2013 August PASO Magazine

BUSINESS
The SLO County Wine Industry Awards
The San Luis Obispo County
wine industry came together to nominate
their own for the most respected
awards honoring members of the
local wine community with the
resulting honorees announced recently.
The 2013 San Luis Obispo
County Wine Industry Awards go to
– Wine Industry Person of the Year,
Keith Patterson, Cal Poly Wine and
Viticulture Professor (posthumous);
Winemaker of the Year, Neil Collins,
Tablas Creek Vineyard and Lone
Madrone; and Wine Grape Grower
of the Year, George Donati, Pacific
Vineyard Company.
The Paso Robles Wine Country
Alliance in partnership with the
San Luis Obispo Vintners Association,
the Independent Grape Growers
Association, the Central Coast
Vineyard Team and past award
recipients worked together to
identify the 2013 honorees. The
award recipients were honored
at an awards ceremony during
the California Mid-State
Fair on Friday, July 19. Each
recipient was nominated and voted
on by their peers for their leadership
in California’s third largest wine
region, San Luis Obispo County.
“These awards showcase leaders in
our community who have worked to
raise the profile and elevate the quality
of the region,” said Jennifer Porter,
Executive Director of the Paso Robles
Wine Country Alliance. “Honoring
Keith, Neil and George, recognizes
their contributions as mentors, innovators
and industry stewards within
this wine grape growing region we call
home.”
By Millie Drum
Wellness Kitchen by Day
- Soul Kitchen by Night
On one Thursday night each
month, The Wellness Kitchen invites
you to enjoy live music and wine
tasting while getting a “closer look at
the Kitchen.” By day, the kitchen uses
S.O.U.L – Seasonal, Organic, Un-
Refined and Local ingredients to prepare
the Wellness, Transitional and
Healing Foods and the weekday lunch
service from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
The next Soul Kitchen is August
29 from 6-8 p.m. featuring live
music, wine tasting and a Wellness
Food Sampler plate. The donation at
the door funds the Healing Foods program
that is being expanded to service
Wine Industry
Person of the
Year
Keith Patterson,
Cal Poly Wine and
Viticulture Professor
(posthumous)
Dr. Patterson was
professor of viticulture
at California Polytechnic State
University, San Luis Obispo from
1997 to 2013. He developed and
taught core viticulture classes, carried
out a variety of viticulture research
projects, and shared his passion for
wine grape growing and winemaking
with thousands of students, of whom
many are part of the current leadership
and talent in the San Luis
Obispo County wine industry.
Keith was one of the founding
fathers of the Wine and Viticulture
Program at Cal Poly, instrumental in
getting the program minor approved
in 1999 and the major in 2000. He
helped launch the service-based student
club Vines to Wines, which
has been instrumental in connecting
Cal Poly students with wine industry
events and professionals. Known
as both a professor and pioneer in
the world of viticulture, colleagues
and students alike consider Patterson
one of the best and most influential
instructors they have ever known at
Cal Poly. With his great sense of
humor and unmatched knowledge,
Patterson shared his passion for the
teaching and research of wine and
viticulture. He constantly inspired
those around him to do their best and
follow what they love.
Winemaker of
the Year
Neil Collins,
Tablas Creek
Vineyard /
Lone Madrone
Neil Collins moved
to the United
States from Bristol, England after
beginnings as a chef and began his
winemaking career in the local wine
industry in the early 1990s with Adelaida
Cellars and Wild Horse Winery
& Vineyards.
In 1997, in a pursuit to hone his
craft, he moved his family to the
vineyards of Chateauneuf-du-Pape
in southern France where he spent a
year learning the cellars and vineyards
of the famed Chateau de Beaucastel,
one of the oldest and most highly regarded
estates in France.
Neil returned to Paso Robles to
take up the new role of winemaker
and vineyard manager at Tablas Creek
Vineyard, the California property of
Château de Beaucastel. Since that
time, great success and accolades has
been achieved by Tablas Creek Vineyard,
success in which Neil’s hand has
been significant.
Neil and his sister, Jackie Meisinger,
began the winery Lone Madrone
(5800 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles)
in 1996 with the premier goal of producing
distinctive wines exclusively
from vineyards in the rugged limestone
hills of west side Paso Robles.
Growing slowly yet steadily since, the
focus has become largely on vineyards
Millie Drum, Stephanie Austin, Jennifer Hamman, Executive Director Nancy Walker,
Taylor Belmore, Janice Patterson and Debi Goddard
members of our community that are
in acute need of nutritious, prepared
food. Future Soul Kitchen dates are
Sept. 26, Oct. 24 and Nov. 21.
2nd Annual Top Chef
Competition
On Thursday, Sept. 12 at 5 p.m.,
the beautiful demonstration kitchen
at Idler’s Appliances in Paso Robles
becomes center stage for three local
chefs, a panel of judges and guests
for the 2nd Annual Top Chef
Competition.
Chef Alex Martin of Crush
that are dry farmed and head trained,
which winemaker Neil Collins believes
to be “the purest expression of
the unparalleled terroir of west Paso
Robles.” Neil strongly believes that in
order to produce wines of the highest
caliber you must first start with grapes
of exceptional quality. Neil’s technique
of marrying old world growing methods
and winemaking preferences with
new exciting blends of Rhône, Bordeaux
and Italian varieties is a result
of carefully honing his craft over many
harvests. Neil, his wife Marcy and two
children live, farm, and work in the
western hills of Paso Robles.
Winegrape
Grower
of the Year
George Donati,
Pacific Vineyard
Company
George is a fourthgeneration
agriculturist
on the Central Coast, dating
back to his great grandfather’s emigration
from Switzerland in 1870 to
Cayucos, where he grew up on a
family farm in Santa Maria and later
earned a degree in agriculture business
management with a minor in crop
science from California Polytechnic
State University, San Luis Obispo in
1974.
After graduation, Donati continued
farming with the family in Santa
Maria and later moved to farming
vineyards in Madera, California,
Please see Wine Awards page 54
The Wellness Kitchen and Resource Center
Plan to attend SOUL Kitchen and TOP Chef Competition
Catering will be defending his title
as the 2012 winner against Jeffry
Weisinger of Jeffrys Catering and
another chef yet to be chosen. Similar
to the popular Food Network
series Chopped, each chef will have
a pot of secret ingredients, a full
basic pantry (without gluten and
dairy) and one hour to prepare an
appetizer, main course and dessert!
Guests will enjoy wine tasting,
food prepared by The Wellness
Kitchen and a silent auction. For
tickets, call 434-1800 or go online
TheWKRC.org.
The Wellness Kitchen and Resource
Center is located next to
Heritage Oaks Bank, 1255 Las Tablas
Road in Templeton.
52 Paso Robles Magazine, August 2013