{"id":220,"date":"2016-03-30T20:32:26","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T20:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=220"},"modified":"2016-03-30T20:32:26","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T20:32:26","slug":"caliza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=220","title":{"rendered":"Caliza"},"content":{"rendered":"

The word caliza<\/em> means limestone in Spanish.\u00a0 In winemaking, it means soil that is rich in this mineral so it adds depth and minerality to the grapes grown in it and to the wines made from those grapes.\u00a0 It is also the name of a winery in Paso Robles where we guess the dirt is full of caliza, or limestone.\u00a0 It is not exactly an easy winery to find.\u00a0 You drive down Route 101 from downtown Paso Robles, turn off on Route 46 and then search for Anderson Road.\u00a0 Up at the end of it is Caliza.<\/p>\n

We happen to like their wines and have joined the Caliza wine club.\u00a0\u00a0 They specialize in Rh\u00f4ne grapes and make an excellent Syrah and a wine called Azimuth, a typical Rh\u00f4ne blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourv\u00e8dre.\u00a0 It\u2019s our favorite of their wines.\u00a0 They also throw in some oddball grapes including Tempranillo and Primitivo.\u00a0 One thing can be said about their wines in general: they\u2019re not for the faint of heart.\u00a0 They are all power hitters and approach or surpass 15% alcohol.\u00a0 Eat a hearty breakfast before visiting.<\/p>\n

The tasting room is in a hacienda-like building nestled at the bottom of vine-covered hills.\u00a0 The room itself is open and airy, very bright and sunny, with a long bar.\u00a0 Like many wineries in the Paso Robles region they are open only Friday through Sunday and by appointment on the other days.\u00a0 You will be served a white or two, maybe a ros\u00e9 and then you can get into the reds.\u00a0 If you\u2019re lucky, your server will be Carl Bowker or his wife, Pam, who own the winery and make the wine.<\/p>\n

Theirs is the kind of story that those of us who enjoy visiting Wine Country always dream about.\u00a0 Carl was a businessman who grew tired of the nine-to-five grind.\u00a0 They visited Europe and became dedicated wine tasters themselves.\u00a0 Carl attended some winemaking courses and, lo and behold, bought some land, planted some grapes and they became wine people.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t get to meet Carl or Pam, don\u2019t worry; their story is printed on the walls.\u00a0 But if you do meet them, especially on a quiet day, they\u2019ll be glad to tell you their story.<\/p>\n

In some ways, the best part of a visit to Caliza (other than the wine, of course) is the absence of Napa-style excess.\u00a0 The tasting room is pleasant but is not likely to be featured in architecture magazines.\u00a0 Your experience there is about the wine, not the building and the grounds.\u00a0 The people are friendly and have the time and interest to talk with you and explain their philosophy of winemaking and the nature of their wines.\u00a0 In other words, Caliza offers a wine tasting experience that focuses more on the taster than on their own magnificence.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to Paso Robles, we definitely recommend that you make Caliza one of your stops.\u00a0 And say hello to Carl and Pam for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The word caliza means limestone in Spanish.\u00a0 In winemaking, it means soil that is rich in this mineral so it adds depth and minerality to the grapes grown in it and to the wines made from those grapes.\u00a0 It is also the name of a winery in Paso Robles where we guess the dirt is … Continue reading Caliza<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions\/222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}