Stolpman Vineyards

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, at Uncorked Ventures Wine Clubs we were excited to have shipped Stolpman Vineyards Hilltop Syrah for a variety of reasons, but to sum them up in a few points: quality of the wine, unique farming practices and the outstanding people that own the winery.

As with all wineries, if the wine isn’t good we aren’t interested. We were excited to taste what Stolpman had to offer because they’ve received some quality scores from major wine critics and have a very good reputation in the industry.

When we started tasting we were immediately struck by a couple of things. To start we got along quite well with Peter Stolpman whom is running the winery that his father purchased and has gotten off the ground. We appreciated immediately Peter’s candor in regard to the quality of certain wines (ie which were showing the best right now) and frankly on price for our wine clubs. The main thing that stuck out for both Matt and I was the wine though. The La Coppa Blanc was incredibly complex and balanced at once and may be the best white wine we’ve had the privilege of trying since beginning Uncorked Ventures.

Interestingly, Stolpman isn’t known for it’s white wine though. It’s generally known around the industry for Syrah and other Rhone varietals. We found that the Hilltop Syrah hit the spot for what we’re looking to source for Uncorked Ventures. Aside from the general quality which was incredibly high we think it offers some unique flavor profiles, including a sense of blueberry and honeysuckle which are rare flavor traits to be found in a Syrah. It’s a great mid palate (for a Syrah) wine that can easily be aged for 5-10 years to lend richer and even more complex flavors.

The second significant factor that led us to be interested in Stolpman was their unique farming practices. In the video below Peter Stolpman talks about one of their experimental farming practices where they are leaving the umbilical chords of the vines attached which may help prevent disease, may allow the mother vine to produce fruit for a longer period of time and allows them to plant a larger portion of their vineyard.

Lastly, as I mentioned we not only enjoyed our time with Peter but have a lot of respect for the type of business that Stolpman Vineyards is running. They are currently the only winery in the state of California (that we’re aware of and no one has even heard of anyone doing this currently, or ever before) with a full time vineyard staff. They do not use day, or seasonal laborers with the intent being that their farm workers will do a higher quality of work if they feel attached to the vineyard. To that end the Stolpman’s give their 11 full time workers access to a portion of the land in order to make their own wine. They have called this their La Cuadrilla Project. The workers participate in all aspects of the winemaking with lead winemaker Sashi Moorman, with the goal being to provide their workers another way to not only feel connected to the company, but to also make a better life for themselves. Lastly, during our trip through the vineyard we saw a ranch style home that looked new. Immediately we thought that the home must belong to the family. After pointing out that they truly believed the old wine mantra that wine is made in the vineyard, Peter informed us that they had built the house for their vineyard manager whom lives there. Needless to say this type of socially conscious farm is one that we’re incredibly happy to represent. Tom Stolpman got his start as a lawyer and has been instrumental at raising capital for the Legal Aide Society.

For our Special Selection Club members you’ve already received a bottle of the Hilltop Syrah in your shipment last month. If you’re not a member of our Special Selections Club, we’re happy to offer this incredible wine in our online wine store.