Sunset Magazine Names Paso Robles the Next Great Wine Country

Paso Robles used to be famous for cattle, not Cabernets, but these days it's the most unpretentious and enjoyable wine region in the West.

Drive any Paso Robles backroad in spring, and you remember why you love California. Here are the rolling hills, deep green at this time of year with firecracker flashes of oranges and purples from poppies and lupine.

Cattle graze the hills - after all, ranching was king in this part of San Luis Obispo County for generations. And there are wide-spreading oaks - the Spanish didn't name this "oak pass" for nothing. But in between the oaks and the pastures are vineyards, just leafing out, running with geometric precision across the sinuously curving landscape.

Paso Robles has become one of California's most exciting wine regions. Ten years ago, there were perhaps 35 wineries here. Today there are more than 170. And the wines they make are garnering increasing acclaim. Read More.

Limoneira's windfall farms is in the heart of Paso's winemaking geography. It's a breathtaking 724-acre property and former equestrian horse farm. Three phases of vineyard plantings in Windfall Farms rich soil are in process that will total over 400 acres. Windfall Farms is blessed with mild temperature, significant water and great conditions for growing excellent varietals.

The latest planting consists of 60 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 40 acres of Petite Sirah, 20 acres of Grenache Blanc. Thus total acreage for Windfall to date is 160 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 40 acres of Petite Sirah and 20 acres of Grenache Blanc.

At the 2013 Cabs of Distinction Event held at Windfall Farms, six celebrated wine makers and Wine Enthusiast Magazine discussed the elements that distinguish Paso Robles Cabernet. They described the style of wines made from Cabernet in the Paso Robles AVA (American Viticultural Area) as brighter in flavor, naturally high in acidity and with tamer but rich tannins compared to wines from the state's standard bearer for high quality Cabernet - Napa Valley. The defining characteristics of the Paso Robles terroir are the high diurnal temperature variance (as much as 50°F) and very limited soil nutrients in the generally calcareous, high-pH soil that controls the natural vigor of Cabernet vines. These factors help explain how a region with summer temperatures frequently hitting 100°F can produce vibrant wines that don't need acidification. It was also felt that ripeness could be achieved every year.

Kickstart the Holiday Season with Lemons - Limoneira spokesperson Megan Roosevelt explores fun ways to use citrus to have a spooky Halloween - or just a delicious fall season

Fall has arrived, and with it comes the start of the holiday season. Limoneira spokesperson and founder of Healthy Grocery Girl Megan Roosevelt has put together an array of yummy and easy ways to zest up your autumn - with a little help from Limoneira's delicious citrus fruits, of course. Whether that Halloween party needs some autumn décor or an all-natural tasty treat, Limoneira has the answer.

For a demonstration, you can view Megan detail her spooky tips and recipes below.

Spooky Chocolate Orange Pudding - what's better than chocolate pudding? Chocolate pudding with citrus served in tiny jack-o-lanterns, of course.

Ingredients:

Directions: Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler. Place bowl of melted chocolate over ice and add almond milk. Whisk together. Next, add sea salt and fresh squeezed orange juice and whisk. Place bowl of pudding in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

While the pudding cools, remove the tops of the navel oranges and with a spoon, carefully scoop out the inside. This recipe should fill 2-3 navel oranges. Using an exacto-knife, carefully carve spooky faces into the oranges. (Note: be careful not to make the faces TOO big, or the pudding may spill out.)

Add pudding to spooky pudding cups. You can enjoy immediately, or put them in the fridge to enjoy within 1-2 days. View instructions for the Citrus Wreath and Recipe for Apple Orange Cider here.

Ventura County Healthcare Foundation Brick Campaign

The Ventura County Healthcare Foundation has established a brick campaign to strengthen the Ventura County Health Care Agency's capacity to provide quality health care for everyone. Each $500 donation will provide donors with an engraved brick (with a message of their choosing) that will be placed in the HEALING GARDEN at the Ventura County Medical Center. How you can donate.

About VCHCF

The Ventura County Healthcare Foundation serves the Ventura County Healthcare Agency, the Ventura County Medical Center and the Santa Paula Hospital. Every day many people in Ventura County face obstacles to accessing health care. The Ventura County Health Care Agency is proud to provide a system which ensures access to quality, cost effective, culturally sensitive health care for all, especially the most vulnerable members of the community. This access is provided by over 3000 extraordinarily dedicated, talented and compassionate physicians and staff of the Health Care Agency and through their partnerships with community based organizations.

Limoneira Supports the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation - Santa Barbara

The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation empowers families living in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties that have a child with cancer by providing financial, educational, and emotional support.

The Foundation was inspired by a three-year-old boy with Ewing Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer and brain tumor diagnoses. One day, his mother broke down in tears as she shared the hardships she and her family had faced while caring for her sick child. She spoke of unplanned and oftentimes extended hospital stays, as well as expensive medications, which sometimes exceeded $1,000 after insurance. She also shared the dilemma of needing to give up her income in order to care for her sick son and be able to accompany him during hospital stays.

Limoneira was proud to be able to support this great organization by donating a stay at Limoneira's Windfall Farms.

Limoneira Lemons to Make an Appearance to 1.2 Billion Viewers On China Central Television (北京电视台)

 

For three days in September the China Central Television( 北京 电视台 ) Production team visited Limoneira's Main Ranch to learn about Limoneira lemons for an upcoming documentary. Over 1.2 Billion Chinese consumers will learn about Limoneira's sustainability practices, growing and harvesting operations and marketing and sales practices.

China Central Television  (CCTV), is the predominant  state television broadcaster in the People's Republic of China. CCTV has a network of 45 channels broadcasting different programs consisting of a mixture of news, documentary, social education, comedy, entertainment, and drama. 

 As of present, there are 50 television channels, and the broadcaster provides programming in six different languages. CCTV or China People's Television Network broadcast its first program on 2 September 1958. Due to increasing demands, it soon launched its second channel in 1963 and third channel in 1969, followed by the first simultaneous satellite broadcasts nationwide in 1972. 

In 1987 CCTV's popularity soared due to the adaptation and presentation of  Dream of the Red Chamber . The 36-episode TV series-the first Chinese television drama to enter the global market-still remains popular in the international market. In the same year, CCTV exported 10,216 programs to 77 foreign television stations.

 

Today, CCTV has 24 channels, most of them airing 24 hours a day. On 17 June 2013, CCTV announced General channel, News channel, and other 24 public channels starting broadcast on the new site of CCTV.

Limoneira Lemons and Bouchon Executive Chef Greg Murphy On KKFX Santa Barbara

Bouchon is one of Santa Barbara's most acclaimed restaurants where the focus is on fresh, local ingredients, prepared with care, and excellent wines that reflect the quality and character of the Santa Barbara region and work in concert with the cuisine. The restaurant offers a warm, inviting ambience with engaging service at a relaxed, leisurely pace. Ingredients are sourced using a "as-fresh-and-as-local-as-possible" approach, with fish from the Santa Barbara Channel and produce from the surrounding countryside.

"Bouchon offers an education of the regions agriculture-and viticulture....(and) turns out food that has placed the restaurant among the city's best."

 - Bon Appétit Magazine

"With seasonal menu changes, Bouchon hits a bull's eye when it comes to fine dining with an understated flair." -  Santa Barbara Magazine

Greg Murphy - Executive Chef, Bouchon

Bouchon Executive Chef Greg Murphy shared Bouchon's classic lemon tarte recipe with KKFX television viewers on Friday, September 30th. Chef Murphy, began his career at the Wine Cask, worked under Chef John Pettitt at Seagrass Restaurant and took over the reins at Bouchon Santa Barbara in 2010. Chef Murphy recognizes that today's diners expect more than great food. "Presentation and flavor are obviously essential to a fine meal but a truly memorable dining experience includes a thoughtful wine list, great ambience and warm, friendly service." View Chef Murphy's lemon tarte recipe here. For more information about Bouchon, please visit: www.bouchonsantabarbara.com.

One of Southern California's Most Historic Pumpkin Patches Launches

Orange Globes Fly Through Air Using French Trebuchet.

Directionally Challenged Run Amok in 5 Acre Corn MaiZe.

Visions of pumpkins dancing in little heads are taking shape as one of the largest pumpkin patches in Southern California comes to life. Over twenty thousand people from Southern California (and beyond) that typically arrive for Santa Paula Rotary's Pumpkin Patch are in for a treat this year. The Limoneira Ranch, with wide open green vistas framed by mountains, will be the site of fall fun in October with Santa Paula Rotary's bigger and better than ever Pumpkin Patch and brand new 5-acre Corn MaiZe.

The Pumpkin Patch, previously held at Santa Paula-based Faulkner Farm has been relocated to Limoneira's Olivelands Ranch where the global agribusiness began back in 1893 and is still in operation producing citrus and avocados for the world's hungry consumers. "History abounds, with barns, outbuildings and lots of vintage farm equipment and orchards for everyone to see and enjoy," says Ginger Gherardi, Rotary board member.

Families can easily spend a full day at the patch enjoying music, delicious fall food favorites, and old-fashioned hay wagon rides through acres of pumpkins, squash and gourds. Visitors to the patch will experience flying pumpkins from a recreated French Trebuchet (aka Pumpkin Chucker), and kids (and the young at heart) can catapult pumpkins hundreds of feet towards the "Castle" and win prizes. There's also a towering hay pyramid, animals to see and hold and food, crafts, live entertainment and a harvest of fun.

New to this year's Pumpkin Patch will be a gigantic corn MaiZe. Visitors fortunate enough to stumble onto the correct pathways may exit the MaiZe in less than 30 minutes; the more directionally-challenged may wander the puzzles for a couple of hours providing a source of recreation that is fun for all ages, clean, educational and unique. The MaiZe being created at the Pumpkin Patch has been featured on CNN, National Geographic, CBS, NBC, Discovery, People Magazine and more.

Treasure your autumn each weekend this October at The Pumpkin Patch at Limoneira Ranch. Saturdays and Sundays in October between 10am and 5 pm. School Trips, by reservation, take place on Fridays, October 7, 14, 21 and 28th. Admission is $5.00 and the Corn MaiZe is $10.00 (which includes admission to the Pumpkin Patch). The Pumpkin Patch is located on Foothill Road in Santa Paula, California just across from the Olivelands School. For more information,/questions please email or visit [email protected] or visit www.PumpkinPatchAtLimoneiraRanch.com.

Limoneira Historic Reo and Limoneira Lemons at Taste of Local Festival

On Sunday September 25th, over 60 area chefs, farmers, purveyors, wineries, breweries and distilleries showcased their culinary expertise during the  Taste of Local Festival on Sunday, September 25th. Kat Merrick is the power behind this great event which showcases the bounty of our region and says "Ventura County is known as one of the top agricultural producing areas in the world. Rich soil, Mediterranean climates, innovative farmers and diverse crops - we've got it all! And this also means that we've got one of the best cuisine scenes that California has to offer". 

As an exciting new addition to this year's  Taste of Local Festival , Totally Local VC is teamed up with Ventura Independent Beer Enthusiasts (VIBE) to present  The Homebrew Challenge . Local brew masters competed for the title of Taste of Local's Home Brew Grand Champion as voted by guests at the  Taste of Local Festival . 

Writer Al Guilin's Latest Novel in His Lemon Themed Series

Community Volunteer Extraordinaire, Al Guilin is also a talented writer of lemon themed books including The Lemon Thorn, Sweet Lemons, The Short Handled Hoe. Sheryl Hamlin, in her review of his latest book Conflict Lemons said, "How fitting that Alfonso (Al) Guilin's favorite authors are Hemingway and Steinbeck, both master storytellers whose prose of realistic, unadorned text reflects their own lives and experiences." And, like all good authors, Mr. Guilin of Santa Paula, California honed his craft through the discipline of personal journals over a period of five decades.

His previous books Sweet Lemons, The Lemon Thorn and The Short Handle Hoe, take the reader into the lives and loves of fieldworkers and their families, as they work and assimilate. Undoubtedly the characters are based on people Mr. Guilin has known throughout his years in agriculture. The handsome, upwardly mobile Dr. Reynoso exists in communities across the country. The most recent edition to the Guilin oeuvre is Conflict Lemons wherein the author moves from bittersweet prose to didacticism.

The book opens with four unadorned sentences in verb-object form reading much like a police report, a perfect segue to the arrival of the U.S. Border Patrol in the second paragraph. The book moves quickly from arrest, release, political drama, unexpected consequences and agribusiness as a charming love story evolves with each chapter.

Contemporary socio-political topics such as for-profit prisons, guest-worker programs, and millions of people living in the shadows are central to the book. It's a page turner! Get the book here.

About Alfonso Guilin

Alfonso Guilin owns AG Consultants. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from California State Polytechnic University-Pomona and was an Executive Vice President at Limoneira when he retired in 1995.

Limoneira Winner's Block

This month our lucky winner is Meredith Ochs from Hoboken, New Jersey. As our monthly winner,  Meredith  has won a Limoneira Orchard Fresh or Lifestlyes Gift.  Congratulations  Meredith !!!

For your chance to win, make sure you're on our mailing list to be entered into our monthly drawing. To join  click here  or visit our website at  www.Limoneira.com.

Be sure to check out our other contests and drawings for additional changes to win prizes.