This is a must-do for Grenache geeks. Rich (Stage Left’s Chief Grenache Geek) and a panel of hotshot winemakers will lead a special tasting and winemaking discussion of all things Grenache (red, white and pink–8 wines and 8 winemakers). And you can join the fun live and in person or live online! Grenache lovers at home will be able to taste along with the panel using a tidy, tiny tasting pack from Brixr. There’ll also be a live feed, so questions and comments from home will be flying in from all over the country. This is a pretty cool opportunity for those of you who won’t happen to be in the Bay Area next weekend. I know Brixr starts shipping wines tomorrow, so order fast!

If you’re in the Bay Area and you haven’t picked up your Rhone Rangers tickets yet, pick ‘em up here. This is always one of the top tasting events of the year and it’s a great place to discover new wineries and wines.

Thanks to your support, what started out as a pipe dream and a handful of barrels has quickly become a full fledged winery. After working out of Zenaida Cellars in Paso Robles for the past four years, our small world surfaced an ideal space in the East Bay (just outside of San Francisco)… a perfect location for our very own urban winery. Not to mention, it puts us closer to our growing set of Sonoma, Napa, and Oregon vineyards, and is still within easy reach of our Central Coast vineyards. So while we finished up an amazing 2008 harvest in Paso Robles, we jumped at the opportunity in Oakland. That’s right, the Oaktown. As in 3-5-7. Trust us, we know how it sounds. But we’re joining 17 other wineries in the East Bay, including Rosenblum, JC Cellars, and Dashe Cellars. Who woulda thought?

Of course we thought moving a winery would be pretty easy. Right. Ever since we pulled the trigger, we’ve been moving barrels, equipment, bins, cased goods, and settling into the new space. And begging the government to move a little faster. Well its true, squeaky wheels eventually get the grease — we’re in, approved, legit (we think). I don’t know how Melinda pulled it off, but she did.

The new space is, well, great. Our new cellar gives us plenty of room to breathe - some 5000 square feet in the winery as well as a tasting room where we plan to hold limited public tastings on the first Saturday of each month (beginning April 4th) and by appointment (just call anytime).

If you’re interested in a nickel tour, drop us a line. As for the blog? Well, expect some new voices and a lot more communication. I’ll chime in whenever they let me.

Harry’s Viognier is as good as it gets out of Paso Robles. Viognier off this vineyard has an amazing combination of yellow and green citrus combined with sweet mandarin orange overtones. Fantastic. The fruit came in at a nice 25.1 Brix and 3.57pH. We popped it directly in the press for a quick squeeze and cold settle and it’s in barrel fermenting as we speak (only six different yeasts this time).

The Petite Sirah looks absolutely ridiculous… tiny, tiny berries and loose little clusters. Exactly what we like. The stuff came off the destemmer almost black, and already stains everything it touches. This is going to be a good year.

Stay tuned for the next round…

Yeah, yeah… I know. More wine “to come.” Trust me, it’s coming.

What’s important in this scene isn’t the idea that “The Man” is keeping the little guy down. It’s more that this woman was taking the stage left bull by the horns. Maybe I’m overselling, but I tracked her down after the session and asked her why she was moonlighting and, more importantly, why she was doing basically the same thing in both her “jobs.”

So, here’s the fun part: she really loved what she tactically did for “Company X,” but doing it for someone else made it just a job. When she was running her own websites, the same tactics became her passion. The challenge of driving people to her site and profitably selling services just made her tick. I told her she needed to get out more. But I get it.

I had a few more conversations along the same lines over the course of the conference. And boy did I receive some colorful descriptions of stage lefts. The edited version: for some people, making wine is their passion (me, thank you very much), some have their kids or escape through travel. Others care about web site optimization, or blogging, or the entrepreneurial adrenaline rush.

What was great for me to see was how many people are truly passionate about something. And that they’re living it (and talking about it loud and proud). With the McStandardization of so much of our lives, it’s easy to just go with the flow. You might even dig the flow. But more and more people are stepping out of the flow, or creating their own – if even for the weekends.

At the end of the day, one doesn’t need to quit the day job or march against the tyranny of Company X, Y, Z, or The Man to have (or do) a stage left. A stage left is simple. It’s what lights your fire… what makes the 9-to-5 totally worthwhile. Even if it is the 9-to-5.

So, what’s your stage left?

We’re expanding the line-up a bit in 2007 (more to come on that later), but just a bit. Otherwise, Melinda will be using me for punchdowns.

This year, we’ll be posting harvest notes daily to give you a closer look at our favorite time of year. It’s chaotic. It’s intense. It’s painful. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

I don’t know how many people read Eric Asimov’s article in the New York Times on the use of oak alternatives and additive labeling, but it really got me thinking about the high transparency model as it relates to wine. Allergen labeling aside…

The article includes a quote that basically says that people in the wine industry are probably more concerned with the idea of process and material transparency than consumers. That’s probably right. I can only say that I have bored the pants off way too many people talking about wild yeasts, obscure French forests, and processes with wacky names like delestage. Sure, a few people dig it. I certainly dig talking about those things.

From the article, I suppose Asimov would dig seeing more about the voodoo employed at this winery on our bottles. I’m sure a lot of other people would as well. Others might fall asleep before we make it to describing the cold soak. Even though you won’t see every little detail on the back o’ the bottle, we’re open about what we do and how we do it. We won’t give up the “secret sauce” mind you, but if you want to talk bentonite (use it on the whites on occasion although I’m leaning toward going cloudy in my old age) or oak staves (tried ‘em - didn’t end up in the bottle), feel free to drop me a line.

So which kind of person are you?