Wine

Published: Friday, Jul. 24, 2009

Wine Notes: Talley Vineyards

Vintner seeks designs for label for Mano Tinta wine

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If you have you ever looked at a piece of art hanging on a gallery wall or a colorful design on a wine bottle label sitting on a shelf and thought, “I could do that,” you now have your chance.

Talley Vineyards is celebrating the fourth vintage of its Mano Tinta wine program with an open competition for its new label.

Open to the public, and artists of any age, the designs will be judged by the public too, during August in its Edna Valley tasting room.

The Talley family, renowned for its generosity to the community for three generations, launched the Mano Tinta label in 2004 as a fundraising vehicle for its Fund for Vineyard and Farm Workers.

Spanish for “red hand,” the name was chosen to signify the pride and hard work of the farm workers who are essential to the fruit and vegetable fields of San Luis Obispo County.

“The fund is a great way to bring the winemaking community around a charity that is so fundamental to our business,” Brian Talley said about his and wife Johnine’s reasons for starting the fund in 2004.

Each year all the grapes are donated by Talley and other participating vineyards, along with all the bottles, labels, corks, boxes and labor required to make and package the wines.

As a result, 100 percent of the sales of Mano Tinta wines go directly into the fund.

“I think the most amazing thing about the project is that every dollar spent on a bottle of wine goes directly into the fund,” marketing manager Anna Heacock said. “There’s no cost involved in either the making or selling of it.”

The goal of the fund from the inception was to raise $100,000 every year. So far, four years into it, they have successfully raised more than $400,000 in wine sales and direct donations.

Each year distributions have been awarded to multiple organizations throughout the county that focus on the health care and education of farm workers and their families.

Beneficiaries of the fund have included the Boys and Girls Club of Oceano, the Clinica de Tolosa in Paso Robles, a nonprofit dental clinic, and the Children’s Health Initiative of San Luis Obispo, among others.

Last year the fund gave to Jack’s Helping Hand, which was able to provide a prosthetic leg to a farm worker’s child who couldn’t afford one.

This year has been a tough one on local vineyards, as well as the project. Because of the very low grape crop for the past three years, the vineyards that had been donating grapes to the program were forced to pull back.

For 2007, the vintage that is part of the label competition and scheduled to be bottled next month, only two of the previous five vineyards donated: Talley and Ranchito Canyon.

“It’s an evolving thing,” winemaker Leslie Mead said. “It’s going to change every year, which is, I think, what makes it fun as well.” This year’s vintage is a blend of malbec and syrah.

The label competition deadline is coming up soon. All entries must be submitted by July 31, and so far they have very few.

“It’s a great opportunity to be able to feature local artists in something that can be seen nationwide,” Mead said.

The winner will have his or her artwork showcased on the 2007 Mano Tinta label, T-shirt, Web site and poster.

Entries so far include one from an 8½-year-old daughter of a wine club member.

“We really are taking anything from child’s paintings to professional artists’ work,” Heacock explains.

In the past, students from Hancock College’s graphic design program have been actively involved, but with class closed for the summer, this year the entries have been light.

The first label chosen for the program in 2005 was created by 9-year-old Jose Juan Rosales, whose father works at Talley.

Last year — the first year of open competition — artist Candace Kincaid of Nipomo won with a painting of a vineyard worker carrying an armful of grapes.

The judging will take place throughout the month of August in the Talley tasting room.

All visitors coming through the tasting room can vote for their favorite design, and the winner will be announced in early September.

Anyone interested in submitting artwork to the competition can go online and print the entry form, along with specific instructions for the contest.

Talley is also hoping for a larger grape harvest this year than the past three, and is encouraging any other vineyards that would like to get involved in the program to contact winemaker Mead at the winery.

Talley Vineyards

3031 Lopez Drive, Arroyo Grande, 489-0446

Owners: Brian and Johnine Talley

Winemaker: Leslie Mead

Cases produced: 37,000 (both Talley and Bishop’s Peak labels)

Acres: 200 in Edna Valley and Paso Robles

Mano Tinta wine: 500 cases produced in 2008 (2006 vintage)

Cost: $16

Tasting room hours: 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily

Online: www.talleyvineyards.com

Janis Switzer can be reached at 434-5394 or via e-mail at janisswitzer@yahoo.com.