Latest News
Sustainability In Practice Certified (SIP)
August 9, 2010
We are pleased to announce that all of our Vines and Estate Wines at Oso Libre are now SIP (Sustainability in Practice) certified! This means that we, as a way of life, focus on habitat conservation, energy efficiency, pest management, water conservation, economic stability, and human resources.
Sustainable agriculture rests on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their own needs. It addresses stewardship of both natural and human resources and in agriculture it means that decisions are made with the
whole farm system in mind as well as productivity in the long and short term.
The term sustainable agriculture means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term:
“satisfy human food and fiber needs; enhance environmental
quality and natural resource base upon which the agricultural
economy depends; make the most efficient use of
nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate,
where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls;
sustain the economic viability of farm operations; and enhance
the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.”
- 1990 Farm Bill
Learn all about the importance of the SIP program at The Central Coast Vineyard Team website.
2010 Bottling
July 29, 2010
On July 44th, we bottled 8 new wines which will be available in the late Summer. We are expanding our Zinfandel offerings and our Rhone style wines. Most exciting perhaps is the Adelaida Chardonnay from the Abernathy Vineyards which we have crafted to be balanced and fresh. The tasting notes and full descriptions will be viewable in the OUR WINES section of our website. Come by for a taste later this summer.
2009 Vino D'Oro - Chardonnay (Abernathy)
2009 Volado - Viognier (Pomar Junction)
2009 Rosalinda - Rose, Rhone Style Blend (Paso Robles)
2008 Ozesno - Zinfandel (Central Coast)
2008 Nativo - Zinfandel (Oso Libre)
2008 Carnal - GSM Rhone Style Blend (Paso Robles)
2008 Primoroso - Winemakers Blend (Central Coast)
2008 Azucar - Late Harvest Estate Blend (Oso Libre)
Angus Beef Program
July 23, 2010
Oso Libre grass fed Black Angus Beef (exclusively for wine club members). It's official we are now approved and able to sell our Angus beef! Individual cuts of beef will be for sale in the tasting room starting in July. Futures signup for our USDA certified beef products for release in December 2010 is easy. Simply email Chris or the winery and we will send a confirmation with prices and selections (Oso Libre website will soon have a detailed beef page). We have 60 acres available for our Angus which limits our annual beef herd to 30 head. This means we can only process 10 animals per year.
These stress free animals are home grown on pasture grasses that include a variety of protein rich forages. We then pasture finish the yearlings for 60 days on a ration of marbling producing grass, alfalfa and sweet molasses. The beef is then dry aged for at least 30 days. Our Angus cattle are not given any hormones or growth stimulating antibiotics. Each vacuum-sealed, individually wrapped steak is now tender, well marbled, lean and frozen at zero degrees Fahrenheit. Often a glass of red wine, New York steak, sharp knife, fork, napkin and plate is all the tools we need to fix the problem!
Recent Notable Awards
July 16, 2010
92 Points from The Wine Enthusiast Magazine for our 2007 Bendicion Mourvèdre- “This is one of the best Mourvèdres in recent memory. It has the silky texture of Pinot Noir, yet is full bodied in fruity tannins, and most importantly feels clean and vibrant throughout. Shows exciting flavors of cherries and raspberries, with a meaty note of grilled beef splashed with soy sauce. Lovely now with a great grilled steak.” - S.H. (6/1/2010) - 92
Gold from the Los Angeles International Wine Competition for our 2007 Querida Cabernet Sauvignon.
Gold from the Central Coast Wine Competition for our Por Vida Estate Blend.
Gold from the Long beach Grand Cru for our 2007 Querida Cabernet Sauvignon.
"Sunlight into Wine"
July 9, 2010
We try to do most of our winemaking in the vineyard by (among other things) understanding the importance of the relationship between our wine grape canopy and sunlight. Wine, simply put, is a product of sunlight. How we manage our canopy microclimate is one of the most important factors and influences on the value, yield and unique qualities of our estate wines here at Oso Libre. Our most referred to resource is the worldwide read handbook titled: Sunlight into Wine, written in 1992 by Dr. Richard Smart and Professor Mike Robinson.
We were honored and blessed to have a visit to our winery and vineyard from Dr. Richard Smart in June 2010. Attending was myself, our son Jeff, our consulting winemaker Michael Barreto and Hilary Graves a local winegrower, winery owner and viticulture expert. We thank Hilary for arranging the meeting as she studied under Dr. Smart and has given us great advice as well. Proper canopy management is a continuous challenge and learning process. We listened carefully to the good news he delivered as well as his constructive criticism. Our goal is that our vines thrive and our future estate wines continue to improve in balance and taste as well as represent the unique terroir and viticulture practices in our vineyards.
Solera Oso Libre
July 9, 2010
Barrel samples will be available to our wine club members starting in August, 2010. Those of you who have been in our tasting room have seen these two dedicated barrels side by side. Our beautiful Italian spigots have finally arrived and the barrels are ready for our unique estate wine blends. To start we will take a collection of our in barrel, fermented estate red wines from different vintages and combine them into our two barrels. This process is known as Solera in Spanish. Each year we will add that vintage to the barrels. Over time the combined wines will be a combination of many years of different vintages. In the future we hope to use one of the barrels for our version of a variety of Sherry called Oloroso, which means "scented" in Spanish. This is a fortified sweet, deep, rich dessert wine made up of a collection of many different vintages. It undergoes oxidative aging making it darker and stronger over time. The object is to drink it before it can only be used on pancakes!
Bendición Mourvédre Scores 92 Points from The Wine Enthusiast
March 19, 2010
2007 Bendición Mourvédre Wins Judges Choice and Best in Class
January 17, 2010
The blind judging panel at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition bestowed our 2007 Bendición Mourvédre the prestigious "Judges Choice and Best of Class" top award. This marks the second time in the last 12 months, our Mourvédre has won a Best of Class award at a major national wine competition. In April 2009 our Mourvédre won Gold, Best of Class at the Los Angeles International Wine Competition. We feel very honored to have received these awards. Other Oso Libre wins include Silver medal for 2008 Volado Viognier and Bronze for 2007 Quixotic Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.
Click here for the press release.