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WINE COUNTRY NEWSWINE COUNTRY THIS WEEKBIANCHI WINERYWines to be Enjoyed with Family and FriendsBy Mark StorerBianchi Winery is keeping busy throughthe summer and releasing some newwines to prove it. Called “The SignatureSelection,” it features Italian varietals andincludes two 2005 offerings includingBarbera from the San Juan vineyard andSangiovese from Paso Robles. Bianchi alsoreleased their 2007 Santa Barbara CountyPinot Grigio.On August 23rd, the Paso Olive festivalwill be held and Bianchi will be pouringselections along with other wineries and, ofcourse, local olive and olive oil producerswho will be showing off the diversity of Paso’sproduce.The fall will see Bianchi’s Harvest Dinneron October 18. Chef Chris New from Level 4restaurant in Paso Robles will be creatingdishes paired with various Bianchi wines.The Bianchi story begins not in PasoRobles, but in the Central Valley. In 1992,Joseph Bianchi’s son Glenn took over theCentral Valley operations but he grew restless.He wanted to bump up the quality of thewine and make some profound changes.Indeed, the younger Bianchi revamped theeight different ranches and continued in thebulk wine business. But by 2000, he knew itwas time to move west and that is preciselywhat he did.Setting up shop in 2000 in Paso Robles,the Bianchi’s purchased 40 acres of land andbegan a correspondent search for qualitygrapes. 22 of the acres Bianchi purchasedwere taken out and replanted with superiorvines of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon andMerlot. Bianchi Winery began to producequality grapes and quality wine. The firstharvest and crush in Paso Robles was in 2004and by 2005, winemaker Tom Lane joinedthe team and Bianchi was well on the way toa whole new life.“I’d been involved in the U.C. Davis graduateprogram,” says Lane “and worked forseven years at Navarro Vineyards [in theAnderson Valley] as well as 10 years atConcannon before I came here.” Lane is fromLivermore originally where Concannon isbased. As part of Concannon’s winemakingteam, Lane purchased Paso Robles grapes andknew their worth. “My wife and I love it here.It’s really a great place to make wine,” he says.Bianchi’s Paso Robles operation is the onlywinery on Branch Road off of Highway 46East. It stands alone in many other ways, too.Producing a little less than 15,000 cases ofwine a year, Lane says his largest bottling isonly 1400 cases. “We’re into a lot of varietalsand we kind of take our time with each one,”he says. There are now 28 estate acres of vineyardfrom which Lane gathers the fruit and hetravels up and down the state looking forquality sources. “I get Sauvignon Blanc out ofLockwood because I really like how it doesn’thave that over-powering grassiness to it. Weget Chardonnay out of the Edna Valley andSanta Maria and Pinot Noir out of Santa Mariaas well,” he adds. There’s Pinot Grigio fromthe Los Alamos area and some Italian varietalsas well from the Paso area.But the attention to detail in each varietalhas paid off. The 2005 Zinfandel from PasoRobles won the Gold medal from Jerry Mead’sNew World Wine Competition and took thirdplace honors in the 2008 San FranciscoChronicle Wine Competition. In the PinotNoir Shootout featuring some 300 PinotNoirs, Bianchi took third place with theirPinot that retails for between $25 and $30 abottle. Impressive standings from a trulystand alone winery.That quality can be attributed to Lane’sdedication to his craft. “Everything is a blendto me,” says Lane speaking of his winemaking14 www.winecountrythisweek.com