A steady early fall rain is pelting Vino Piazza when I find Antonio Pasos perched atop his forklift moving barrels back into his barrel room after a long day of topping off. The facility is spotlessly clean with tools and equipment neatly arrayed for easy access. Here, I think to myself, is a truly dedicated, "hands on" winemaker.

Antonio is a 35 year old bachelor who is "married to the winery." You will find him either in the vineyard, winery, or cozy tasting room, seven days a week. "It's just me, one other guy and few volunteers" Antonio beams with a proud sparkle in his dark eyes.

A native of Monterey, his family moved to Madera when his father retired from the military in 1986. After graduating from Fresno State, Antonio established a 20 acre experimental vineyard on the family property where he grows a wide variety of Bordeaux, Italian, and French Rhone wine grapes. As a graduate winemaker, Antonio honed his skills with stints at E & J Gallo, Fenestra in Livermore, and Edna Valley Vineyards in Paso Robles.

With a decade of viticulture and wine making experience under his belt, Antonio established Pasos Vineyards in 2004 and opened his Vino Piazza winery in spring 2005. Currently, Pasos produces about 2,500 cases a year with plans to gradually expand to about 5,000 cases.

"My goal is to make the best bottle of wine possible", Antonio proclaims. "My main focus is on quality, hand crafted wine." To accomplish this goal, Antonio uses the right yeasts for the variety and style of wine that he is making and ferments at optimum temperatures, while using the best oak barrels for aging. "I pay a lot of attention to detail and do whatever needs to be done to produce quality wines."

For Pasos, quality begins in the vineyard. "We use only organically or biodyamically grown grapes from our vineyard in Madera and selected growers in Lodi, Alta Mesa, and the Sierra Foothills," Antonia states. "I get more pure, fuller flavors with organically grown grapes.

My professor at Fresno State said he always wanted to 'leave a little grape in the wine' and that is what I can do with organically grown fruit." Antonio likes vineyards that yield three to four tons per acre, and he waits for the grapes to fully ripen prior to harvest. "While I consider degrees Brix, pH, and acidity, it is my palate that determines when I harvest. I pick when the grapes taste just right."

Even though Antonio uses only organically grown fruit, Pasos is not an organic winery. "The restrictions of organic wine making are to limiting. I see wine making as art where I have the flexibility to do whatever it takes to make a quality wine," Antonio says.

Pasos barrel ferments his white wines by inoculating the juice in stainless steel tanks then racking to barrels to complete the primary fermentation. Secondary (malolactic) fermentation takes place in the barrel and wines are aged 12-17 months. Red wines are fermented in stainless steel then transferred to oak barrels for 18-36 months.

Antonio views the real art of wine making as the blending process. He employs individual varietals and a combination of American, French, Hungarian, and Balkan oak much like an artist uses a palate of colors. At times, Antonio may co-ferment some of his red grapes while at other times, he will wait until shortly prior to bottling and blend from several different lots of different individual wines to achieve the "just right" blend.

Paso Vineyards 2005 Collaboration Celebration is a superb example of Pasos's artfully bended red wine. A Rhone-style combination of Syrah, Grenache, Tannat, Counoise and Viognier, this new release is loaded with fruit on the nose and flavors of wild currant, eucalyptus, fresh cherries, and ripe plums.

While Pasos makes three distinctive white wines, the 2006 Albarino is quite unique. The rare Spanish grape grown in Lodi produces a rich white wine loaded with fresh key lime and nectarine on the nose and lemon citrus flavors on the mid-palate.

A visit to Pasos Vineyards in Lodi's Vino Piazza is a grand wine experience and you will get to meet a real, "hands on" winemaker to boot.

Pasos Tasting Room Hours are Tue - Sun 11 am – 5 pm Phone: 209-727-3153 Visit on them on the web at pasosvineyards.com for additional information. Vino Piazza’s address is 12470 Locke Road, Lockeford, CA (See Lodi Map)