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| Rabbit Ridge Winery & Vineyards | Paso Robles, CA 93446 |
www.rabbitridgewinery.com
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1172 San Marcos Road Paso Robles, CA 93446 (805) 467-3331 ext.7 Fax : 805 467-3339 Email: tastingroom@rabbitridgewinery.com
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The new Mediterranean style winery is an extremely high-tech, gravity flow design that uses the sloping hillsides to transfer wine. The grapes are crushed at the top of the hill. The press area and tank room are 22 feet below the crushing pad. The use of gravity flow is much gentler on the grapes, which helps to preserve the quality of our wines. Our tanks are monitored and run by computer so that all the temperatures and rates of fermentation can be precisely controlled. At the end of the fermentation a graph is printed showing the fermentation temperatures each day during harvest. The winery is also equipped with automatically timed pump-over devices on each tank. These devices allow the winemaker to pump-over the red wines at least six times per day, producing a more extracted, colorful, flavorful, full bodied wine. The bottling room, barrel rooms and Tasting Room are 22 feet below the tank room. Today, the Rabbit Ridge winery is the largest on the west side of Paso Robles. All of our vineyards in Paso Robles are located on the west side of highway 101. Erich believes this area of limited water, shallow, rugged, rocky, calcareous soils will produce some of the finest wines in Paso Robles, and among the finest in California. It is common during the growing season for the temperature on the west side to drop from 90 degrees at 3:00 in the afternoon, to 65 degrees by 6:00 PM, and then to 40 degrees at night. Erich planted his vineyards precisely throughout the Paso Robles appellation to take advantage of the unique micro climates and soil characteristics that would best suit each grape variety. |
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Winemaker Erich Russell
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Founder and winemaker, Erich Russell earned his nickname “The Rabbit,” as a world-class runner at San Jose State College. After graduation he took a teaching job at San Diego High School, in Southern California. During the summer of 79’, while on summer break, an entry into an amateur winemaking contest won him a job at Chateau St. Jean. Taking a chance, Erich quit his job and began working in the winery. Three years later, in 1981 Erich opened Rabbit Ridge Winery and Vineyards in Healdsburg, California. His first release of Rabbit Ridge was two barrels of Zinfandel and two barrels of Chardonnay. Erich states: “I only made enough wine so that if it didn’t sell, I could drink all of it.” Today Rabbit Ridge produces just under 100,000 cases of wine per year. In 1996 Erich discovered the potential of the Paso Robles, California area and began buying ranches and planting vineyards, motivated by his belief the area had the potential to produce some of the finest red wines in California. In 2001, Rabbit Ridge, having outgrown the Sonoma facility, broke ground on a new 55,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art winery in Paso Robles. The grand opening was celebrated in May 2003 when Rabbit Ridge moved all its production to their new facility. Today, Erich owns 700 acres on the Westside of Paso Robles, 400 of which are planted and producing. Rabbit Ridge sold its tasting room and 20+ acres in Sonoma County in October 2007. |
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White
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2007 Chardonnay-Estate Grown Barrel Cuvee
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Regular as of 01/06 |
Order Direct Online Phone: (805) 467-3331 ext.7 Fax: (805).467-3339 Tasting Room Open Info & Map Paso Robles, CA |
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