Castelli Family Vineyards

​I’ve avoided reviewing wineries that are not open to the public, i.e., require making reservations before visiting.  In fact, I’ve only visited two such.  A few days ago, I was taken to one such winery by my intrepid crew of adventurous wine lovers.  I learned that the winery, Castelli Family Vineyards, has a very good reason for requiring reservations, namely, they are in a gated community – without the code for the gate you can’t get to their winery!  So, they are forgiven.  Of course, given what I found there it is I who should be looking for forgiveness….
Castelli Family Vineyards is located in Ramona not far from the intersection of Archie Moore and Highland Valley Road.  As you can see in the pictures below, they have a pretty nice site.  The inside is pretty nice as well.  It being a hot day, we wound up at a long table on the inside.  

​A friend of one of our group lives in the gated community and joined us.  Turns out, she grows grapes on her property, some of which goes to Castelli to make wine – including Viognier grapes already pressed and fermenting in a vat in the tasting room -- see picture below.  Note that this is just the juice fermenting.

​Tasting is $16 for the five wines, the five wines at the top of the list shown below.  I didn’t particularly care for the Chardonnay (noting that I’m more of a red wine fan), but the Sangiovese, Syrah, and Petite Sirah where all quite nice.  Which gets us to the third wine on the list – the estate Pinot Noir.

Pinot Noir grapes are not supposed to grow well in hot climates.  Pinot Noir is a cool climate grape.  So, naturally, I was prepared for the worst.  But my fellow winers insisted that this was a really good wine.  The first thing I noticed about the wine is its color – rather than the light red of most Pinot Noirs it is a dark red, almost purple, much like the Cambria Clone 23 Pinot Noir.  But the winemaker, Nelson Pizzaro, assured me it was not Clone 23.  So, I tasted the wine – and it was quite fruity, more dark cherry than red cherry.  Aha!  I suspected the grapes were quite ripe when picked.  Bingo!
BRIX is a measure of the amount of sugar in the grape juice.  Winemakers look to this measurement as a guide when to pick their grapes.  Most white wines are picked at a BRIX under 24, whereas red wines are 24 and above.  If you multiply the BRIX number by 0.59 you get a good estimate of the alcohol level in the wine made from the grapes.  Nelson told us that he planned on picking the grapes at a BRIX of 24.5.  When they got to that level, he arranged for the picking.  Well, between the time he measured the 24.5 and the picking date the BRIX rose to 27!  Rather than dilute the juice to lower the alcohol level, he went ahead and made the wine.  Good move!  This wine is excellent, maybe the best Pinot Noir produced from grapes grown in Southern California.  Amazingly, the high alcohol content (16% by volume) is hardly noticeable.
Now I planned to have a picture of this wine in a glass so you could see the dark color.  Unfortunately, every time I poured some in a glass it disappeared….
They have a wine club.  It costs $100 to join the club, and you agree to purchase 3 bottles of wine per quarter.  Price discount is 20%, and tasting is free for two people per visit, with another two tastings available for $6 each.  Additional guests get the wine club glass price.
They have a caterer that provides food (pizza, et al.), or you can bring your own.  Also, entertainment!  On September 25th from 6 PM to 9:30 PM they are having a great party, with corn hole, I Love Lucy and grape stomp competitions, dinner and a glass of wine.  Price is $63 per person or $125 per couple.
On a more somber note, they lost most of their 2018 grape crop due to excessive heat.