Wine

Published: Friday, Jul. 03, 2009

Wine Notes: August Ridge Winery

Italian wines in Creston hills

Comments (0) |

John and Jill Backer’s winery is not exactly on the beaten path. Considered one of the Paso Robles area’s “Back Roads Wineries,” August Ridge Winery is on a fairly remote stretch of Highway 41 in the rolling hills of Creston.

So it’s surprising that their tasting room business is up 50 percent this year versus last.

“We’re not as far out as you think we are,” John Backer explains. “It feels like it if you don’t do it every day, but people are seeking us out and finding us.”

The reason people are seeking out August Ridge is its lineup of Italian varietal wines, first introduced just two years ago.

With little-known varieties such as arneis (an Italian white), and more familiar reds such as sangiovese, barbera and nebbiolo, the Backers are making small lots of distinctive wines that combine the best of California with the restrained elegance of a classic Italian style.

“We like our wines more towards the Italian style,” Backer says. “We don’t go for the real big fruit-forward wines; we’re about complexity and a mid-palate structure and finish.”

He bought his 40-acre property in 2001. The couple was living in San Jose at the time, where he was head of operations for a division of Applied Materials.

Wanting to move to the country to both start a family and build a winery, Backer started with bare land. He began planting the vineyard with sangiovese, nebbiolo, cabernet sauvignon and merlot almost immediately.

The Italian inspiration came from Jill’s family heritage (her maiden name is Zamborelli) and the couple’s love of food and entertaining friends.

“This whole thing just grew out of that,” Backer says.

Backer, 48, learned his winemaking skills mostly on his own.

“I learned by doing it,” he says, “by taking classes, by reading, and by talking to everybody I could talk to about it.”

He is now making about 1,200 cases a year and hopes to increase that to 2,000 by 2011.

The winery has the capacity to produce up to 3,000 cases, but Backer admits that will be a challenge in the cramped 1,750 square feet which is home both to his working winery and his tasting room.

In addition to making the single varietal Italian wines, Backer plans to introduce two new “super Tuscans” late this year.

Though really a consumer term and not an official designation, super Tuscans are Italian varietals, often blended with other grapes such as merlot or cabernet sauvignon, crafted into a more powerful and flamboyant international style.

So far Backer has resisted selling his wines through distribution.

The travel and sales time are difficult for him, especially because he still keeps his “day job” as a vice president for REC Solar, but also because he understands his wines aren’t mainstream. “These are all hand-sell wines, nobody’s going to just buy it off the shelf, people don’t even know what arneis is,” Backer explains. “And,” he adds, “that’s really not why we did this anyway. We didn’t really do it to ship a pallet of wine to some guy in New Jersey who I’ve never meet before.”

For the Backers, it’s all about sharing their wine, their food and their love for all things Italian.

A recent spaghetti western event they held at the winery is a perfect example. The couple shared their wine and Jill’s family recipes with wine club members as they watched an old movie on a large screen set up on the hill overlooking the vineyard. Jill has included a large collection of her family’s recipes on their Web site.

The name August Ridge stems from the fact August is a prominent name on both sides of the family. Jill’s grandfather was August Zamborelli, and John’s grandfather was August William. The couple has named their 5-year old daughter Isabella August.

It’s definitely a family affair, and Backer’s hope is that he can get to the point where he’s selling most of his production through the tasting room and wine club, keeping his business close to home and avoiding the travel and demands of distribution.

When growing up, Backer worked in his father’s hardware store for 10 years.

He looks back on that now and compares it to running a winery and tasting room.

“The difference that I finally figured out was that everybody comes into a hardware store irritated because something’s broken,” Backer says.

“Here customers are out with their friends, drinking wine and having a good time. I’m enjoying this retail experience a whole lot better than the other one.”

August Ridge Winery

8790 E. Highway 41, Creston

239-2455

www.augustridge.com

Proprietors: John and Jill Backer

Winemaker: John Backer

Cases produced: 1,200 in 2008

Varietals: Arneis, nebbiolo, sangiovese, barbera

Available at: Albertson’s Paso Robles, Monterey Street Wine, Thomas Hill Organics.

Tasting room hours: Friday, 12-5 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.