipped my own wine from the terrace while overlooking nature's bounty. Ah, to be naive again.

Of course last year was one for the record books in our family, including: launching our Rangeland Wines label, beginning sales of our Adelaida Springs Ranch grass-fed beef, opening our Little Ranch House to paid visitors for the first time, graduating our second son from high school and getting him settled at UCLA,  and dealing with the illness (cancer) and death of my father-in-law late in the year. I'm not making excuses (ha) or seeking sympathy (whimper).

For those of you thinking of ranching or wine growing as an escape from the daily grind, it would be wise to remember that ranching and winemaking can be just a different kind of grind. Indoor tasks like marketing and paperwork compete with the outdoor time of farming life. Now this wine country grind has many deep and gratifying compensations, but sometimes the grinding overtakes the compensating, and it becomes hard to appreciate one's surroundings.

Anyway, last weekend offered a little break from the grind when we found no guests on the schedule, no wine tastings, no ranch tours and no tasks urgent enough to overcome our need to recuperate. Due to recent rains, it was a little too wet to tractor or ride. The weather was bright and clear due to a cold front sweeping through the area. Morning brought 50+ mile views the Santa Lucias all the way to the Ventana Wilderness above Big Sur. Juniperro Serra Peak, the highest point in the range at almost 6,000 feet, stood snow capped in the distance. Echelons of towering white clouds skidded over the ridge. The sound of running creeks tumbling off of steep hills quietly roared  in the background. Around mid day, my wife and I decided to tour the ranch and check cows, since our spring calving season is upon us.

We set out in my pickup with a beer in the cup holder. I shot a ground squirrel on the way for the sheer fun of it. My wife always comments on how romantic that is, like cruising with Elmer Fudd. Sometimes, however, she giggles from the infectious sport of it. Wicked girl. Deer trotted lazily away on the sunny hillsides. Fat, maturing cattle jogged near the truck, hoping for a hay treat that almost never comes, since we only feed our cattle a little to lure them when we gather them. We stopped in the at the Little Ranch House to pick up the laundry and crack the outdoor faucets to avoid damage in the coming freeze.

Continuing to the Hill Pasture where we keep our pregnant cows, we came across the first calf of the day. Newly born, it stood spraddle-legged under the oaks, across a clear-flowing creek, with its mother licking it in a devotional trance. Right then, all the cares and scars of the daily grind fell away for me and I found myself completely at home. I held my wife's hand like a schoolboy. Speechless. The mother had just graduated from heifer to cow. Because cows usually seek seclusion for their births, there were no other cattle in view. We had no camera with us, but we knew there would be dozens of calves and hundreds of photos to come. We were happy just to watch.

Up the hill and around the corner more calves started to appear. We used the field glasses to watch a mother cow chew lustily on her own afterbirth, shining pink in long tendrils from her mouth. Meanwhile the unsteady calf tried to work the colostrum milkshake machine at the other end of the cow. Pale yellow winter light flooded the scene, highlighting the shining black coats of the cattle.

Back at home, I sat on the terrace with a cigar and a glass of estate Cabernet, feeling mellow. The temperature was dropping fast, now in the 30s and I spread a wool blanket across my lap and wrapped my legs. Sunshine glinted intermittently under darkened clouds. I heard the racket of a chirping Kestrel, a little "sparrow hawk" and imagined it harrying a Red Tail Hawk, as they do every day. There, in the distance to the south, hundreds of yards down over the tops of the winter-naked oaks, I saw the Red Tail swoop and flare, its wings and wedge-shaped tail flashing iridescent against the charcoal sky as it landed in a tree top. I watched it sway and glitter on its perch while the Kestrel renewed the attack.

With the weather closing in, I heard a hissing sound in the oak groves to the west, getting louder. The dog sat alert facing the advancing storm. Soon the light hail arrived, sprinkling, then covering everything with dry spherical little corns of snow. A little flash and static flux in the atmosphere was followed by a short, rolling blast of thunder. Mudda nature was getting her freak on. After a few minutes the precipitation turned to fat, lazy flakes of snow, which began to accumulate on the gnarled scaffolding of the oaks, now almost luminescent in the darkening evening. It was time to build a fire and enjoy my rediscovered naivete.

Mar 1, 2011 at 5:32 PM Permalink