Pipestone is a family farm, they literally live right there in the vineyards. Their house is perched amongst the vines, you drive right by it and the goats and geese when you’re rolling up to the tasting room. They all contribute, Jeff, Florence, and their 2 daughters work the land and raise the animals. They’re 100% organic and 100% solar powered. They even use a team of horses to plow their 10 acres of vines.
So, about the wine! They produce just under 2,000 cases of mainly Rhone wines. The Viognier was probably our favorite, along with the GSM blend and the Grenache! All of their wines are Estate grown, except for the Zinfandel that they get from their neighbor down the road.
Pretty interesting story they have at Pipestone, starting out as unlikely farmers (Jeff an engineer from Minnesota and Florence a designer from Hong Kong) and ending up pouring wine for the many customers that seek them out. You’ll find their wines in some of the local restaurants, which draws visitors out to their tasting room, as well as the fact that they won the first Central Coast Green Award in 2008. Florence tells us that there are a lot of tasters that look specifically for green wineries like them.
Beautiful spot they have there, definitely worth checking out! Take a stroll around the tasting room and take in all the peacefulness and natural beauty.
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Cool winery, must add it to my list. 🙂
Yeah, Bev. Interesting winery and cool story! Check it out….
Guys: I worked at Fetzer many years ago when the whole organic/biodynamic thing started. Always nice to find another winery that’s committed to it.
Hey Rusty – It’s definitely a commitment to go organic and sustainable! Lots of hard work and lessons-learned along the way. We definitely appreciate their efforts and the end-product!
Have been going here and visiting and buying for four years now since first visit to Central Coast. Awesome folks and great wines. Have been to a couple harvest or pick up parties and had Florence’s home made pizzas and other delights. Recommend a visit to everyone!!
Thanks.
Hi Mike – We saw that pizza oven and were sad that it wasn’t fired up! Yes, very cool family and we liked the wines. We’ll have to keep an eye out for some events. Cheers!!!