All language subtitles for Tin.City.2019.1080p.WEBRip.x264-RARBG

There was this allure about

sort of putting a vine
in the ground

and having it be something that

many, many, many, many years
down the line would be
so much bigger

than just sticking
a vine in the ground.

So you put a vine in
the ground, you raise it up
for three years,

you harvest it, you make
the wine, you bottle the wine.

Maybe the wine gets put away
in someone's cellar for

two, five, ten,
15, 20 years, who knows?

There's a moment
of consumption at that point,
many, many years later

and there's almost
a linear connection between
that moment of consumption,

going all the way back to
putting a plant in the ground.

Just very few things
that we consume

that A, brings people
that much joy,

and B, have such
a linear connection

between those two processes.

Look at this! This is real.

This is a real cluster
I just found in my bin.

Eat it.

The most wonderful
thing is to be able

to pour your wine
for your friends

and/or an appreciative audience,

who go, "Wow,
this is great stuff."

There's nothing that
gives me more joy than that.

As far as the actual making it,

it can be a pain in the arse,

it can be a complete bitch,

things can go wrong,
you're going to be tired,

you're going to be miserable,
and there's just that period

that you go through. Then,

you're going to be
financially extended,

you're going to be invested
in grapes and bins,
and all manner of things,

and then when it comes
to bottling, glass and corks
and all the rest of it.

Which is necessarily
not coming back to you,

until you sell wine.

And that sometimes can be

a more painful
part of the process.

You know, making the wine,

I love it, I love the aromas,

I love the energy
around harvest, all of that.

But of course,
the wine has to be sold.

I mean, that's the...

That's where
this place comes in really.

It's our own little
section of Paso.

I joke we're the city,

the city that is tin.

Many people don't know
exactly where

Paso Robles is located.

Some people still wonder

what part of Napa it's in,

which is ridiculous.

We're halfway in between
Los Angeles and San Francisco,

on highway 101,
and it's about a three
and a half hour drive north

to San Francisco,
or south to Los Angeles.

Tin City's
an industrial development,

that caters
to the alcohol connoisseur,

with wineries, a brewery,
distillery, cider house.

It's basically all of the up
and coming brands in Paso

and you know,
from outside the area,

have all gravitated
towards this one development.

When Tin City evolved,

there were a few of us
and word kind of spread

this could be
a really cool place.

So, we kind
of recruited colleagues,

I think that
are like-minded, that...

you know, have a lot of passion
for what they're doing,

and are doing unique,
interesting stuff.

But I think the idea is
a collection of artists in wine,

that are all
following different paths.

It's a pretty eclectic bunch.

I hate to use
the words up and coming
because it seems so trendy,

but it's definitely,
it's a new neighborhood

within the Paso
and central coast wine region,

that is showcasing wines

that are super edgy
and different and unique,

and there's a lot
to offer in this neighborhood

and it's only going
to grow and get better.

You don't have a lot
of the beautiful views

that you do
on the west side of Paso,

or, you know,
whatever the case is,

but, you know, my husband
always likes to say the wines,

"The barrels don't know
that they're not
in a fancy cave in Napa."

And they don't,
they don't care where they are.

When we first moved in,
you know, no one knew
where Tin City,

no one knew what Tin City was,
where it was,

who was down here.

It took some convincing
to get people to

come out of the enchanted
forest, you know,
of the Westside

and come down to Tin City.

When we started here,

I think when I would
tell people where we were,

even the exact roads
that we were off of,

they had no idea
what we were talking about.

And we're pretty sure
that Paso started up there,

the road of firestone,
and Templeton started

half a mile
down the road that way.

So, in a matter of a year,

I stopped having to tell people
exactly where it was

and I could say Tin city, and
they knew exactly where it was

because it's become
such a cool destination.

Tin city's basically
made up of a patchwork
of cul-de-sacs.

What you'll see
is people park their cars,

you can hear live music coming
from a couple different venues,

and you'll see people
wandering back and forth,

bouncing from one
winery to the next.

Saturdays are huge.

If we ever have an event, um

you'll see a couple different
food trucks parked out

on the street,
they're serving people.

So yeah, there's a real sort
of party atmosphere down here.

It's not wild and crazy
but it's definitely
very similar to like a fair.

It's like four times
a day, five times a day.

The train, I love the train.

We specifically left
a hole in the fence

so that we could smash
stuff on the train tracks.

The coolest train
is the union pacific,

because it's
covered in graffiti.

And so it's like a free, like,
three minute art show every day.

So, we're going to do a series
of labels for the fifteens

that'll be all
train related, you know.

Tin city has just
become this microcosm

of Paso Robles,
of this wine region

and where everybody
wants to go, I mean...

You don't have to go
that far to enjoy

some of the best
Paso Robles has to offer.

It's a different concept

than what's been
the standard in Paso.

You know, it took a little bit
to get people to understand

what was cool about this area.

And now it's just,
you know, taken off

and, you know, now
our biggest problem is parking.

The majority
of the people in the mix here,

are all people that are
lifers in the wine business.

I mean almost everybody
down here started out

as like, "I've got enough
money to buy a ton of grapes,

I'm going to make
a couple of barrels on the side,

and it's going to sit
wherever I'm working at,

and I'm going
to do my own wine."

And like pretty much
everybody down here is all

you know self-started and
been through the whole grind.

A lot of people
down here in Tin City,

they do this
because they love it.

These people
started at the bottom.

They didn't come here
with a ton of money

and trying to make
something by paying for it.

A lot of these people
started with hard work.

And I think that that
that really creates a wine

that shows,
that shows in the glass.

You talk to these winemakers,
a lot of these places
you can go down

and you're going to meet
the winemaker, you're going
to talk to him, shake his hand,

and you're going to see right
there in the glass, that this
person loves what they're doing.

They're not
doing it for the money.

It's everybody's passion.
That's why we're here.

And it allows
kind of the small guys

an opportunity to have
their own little space,

and to craft their skills.

We're able to show what
we do in a world class way,

without having
the ten million dollars

to build the facility.

And without it, probably
half of us wouldn't be here.

We all have a very
different wineries
down here too.

That the other thing that's
interesting too. For the amount
of people that are down here

there's not a lot that are,
like, marketing themselves

the same way,
or touting themselves

as doing something the same way.

We all have this really
individualistic
wine-making style.

You know, we're not trying to
create a Tin City
wine making style.

But what you do have is this

sort of like I said, flow
of information, this sort
of constant inspiration,

that's sort of flowing
through the whole community,
which is really cool.

One really interesting
aspect about Tin City,

is seeing the personalities

of the different
winemakers and proprietors,

come through their wines.

So, you might have, like,
a really boisterous wine,

or you could have some wines
are a little bit more reserved
a little bit more serious,

who are light
and fun and sassy, spicy.

So you get a whole
different mix of styles,

not just in
the personality of the wines,

but also in the origin
of the cépageof the grapes.

You know we have a lot
of Rhone varieties here,

obviously Bordeauxs,
your Cabs, Merlots, Cab Francs,

particularly those Malbecs.

And then there's
some eclectic wines too,

which is kind of fun.
Not just that,

yes, there's winemakers here,
but, you know,

there's a distillery
just up the way,

there's a brewery
and a cidery house just came in.

Yeah, it's sort of
a liquid amalgamation

of products here.
It's a lot of fun.

You know this is a really
good place for people our size.

That we can afford
to be living the dream

and doing all the things that we
want to do and it's attainable.

So, it's pretty awesome.

It's a great opportunity.

It's a big sheet.

- Ooh!
- Oh.

Oh no.

I worked in finance
for about six years

and worked for dotcom
for a little bit

and sat in a cubicle

and kind of hated
every day of my existence.

So this is
Italian too, this barrel.

I was very interested in wine,

I had a kind
of a background in wine.

And I met
a winemaker at a party.

It was a couple
of weeks before harvest.

He said, "Well,
come work harvest."

And I just jumped and did it.

And from day one,
I didn't know what I was doing,

this was about 16 years ago.
Um...

First day I said this
is what I'm going to do
for the rest of my life.

There's no doubt in my mind.

I think there's
kind of two different ways

people end up in this industry.

Folks either tend
to be born into it,

have some connection early on

and kind of find out they can
make wine from an early age

or in my case, I'm part of
the other half of the industry,

which is what I would call

sort of your second
career winemaker.

I started out in
the engineering field
on the East Coast,

um, took a couple trips
out to Napa

and just really
got into the idea,

learned a little bit more
about the science,

and realized it was
pretty similar

to the types
of fermentations I was doing

as an engineer out there.

And basically
applied to UC Davis

after filling out a couple
of different prerequisites

for their degree program,

I got an acceptance letter

with an offer of a scholarship

that covered out
of state tuition

and pretty much had
no recourse but to quit my job

and move out to California.

I grew up in Hawaii,
so there wasn't any wine
being produced

or grapes grown there,

but when I finally after college
moved to California,

and I ended up living
in the San Francisco Bay area

where I met wife, Pam.

And we would spend
our weekends wine tasting

and enjoying that lifestyle.

And one of the trips
we were going
to the Tuscan region of Italy,

we actually ended up having to
postpone our trip
because of 9/11,

but we ultimately went
about 10 or 12 or 15 days later.

The whole trip was about being
introduced to Italian wines

and taste the wines
of the Chiantis and the like

that they're making
of the Sangiovese grapes
there in Tuscany.

And we had one-on-one access
with all of the winemakers.

Because there were not a lot
Americans traveling at the time,

they were just thrilled
that we were there.

So, we were invited
into their homes,

we actually had wine with them,

they took us
down to their cellars.

I think stuff they don't do

with a lot of people

and I really was
drawn in by the passion

that they had for making wine.

It was during that trip that

I really started thinking that

I'd really like to do this

at some point
in time in my life.

When I was 15, I realized
I could grow a beard.

So I was always the guy
who had to buy beer for us
at the liquor store,

but it was still
a bit of a hassle.

And we realized we could
make it ourselves.

And I was kind
of the science guy

and it was just so much
fun for me, so I guess

probably around
that age, 15 or 16,

I decided I'm going
to brew beer for a living.

I went to college and started
getting an economics degree

and it was a huge waste of time.

And I realized, you know,
I was wasting my time

and I needed to do
something real with it.
And I remembered my dream.

And I realized
I'd go to UC Davis

and do a six month
master brewers course,

so I could take the Institute
of Brewing and Distilling's
master brewers exam.

So I got all
of my science prereqs

while I was doing
my econ degree.

Went to Davis, did
the master brewers program there

and then I went down to Texas

and worked for Spoetzl Brewery

who make Shiner Bock.

So that's where I really
kind of started my career.
And I was 21 years old,

working at this crazy brewery
where people were pulling,
like, water moccasins,

they're these, like, poisonous
snakes out of the hoses
that were hanging up

because it was so swampy round
there, it was nuts. People were,
like, smoking in the warehouse

because it's Texas and nobody
cares. It was just, it was wild.

That was my first introduction
to the brewing industry
and I was, like,

I think I'm going to like this.

I began in a very weird place,

I was in Eagle, Idaho, actually,

in a snake river AVA,

which is not, Idaho's
not well known for anything

but potatoes really.

We had a family friend

who offered me the job.

He owned the winery
and I was just like yeah,

I mean, I got to make
my ten bucks an hour

so I can buy
my case of beer this weekend.

And so I went in and, yeah,
stared working in the vineyards

and it was very weird
but, yeah, 18 years old

and I was like,
I want to be a winemaker.

I worked in Santa Barbara
at a winery called Carr Winery

where I continued to work
in vineyards for three years

so I was out kind
of pruning vines with the crew.

We worked nine hours a day
and I got a really good feel

for all the different regions
of Santa Barbara county

and the flavor profiles and
what varieties do good where,

and the whole time I was
out there, I was just like

low key planning my project.

Making wines a very
big, big passion I have

since I basically grew up
in south of France, in Bordeaux.

I started like four or five
years old, driving tractors,

and finding about wine.

And growing that,
helping my dad every weekend,

which really lucky
farming a lot.

And then only 23 years old,

I was kind
of feeling out a little bit

to see if I was going to stay,

you know, take over
and all of that,

and I was thinking I didn't
speak English at the time

and I see kind of wine
evolving with new world wine.

I said you know,
maybe it will be awesome

to do something
in outside of France.

So, I actually found
an internship in Paso Robles

with a very fine,
Stephan at L'Aventure winery.

And didn't want to take
an intern at the beginning.

Really, really pushed him
and said I want to come.

And he basically
hired me for ten months

and at the end he offered me
a full time position.

My grandparents
planted a vineyard up here

in the late '80s.

My dad started making wine
a few years after that

and it was my job
to come home after school,

uncover the ferment,
punch it down,

you know, make sure not to,
you know, drip any wine

onto the sides of the bin,

clean the punch down tool,

you know, recover it back.

Subconsciously
or not consciously, you know,

I was learning about, you know,

making wine from, you know,
second grade on.

The winery, the wine thing

became a really
big part of our lives.

When I was 13,
I took 100 pounds of cab

from, it was Cougar Ridge cab,

fermented it in a teeny
tiny little fermentor

and aged it
in a five gallon barrel.

Fast forward, like,
7 or 8 years later,

I was helping
in the tasting room,

and a wine club
member wanted to buy,

my parents were
doing a library release,

and they wanted to buy
this particular wine

and I went to go grab it and
my bottle was right next to it.

And so I was like, you know,
I'm going to pour
this wine to this guy.

And so I blind tasted them,

I didn't tell them what it was

and you know,
there's bunch of people in here

in the tasting room, and he
kind of, you know, calls me over

and I go and he goes, "Hey man,

don't tell your old man,"
he goes,

"but your wine's better."

And that was like
for whatever reason,

made me think that
I could make wine,

like, I could make good wine.

That next harvest, I was 19,

and by the time the wine
was fermented and barrel aged

and bottled and bottle aged,
I would have turned 21.

So, I made 147 cases
and released it

the weekend after I turned 21.

Had I not poured
that wine to that guy,

um, and he's actually
still in my wine club,

You know, I don't know
that I would have

kind of ventured out on my own.

I grew up overseas,

and was exposed
to wine at the dinner table

pretty early on in life.

I grew up in

a wine growing region as well,

and my grandfather's a brewer,

and my family
before him were farmers.

So I was kind of sitting
at home when I was 16, 17,

trying to decide what I wanted
to go to school for in college.

Just sort of popped in my head.

So, I pursue it and I've been
sort of singularly focused

on being a winemaker since then.

My family moved here in 1983.

My uncle was good friends
with the Smith family

down in Ensonies, California,

and the Smiths came up
and bought James Berry Vineyard.

And my uncle followed them up
and bought the property
right next door.

My mom very quickly after that

moved us up here as a family,

realized it was
a great place to raise kids,

and so my first job in the world

was working on James Berry
Vineyard, you know,
chasing birds.

They would give us, fill up our
three wheelers or four wheelers

with gasoline
and give us bullets to shoot

and I thought it was
the greatest thing ever

and pay us minimally
but who needs to get paid

when you're doing
that for a living.

Later on, I found out,
it wasn't that we were
actually good at shooting,

it was just that
if you were actually driving
up and down on the rows,

the birds never
actually settled.

And so it kept them
from eating the grapes.

I went to Cal Poly
for ag business.

There was no
viticulture school back then.

And really had no idea
that I wanted to make wine

in those days, you know, I just

wanted to go to a good school,
wanted to stay here locally,

really loved the area,
fell in love with it.

And then kind of wanted
to go see the world

and see what was out there, so

I got on a boat and sailed it,

and I had the opportunity
to captain a boat,

from Newport Beach
to Palm Beach, Florida.

So, I was actually able
to captain a boat
through the Panama Canal.

So I got to actually steer.

The locks there are amazing,
they're 150 feet,

they raise with the water
in about a minute and a half.

So, you actually have to tie up

a small sail boat
like ourselves,

we were 41 feet,
to a 900 foot tanker,

to make sure you don't bounce
around like a ping pong ball.
It fills up so fast with water

that you actually have
to be tied to something else

to make sure you don't
get crushed against the walls.

When we got
to the east side of the canal,

we went as fast as
we could to Palm Beach

because we were
completely out of money

and so started working
for Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.

And they were kind enough to put
me through some education.

Really kind of just
solidified my love for wine

and the variations of wine,
the different aspects of wine.

And then just one day
realized I really missed Paso.

And I really wanted
to get back into making wine,

not just selling wine.

I came down to Cal Poly, um

to study landscape architecture.

Um, I liked to garden as a kid

and I liked my drafting courses,

back when you used
a pencil instead of a computer.

And so came down here and

about halfway
through my education

I took a viticulture class,

which is basically
vineyard management

and I was hooked.

I've been making
wine ever since.

I was 18
and I worked in a restaurant.

A fine dining restaurant
in Arizona, Scottsdale.

And we had a really
amazing Somm that worked there

and he was really
dedicated to making sure

that his employees
knew a lot about everything

and so they would do

pourings and tastings and
that was it, I caught the bug.

First vintage for me was 2007.

Which was a good year
in Paso to make wine.

It was pretty awesome.
I worked a couple years

as a cellar rat at a big co-op
facility here in town,

and then I did my own

few barrels in '09, 2009.

I don't remember much.
I drank a lot

and worked really long days

and I just remember
it being a whirlwind,

honestly like
it was just awesome.

I'd been in the sales
and marketing and importing

and school side of wine
for, you know, 20 years

and it was really cool
to see the production side.

I love it a lot more, obviously,
that's why I'm doing this.

But it was, um, frenetic.

I met a winemaker
and it was during grape harvest

and he tricked me
into coming to the winery.

He said, "Oh, it's easy, it's
beautiful, we're making wine,

we're driving the forklifts,
we're drinking beer."

I show up and he hands me
a pitchfork and he says,

"We don't have a forklift
so shovel these grapes

into the destemmer
and I'll give you a job,

and if you do a good job
you can show up again tomorrow

and we can do
it again tomorrow."

And my second year was in 2006

and I decided if I was
going to work in a winery,

I was going to work
somewhere that had

a little bit more equipment

and I didn't have
to shovel grapes.

And that's when my first real
experience of harvest began.

I was worked for about
90 days without a day off.

And you know, you're showing up
at four, five in the morning,

to make sure that things
are set up and ready to go.

And you're not going
home until midnight.

Just because we're not leaving
until the floor is clean

and everything is done.

You're driving home at midnight

and you're soaking
wet and you're tired

and you're
getting paid minimum wage

and for some reason you're
buzzing and you're excited

that you get
to come back tomorrow

and do it all over again.

That when I fell in love
with making wine.

It was something
that was a passion.

I couldn't believe
I loved my job.

It was something
that was unbelievable.

It gives me chills to know
that I get to do something

that I love to do.

It completely blows me away

when you taste
all of the complexity

and different flavors and aromas

and you're able to make
this amazing thing from grapes.

I've been doing this
since I was a kid

and that never
ceases to amaze me.

You know, I've had wines
that have changed my life.

Creating that product
is what gets me up

at four o'clock in the morning
or five o'clock in the morning,

or keeps me here till
five o' clock in the morning
during harvest.

I just love making wine.

It' s a tangible product that

lives and evolves

and it's challenging,
it's a discipline and a craft

that you have to pull from
a lot of different areas from.

So, yes there's the chemistry
and the biochemistry
and the microbiology,

but also the soil science,
irrigation science

and plant science, of,
you know, the vineyard.

And so it's a really-
it's an evolution.

And it's a long term thing.

You have to really
think about where you're going,

you know, seven
years from now, today.

Everyone become
different artists

and you will like all of them.
It will have just
different aspects.

For me, making wine is just try
to push myself every year,

you know,
to try to do even better.

I hate sitting
on one thing I know.

And sometimes we are because you
are tired, you do work a lot.

You say, okay I do that,
I already do like this.

But you have to always, you know

think about change a little bit.
Do something else.

To that 16-year pinot noir,
it was like

huge color, huge tangy already,

so I was like,
so you have to taste always,

and never believe
that you know what to do

and you have
to really question yourself.

Wine evolves with
the person as they're growing.

I look at the wines
that I first made,

and taste, I mean,
they're way different

than what I thought
they would be when I made them.

And they kind of change with
you as a person I think too.

Except my wines
don't taste old now.

And I feel old.

Wine is actually, people
totally care about, you know,

everything about the soil,
about the winemaker,
someone like me,

someone who has their hands
in the process, actually
physically makes the wine.

What we did in the vineyard,
what the practices were,
what's the aspect,

the slope, the soil, you know,
all those different things.

And that's one of the things
that makes wine stand apart

from almost
everything else that we consume.

And that's what makes someone
like me be able to do my job

for the rest of my life.
'Cause you can't really
get bored because

you know you get sort of
intrinsically obsessed

with all those
different little processes.

And so your brain is
always ticking, always moving,

always thinking about all
these little different things.

When you walk into a vineyard,
why this soil's different
from that soil,

why this vintage are
different from that vintage.

What oak might work with
this wine versus that wine.

How long am I going to age it,
what bottle

am I going to put it in,
which cork should I use.

All those little things

and it's just
it's impossible to be bored.

There is so much to making wine

that people
and consumers don't understand.

And for the most part
that's probably good.

It is easy
to enjoy a glass of wine,

without really understanding

what went into
the glass of wine.

We hand harvest,

we hand sort
every single cluster.

And before that, throughout
the whole growing season,

we literally are in
the vineyard every single day,

managing the crop.

It really matters to me
that people are getting a sense

of where our fruit's coming from

and that myself
and my small team,

have everything to do with what
you're tasting in the bottle,

because we grew the fruit
and we fermented the fruit

and we aged the fruit
and we bottled the wine

and it is our production
from beginning to end.

The best thing about California,

is where we are in
Paso Robles is the soil.

I mean it's so interesting,
the high clays,

the high PH,
all the different rocks.

I mean there's so many
volcanic rocks in the soil here.

It just really gives
this amazing,

I guess, soul, is almost
the word I'd use.

To the flavor
of the grapes here.

The climate is quite a bit
hotter than most parts of Italy,

especially the northern part.

But what's fun about our wines,
we think, is that

when you smell them,

they smell like
the Italian wines.

They're kind of,
they're counterparts

to what's grown in Italy.
But when you taste it,

it's always just
a little bit more ripe. Um,

We always like to think
we have one foot in Italy,

and one foot in California.

So for me, I believe
everything happens
in the vineyard.

There's no hocus pocus
that I can do within the winery

to improve the quality.

It's always
site selection first,

and then farm it accordingly.

So everybody that I work with,

usually has their own winery

that they're farming
at their own vineyard

and I'm lucky enough
to get a few rows

within their vineyard.

Normally in Paso, when you have
a vine growing up like this,

probably
the average number of clusters

on that vine is about 30.

We're doing eight.

So that's the difference.

Hard to farm, lots of passes,

but I believe
if you pick the right spot,

meaning site selection,

farming's a lot easier.

So what we look for,

is we want hillsides

with lots of rock on it,

um, so that the vine struggles.

A lot of people say that
you want to stress the vine,

but that's not true
because if you stress the vine,

then the vine takes all
the goodies from the clusters

and keeps it for itself
so it stays alive.

We want to grow it in an area

where there's not a lot of water

and there's lots of rock,

small plants,
small clusters, small berries,

more concentration.

And that's what
we're looking for.

So this is going to be our
lightest body red on the list

and then from here,
they'll get bigger and bigger.

One of the biggest things
with this project when
I started it,

is I knew it was going
to be a really small project

and I knew that
if I tried to make it

like the winery
you imagine in your head,

they all have
a barrel in the tasting room,

they all have like,
you know, fake grapes,

and it's just always, then you
have the knick-knacks and stuff,

and that's fine,
but what I wanted to do
with our tasting room,

was I wanted, and with our wines

and with
the labels and everything,

is I wanted to try
to do everything myself

which makes me kind
of crazy but I figure that

if I had my hand
in like what couch we get,

what art we put
in the tasting room,

I wanted it to kind of like,
I figured that it would just be

more of a personal experience
and it kind of
speaks to the wines

and everything that everyone's
making in Tin City, I mean.

It goes back to that idea of
every little thing you do

kind of makes
the wine what it is.

And when you bottle,
it's almost like a

extension of yourself
so with the taste room I wanted

it to feel the same way, like-

I spray painted the walls

and pretty much everything
in there, I slowly did and

I just want,
when someone walk in there,
I want them to know that

they're not going to,
like, a corporate winery,

it's like you're coming in
to like hang out with me

and it's personal, so.

Hey.

But yeah, I got the blankets and

and went to West Elm
and stuff, so.

We're pretty
unpretentious around here.

Pretty much across
the board in Tin City.

So, when we're not trying
to be anything

but who we really are and that's
something I think pretty much

goes for
the whole community here.

And so, there's
a little bit less fluff

and so for me, I want
people to know that as a winery,

we are people that
physically make the wine
with our own hands,

you know, I don't show up
in a polo short every day,

or a collared
shirt for that matter, and

you know,
swirl wine and taste barrels.

You know, it's-
I mean we do that but,

in our boots.

So, um it's not this

it's not all about
the tasting room front here.

You know, it's about, "hey
look here's a taste room

and here's the back room
and there it is."

I mean literally
my taste room's right there

and the winery's right here.

So, people get a tour

and the tour generally lasts
you know,

it takes about two minutes
to walk around the whole winery

and see it all. And this is it.

This is where it all happens.

The farmers market
approach is what people look for

in the products
that they consume.

So, they like knowing
where their lettuce came from,

they like knowing
where their beef came from,

they like knowing
where their wine came from.

We make a wine that
you can know where it came from

and it was made by a real person

and it's a wine
that's got a soul,

it's not a mass
marketed product,

but at the same time, it's still
affordable that you can

buy about a case,
or buy, you know, have
it Tuesday, have it Wednesday,

and then have
your last bottle on Saturday.

They want to be able
to have that experience

and know where
your stuff came from.

Doesn't have to be expensive.

These particular
barrels, while they're lovely
and beautiful,

have had, um, there's
a bit of sugar in them

so they actually haven't
finished primary fermentation.

Um, and the best way
to get that moving along

is to give them heat or
air or any number of things.

So we bring them outside
on beautiful days like this
and get them warmed up

and they finish...
They finish fermentation.

So, you can hear
that activity in there

is primary fermentation.

Yeah, so you just
want to stick your ear to it

as close as you can,
and try to really listen to

the barrel and make sure
that there is activity.

You want to hear
that snap, crackle and pop.

And when you hear that
and something's happening,

everything's fine.

If you don't hear it, then...

That's bad, that's it.

You know wine makes itself.
It's fermentation and it's
a really simple process.

And I think as a winemaker,

we're all trying
to do something different.

And you incorporate
your business acumen into that

and your
marketing acumen into that

and then you've got your
wine making part of it, um,

and at the end of the day
you want to make
a successful business

that's making a good wine
that you can sell
and market to customers.

But you know, you also have
to set yourself apart somehow

and I think it's
a really hard thing to do

because fermentation
and wine making

really is a very simple process.

So one of the things
I love about the amphora

is that
A, they're really pretty,

really pretty, and B,

um, it's a way to kind
of go back to the roots of wine

and try something,
it's not new by any means,

but it's not being
done a lot round here.

I do a little bit of Sauv Blanc

and then I've got
a couple of red amphora,

um, every year I try to add
one or two into my repertoire.

Might need another night, cool.

This is what it
looks like getting...

That's how far that's off.

Figuring out
how to set up a still

that doesn't
come with instructions.

We live in Paso Robles.

So, whatever's
locally abundant to us

is what we have to distill

and we have grapes everywhere.

You know, we have some
of the world's best Grenache,

Syrah, mourvèdre,
some beautiful varietals

that are begging
to be distilled down

into world class brandies.

So, right now what we're doing
is we're just

hooking the still together.

Outside we have
an 800,000 BTU an hour boiler,

that's going to generate steam,

that will pump into
the steam jacket of the still

to heat the wine, the beer,
whatever we're distilling down

and then we also have
two inline, seven ton chillers

to chill water to condense
all the alcohol vapor

generated by the still,
into a liquid.

And then it just comes
flowing out as pure love
out the other side.

Pure Brandy love.

The goal is here to take this
beautiful, botanical, sexy wine

and distill it into fruit
forward, botanical brandies.

So, guys would either
make roséout of these wines,

but some wineries like Saxom
just don't make roséat all.

So, we take all of that juice

and ferment and distill it down

into this beautiful,
sexy, botanical, rich brandy

that's boasting all
of the floral components

that were originally in the
Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre,

the cabernet sauvignon,

whatever we're distilling down.

So no longer is
the cognac region of France

the only place to get brandy.

Paso Roble is fantastic for it.

We're all trying to make
a living making wine, you know.

This is our dream to be
successful at making wine.

It's not easy to do that.

You know, we're
bouncing ideas of each other

and we're learning
from each other,

it's basically, like,
a 20 acre AP facility.

Believe it or not, I actually
like all these people.

They're pretty fun, so.

Yeah, you know, in Tin City,

we have this beautiful
sense of community.

One of the best
things are the people
that are here.

Almost everyone that's back here

are the owners
and the winemakers

and the accountants
and the delivery guy

and everything.
They wear a lot of hats.

But everybody's got
dirty shoes and dirty hands.

It's not all glitz
and glamor, you know,

this is
an industrial park, you know.

There's nothing that's meant

to overly glorify the process.

You know, here it is
what it's about, it's about

great people making great wines,
getting their hands dirty.

A lot of the people
that make wine in Tin City,

I was making wine either
in the their winery before

or we were at dinner together,

so yeah, Brian Benson and I,

we've been making wine together

for many, many years,

Torrin who's next door,

he was out at dinner.

Nicora, next door neighbor,
also out at dinner,

so yeah, a lot of these guys,

I buy fruit from Onx,

which is just
right across the road,

so I have an attachment

to pretty much everybody

that's in Tin City.

By nature, um

whether it was
intentional or unintentional

in the design, Tin City really

just forces
and encourages us all

to interact with each other.

Just the nature
of having all sorts of people

with lots of different
wine making experiences

who will pick
each other's brains

when issues come up.

If someone ever needs help,

we're all able
to just lend a hand,

and help someone process
through some tough times.

It's interesting in a way,
that everybody's coming

to talk to you all the time,

sometimes like oh
my gosh, I got to work

and then you know,
our neighbor will bring in
some awesome brandy,

so who can refuse?
A lot of these people in here,
they're not, like, competitors,

we're all in this together
and it feels really cool

to know that
we're like not competing.

It's like, if one of us
does good, we all do good.

If you need help
or you have a question,

there's not really any secrets.

We send each other business.

If a neighbor needs
some help hauling some grapes,

I'm not against
putting some grapes

on the back of my pickup
and hauling them down for them.

I just try to help people out,

just trying to pay it forward.

A ton of people helped me out

to get to where I'm at today.

To an open-minded person,
there is an incredible amount
to learn

from all of our neighbors here
and from ourselves.

And, you know, sometimes
you don't even realize

why you're doing something until
maybe one of your neighbors

asks you why you do it
that particular way.

Whether you're having
a beer with your neighbor or
you're talking about wine making

or you're talking about
whatever, you know.

Um, it's just there's
that creative energy
that just flows

through every little avenue
of Tin City and that's what
makes it really, really special.

I would say once
a week, Andrew from
Field Recordings,

since we're kind
of the two lone guys over here,

I mean, he walked in the door
one day into the tasting room

and he goes, "Can I go
get some paper plates?"

I said we don't have
any paper plates here,

I'm sorry, we don't have any.

He said "Yeah you do."
I said no we don't.

He said "Yeah you do."
He's like,

And he goes, "I'll go get 'em."

So, he went upstairs
and he comes down

with this huge
thing of paper plates.

I said, "Wha... How did you know
those were here?"

and he goes, "Oh,
I borrow them all the time."

Then he goes "Hold
on, I'll be right back."

So he ran over,

grabbed a four pack

of the Tin City cider,

and came in and just plunked it
down on the bar

and said, "Here's rent for
my plates upstairs."

So everybody's very
willing to help each other out.

One of our neighbors
here was getting some
barrels delivered

he wasn't around,
he had something else to do.
The barrels showed up.

Well they could have just
dumped them there in the heat.

And we said no,
we'll take them into our place

because we know he'll come,
and he's done us favors

and vice versa.

Not everybody owns everything,
like, you know there's...

Some of the people
right here on the cul-de-sac,
don't have a pressure washer,

there's a lot of cleaning and
washing in the wine business,

so folks will borrow
our pressure washer.

The other day we had to change
something on our fork lift

and we just didn't have
the right size ratchet

So, you know, one of the other
wineries had the right...

had the right piece
of equipment for that.

There's some winery equipment
that we don't like to share

because we want to make sure
where sanitation
is properly maintained,

but all in all,
I think it's pretty cool

when we can help each other out.

It's just like borrowing
sugar from your neighbor.

Like if, you know, we happen
to need something that day

we know we can go across the way

and somebody's got
our back and vice versa.

So, we happen
to have forklift extensions

and everybody
seems to use those.

This is Rainbow Dash,

we named her after
My Little Pony.

Not because I know
anything about My Little Ponies

but it just worked, so.

It's got like
My Little Pony key chain,

My Little Pony on the back,

and she's been a good girl.

She's a work horse.

We take care of her,
we keep her full of water

and well-oiled and we just give
her lots of love

and we try not to let
the boys play with her too much

'cause they're boys.

She's good.

No offense, I love you,
Guillaume, but they bought
this old junky forklift

and the thing died all
the time in the beginning.

He's since
upgraded his forklift.

But I think yeah, everyone
has a forklift story for sure.

I purchased
a grape press for myself,

hum and they're pretty big.

And my forklift wouldn't
lift it off of the trailer.

So we were out here in
the middle of the street

trying to figure out how I'm
going to get this grape press

off of the trailer, hum.

And while one of my neighbors
was kind of watching,

and waiting to see
what was going to happen,

and so I tried
to pick up the press

and it wouldn't
come off of the trailer.

The back of the forklift
started to lift of the ground.

Um, and so my neighbor came over

with his forklift,

a great guy here, Brian Benson,

and he pulled up
next to the trailer

and we kind
of straddled the trailer,

lifted the press up off,

and then somebody drove the
trailer out underneath the press

and we just kind of inched
it down onto the ground.

So you have
this big $30,000 press

hanging up in the air
about eight feet,

so that's a little
nerve wracking. Um...

But we came together
and we lowered the press down

and we pushed it
into the cellar here.

And it's just kind
of little things like that,

you know, that
help each other out.

I knew that I wanted
to start a brewery.

Um, we had been planning
for quite some time,

my business partner and I,
with our construction business,

where it's at, we knew we wanted
to jump into something else.

We knew it had
to be on the central coast,

and so I started
looking up and down the coast

and trying to find out you know,

unit prices for warehouses.

I saw so many other breweries

that were constantly
outgrowing their space

and redoing footings
or moving equipment

from this location
to that location.

And so we planned for
success out of the gate.

And our realtor at the time
was like, "You know what?

There's this other building.
It's not quite as visible

as the building
we were looking at,

but it's more square footage

and it's been vacant
for almost a year."

I'm like, "Alright,
I'll check it out."

We drove around the corner
and I saw the place

and I'm like oh, you know
I saw that on LoopNet,

it's way out of our price range.

She's like "Well,
it has been vacant for a year,

and I know
the owner's very motivated

because he needs
something in this area

to kind of pull the people in

and kind of, you know,
spark a fire here."

So I went ahead and I contacted
the owner direct,

and I says, "Hey, I'm really
interested in your space.

This is my plan,
I think it would be really cool

for the area and I think
it's going to bring people in."

And he's like, "I think so too,

we've been looking for,
he called it, 'an anchor'."

Jason had
a very interesting story

as how they were pursuing
the craft beer industry,

'cause they were modeling their
business plan after a little,

at the time, little known
brewery up in Petaluma.

And he goes, "Well, you've
probably never heard of it."

He goes, "It's a little
place called Lagunitas."

And my family's
tied to Lagunitas.

So it's kind of
an easy fit right there.

So I gambled
a win with those guys,

knowing that if they were
going to follow those guys
they'll do well.

And he wanted
to bring some energy in here,

some tourism in here which
is what we we're all about.

So he said, "Tell you what,
what can you afford?"

So I told him what
I could afford, he's like,
"That's not going to work,

"But what if we meet
somewhere in the middle?"

So, we negotiated back and forth

and we came up with something
that worked for everybody

and since then, I mean
it's just been full speed ahead.

The owner, Mike,
of this whole area,

he's very particular
on who he lets in.

Um, He's building hum,

He's building a community here,

it's not just a business for him

so personalities, quality's
really important to him.

Now this is a guy that
controls a huge aspect
of my life.

So I have to be, you know

pretty political
on how I describe Mike,

but Mike is like
the fun uncle that you had.

He's just a really classy guy.

The guy just
wants to do cool stuff

and build cool stuff
and he's been very successful
in the pool business.

All the fake,

like the rock climbing walls
in gyms, that's all him.

And so he moves down here
and buys this piece of land

because that's where, you know,
his business is based out of

and then has
the vision to do this.

He was going
to put a winery in himself,

like a co-op facility
and that didn't really work out

and he had, I mean down here,

there was like...
There was nothing down here.

I'd say two thirds of the
buildings were empty down here.
Or not built.

I've always had
the pioneer spirit

you know, build it
they will come.

So, I decided
to kind of subdivide this

into all these neat little lots

that we could have
some individual businesses

be successful and, you know.

Build this little community.

All these folks have
no idea about building at all

and have never really
dealt with the agencies

that you have to go through.

And just fortunately,

I've been building in
San Luis County for many years

and I know how
the processes work.

And so, it's a lot easier
for me to deal with the agencies

and get things to move along.

And we kind of
simplify that process.

He did all the leg work
for me to get my winery started.

Like, I literally
walked down to the county office

with a check for $73
and I walked out with
my winery permit.

And I was good to go. Um, so
that was really great for me.

I mean Mike did all the work
so that this could get started.

There's been
some amazing wineries

that, you know, trickled in
over that first year.

And they started
gaining traction,

and they would
play off of our draw

and then we would
play off their draw.
And then before you knew it

it seemed like
almost once a month,

a new winery was coming in

or a distillery or a cidery
or something really cool.

I worked with Guillaume
out at another French winery

on the west side
of Paso, called L'Aventure.

And he had a step down
and started his own label

here in Tin City.

And probably every other month

I would get a text
from him saying,

"You got to move in here!
I love this place!
You got to come!"

And so it was funny,

my wife and I, we got engaged

and right after we
got engaged, he said,

"There's one unit left,

if you want to come
and be in the neighborhood."

So we rushed down here
and we got home from Big Sur

and we signed the lease.

It was neat when Jacob
and Kelly were coming in,

they were so excited,
it was a big, big step for them

to take on this whole project

and be into, you know, being
a wine proprietor on his own.

He's an excellent winemaker, but
going into business is scary.

But they were so excited

that their excitement
actually overcame

all of their other anxieties

and they were here all the time,

watching how things...
everything was going together.

And really day by day 'cause
we build them pretty quick.

Every little step they were
just more excited, more excited.

Couldn't wait
to get their artwork

and Kelly's father built a lot
of their furniture in there

and friends who painted
all their paintings in there.

They couldn't wait
to get that stuff up

to show everyone.

He's done a really good job

getting like-minded
people down here

and regardless
if you're making ice-cream

or you're a chef
or you're making wine

or you're making cider
or you're distilling

or whatever you're doing,

that... that passion,
you know, is linear

and you know,
is found throughout all that.

A lot of times he would
come around and say, "Hey,
these people want to come down,

are they a good fit
for what we're trying to do?"

So he would build the building
and he wouldn't
lease it to anybody.

He would sit back
and wait for people to come

and approach him
and say "Hey, we want to rent."

And then so he'd go around
to some of the few wineries
that were established here

and say "Hey, are these people
good fits for us? "Is this what
we're wanting to do?"

And bring in these people.

And so, he was very
selective with who he chose

and that was important
in the beginning.

He really cares about
everyone that's in here

and he's really
worked hard to pay attention

to the different personalities
and everything else

that goes into making this
neighborhood a complete package.

And like he's got
a lot of vision.

He had, you know,
these grand visions of
what Tin City is now

and I... you know,

I thought he wasn't
going to pull it off

and by the time
I moved down here

it had already, you know,
80% of what he had hoped

was going to happen
had already happened.

I'm encouraged
and excited to think about

you know, what the next
few years bring.

And I think Tin
City's going to be the spot.

Everyone's going to be bummed
they didn't move into Tin City.

In the '90s,
Paso was a teeny tiny town.

There wasn't anything,
there wasn't an Albertsons

there wasn't a Target,
there wasn't restaurants

there wasn't anything.

Downtown Paso did not
look like Downtown Paso.

There wasn't Downtown Paso.

There was a park and there
were buildings around it

but it wasn't Downtown Paso.

Now it's Downtown Paso, you
know, there's all the energy,

there's the restaurants,
none of that existed.

I mean, I remember
my grandparents' vineyard
was out on the Eastside

and I remember just to go and
get something from the store,

you know, to the closest
thing you could buy anything

was a 45 minute drive.

I've seen the evolution
of Paso change you know

over my lifetime,
over the last 30 years.

Paso started as

you know, this really
aesthetically beautiful area

that, you know, a handful
of people were making wine in

and were very passionate
about what they were doing.

And now it's just exploded

into, you know,

one of the best grape
growing regions in California,

if not the best.

This was probably
about five years ago,

I started researching
and I started seeing

the influx of tourism,

the culture that
was being developed here

for, you know, artisan
foods and the wine

and just the music festivals

and it just seemed
like a really good fit

for what our plan was.

My dream has always
been to do very authentic

Italian variety wines

and you know, in doing so,

it was important
to me to find a place

that looks and feels like Italy.

And that's really,
I remember the first time

driving into Paso
and I just really said

this is so much like Italy.

I mean it looks so much
like Italy, so much more

than Napa and Sonoma,

my folks live up in Sonoma,

and it just felt right.

We looked for a place
that we could grow
Rhone varieties

and Paso Robles turned
out to be the ideal place

and a place where we could
get in on a ground floor

of a movement
of wine production,

not just the Rhone varieties,

but now Paso Robles
has become just oh...

One of the fastest growing,
if not the fastest growing

wine region in the country.

Certainly and very
well-respected

for the wines
that we're producing.

So this is the wine
that started it all for me,
named after my mom.

This is the Mary Jane's Cuvee.

It's a watercolor
of my grandmother's 130 year old

Victorian house on
the west side of Paso,

where I spent summers as a kid.

All my wines are named
after either my mom,

my three sisters
or my three nieces.

And now we also
have a wine in barrel

named after my mother-in-law
as well as my wife Kelly.

We're definitely
a matriarch family.

My grandma's the head of it.

I grew up with three sisters

and so growing up
with three strong females

definitely helped me
and spurred me on

to follow my dreams.

And so, when we had
an opportunity

back in 1999, 2000,

to get some grapes,
I decided to take the next step

and not just help
people make wine,

but actually start
my own label as well.

More wineries here
have grower producers

than anywhere in the world.

So that means the owner

is the same person
that's growing the fruit,

is the same person
that's making the wine,

so any given day you can walk in

and you can meet me,

and I grow the fruit
and yeah, I make the wine

and that's the same for
a lot of the places around here.

Whereas other areas, Napa,
Sonoma, fantastic wines,

but you're never going
to meet the winemaker, hardly,

or the owner or the vintner.

And they're probably
three different people.

Here, it's all the same person,

I think which makes
it special, you know.

A lot of us still drive a
tractor. We don't just...

Fly around the world and taste
our wines with people,

we're here farming every day.

I'm so happy that I chose
Paso Robles as the place

to grow grapes and produce wine

because I've been able to be

a part of the growth
of this area

and my brand
and I couldn't ask for more.

It's like
the wild west, you know.

There's no rules,
do whatever you want,

you can write your own history,

there is no right or wrong.

You know, it's really easy
to get caught up, and...

And do things because
that's the way everyone does it.

But if you don't ever take
any risks, you're never
going to have any fun.

It's not really very rewarding.
And I think people here
are really game to do that

and I think
that's not just Tin City

but I think that's
the Central Coast in general,

and that's why
it's so attractive,

I think for so many
people, for me for sure.

When we first got here,
it was a sleepy little
industrial sector.

Most people would call
the brewery and be like,
"I think I'm lost."

And we're like, "Drive two more
blocks you're almost there,
I promise you."

They're like "I don't know,
I don't feel safe."

So, there really
wasn't anything here.

And I would have
to say Barrel House

has been the keystone that
has made Tin City what it is.

I consider them to be like a,

you know, you have
your big store in the mall.

You know, barrel house
came here and set up.

They were kind of an anchor.

And now, various
other people have come in

so the energy, you know,
around here now

is far greater than it was.

I was one of the first
five wineries that moved in

and it's been amazing
to see what's happened

in the last, you know,
year or two years.

Lot of new stuff
though in general in Tin City,

like, from the quiet
warehouse space that it once was

to what we have now.

I mean, by the end of 2018,

we're going
to have two restaurants,

you know we have
unbelievable ice-cream creamery

that just specializes
in sheep's milk ice-cream

and Negrantis.

So many more non-alcohol

options in Tin City.
We're really close to having

the complete package.
Even for the dining options.

We're going to have
two restaurants here,
one of them being more

of your, like, classic tavern
bar food, pizzas,

small plates, full bar,

to having a full
blown fine dining experience

with Six Test Kitchen
moving in later in 2018.

I think with
the addition of the restaurants

and then the new tasting
menu restaurant coming in.

That's going to add a whole
another level of intricacy
and complexity to the area

and it's going to be really
a place where you can just

come and stay for the day.

Excited to see where it goes
but I don't...

Right now, I don't know
if it has a ceiling.

Right from the get go
we had a great reputation.

Everybody was excited
about what we were doing

but the better the beer got,

the bigger the buzz got.

It looks like it's cracked!

It was locals
kind of trickling in

and then all of a sudden
it was locals trickling in

from San Luis Obispo,

And then before you know it,

you know three quarters
of our patrons

on a busy, busy weekend,
are from Los Angeles
and the Bay area.

We've seen some articles
in magazines and newspapers
that have hit,

Tin City was mentioned
in the New York Times once.

As a result, we're just
getting more and more

random travelers coming through,

and beer, just like wine, is
becoming kind of a destination.

So people will know
they're going through an area

and they'll say, "Oh, I want
to make sure I hit this, this

and this when I got through."
And so it's fun to be
on people's list now.

The people that are coming here

definitely are people that
are intrigued and are interested

and wanting a new
exciting place to come.

But they're yet, they're in tune
with the wines and they already
have their palettes,

they're looking for something
new. A lot of the people
are coming down here,

have been to Paso before,
they've done Vineyard Drive,

they've been up in Adelaida,
they've probably even
gone out on the Eastside

out on 46 East,
so they've already done

all the little
secret wineries and vineyards

that are out in the country,

So, they're happy to come
here and try out something new.

We get so many different people,

I've had people
come in from New York,

I've had people come in from
down the street in Atascadero.

I've had people come in
who are, like,

literally 90 years old
and, like, were sauced,

and, like, some fall
asleep in their car

in the front of my driveway.

And then I've had
like people who I ID'd

and they were 18,
trying to drink,

So, I mean it's super fun
because we have this
wide demographic of people

and I think that
the real common threat

is that they're
young in the mind and
they're looking for, like,

something that's really fun and
that doesn't say, like,

doesn't make you sweat down
your back when you walk
into a tasting room

and you're, like, "Oh faux pas."
Like, "I don't want
to say the wrong thing."

Like there's no rules in Tin
City, it's all about like fun,

and I think that's
attractive to a wide demographic

so it's been pretty cool.

Any time you are
not trying to improve

and change and do
something different,

you're getting worse by default

'cause everyone
else in the industry

is always trying
to improve and change and tweak.

So, for our part, we're
always trying some new yeasts,

trying some new to us
or maybe just different,

very old techniques.
We've been playing around

with the amount
of whole cluster we do

or saving a little
bit more of viognier

to co-ferment
with different reds

that we might be bringing in.

As many things we do
in life, we just get better
with practice,

we get better with time,

we get better
understanding our vineyard,

we get better
understanding the practices

we use in the winery,
the barrels we use,

whether we use indigenous yeast

or whether we use cultured yeast

and what works
best for what varieties.

So, we're always
striving for the very best

that we possible
can produce at Caliza.

We're looking at
future acquisitions of vineyards

and if we can grow into another
one of the buildings here

that'd be fantastic, so

you know, it would be hard
for me to predict a case count,

but, you know, if we doubled
in size or tripled in size

in the near future,
I wouldn't be surprised.

I think what's
the goal for the 10 years coming

is continue to build the winery,

and finally we just
purchased a vineyard,

just working on that,
planting the way I want,

and doing all the things,
you know, I started to learn

from my dad
and doing it in my own vineyard.

Because you always
say to other vineyards,

"Oh, can you do this,
can you do this,"
sometimes is annoying for them,

because, you know, it's
more money to spend.
It's things like that.

So, what I think will be my end
goal is to re-track every vine

like I always dreamt
on my own, you know, home,

because I will have my home too.

I think eventually,
our ultimate goal

is to buy a property,
plant our own vineyard,

get back out to where I grew up,

back on Willow
Creek Road hopefully,

and own a facility out there.
But I think this...

may even stay our tasting room
at that point you know,

maybe just do
a production facility

and a vineyard out there.

Our future has no end in sight.

We just want to keep rolling.

And our new still is going
to allow us to do that.

We're upping our production

from say 10 gallons
of high proof spirits a day

to 80 because we can't
keep it on the shelf.

You know, we have our brandies

in about 60 different
small craft bars and restaurants
throughout California now.

And the reality is we can't make
enough brandy to be everywhere.

We can only make enough to be
in the places we want to be.

But not over the top.
We always want to be
that craft distillery.

We always want to be the guys
making quality over quantity

and, you know, I don't want
people to go thirsty,

we have to make more.

Wine is everything.

It's food, it's
the weather outside,

it's where
the vineyards planted,

it's science, although
I don't like the science

or the chemistry part,
it is part of it.

It's definitely artistic,

it's a way that I can, like,

grab something

and, like, express
myself through it

which is a huge, huge deal.

Most importantly,
it brings people together

and it just pumps
me up to make something

that I can, like put
in a bottle, hand someone

and when they walk away
I'm like, they're walking out
with a piece of me.

When you're outside
of your local town

and you see somebody
with a shirt on or a hat, or...

They say, "Hey, I notice you
have a Barrel House shirt on,

how often do you
go to the place?"

Or, "Do you work there?",
or you know.

It always sparks a conversation.

And usually somebody
has a fond memory

of a time they
visited the place.

And it's cool when people
have that emotional connection,

like, "Oh, I met
my brother-in-law,

we always go down there
every Christmas eve."

Or, "We always do this or that."
Or it's just a place

that's kind of near and dear
to their heart, um.

That's when you know
that it's actually working,

so that's what, you know,
makes me tick

and makes it fun for me.

It's a lot more
than just making wine, and...

I mean it's...
There's a lot of thought.

It's a very difficult business,

I mean, you have to know
stuff about agriculture,

and production
and science and marketing

and selling and bookkeeping.

Between my wife and I,

and our assistant winemaker,

I mean,
we literally do everything here,

but we were responsible
for our own success.

Caliza, take one, mark.

- It's here now.
- Okay. Well, I'm Aaron Jackson,

I'm the winemaker here at Aaron
Wines and Acoria Vineyards,

two brands that I make wine for.
Actually, that didn't
sound right.

Cause I don't make
wine for them, I own them.

He's just good people. So, yeah
I got, he's awesome, yeah.

Definitely not going to say
he's a douche on camera.

No just kidding. No, he's not,
he's like the nicest guy ever.

So, the whole Tin City project
started probably back in...

- Over here.
-Oh yeah, that's right.
You can cut that out, right?

- It's easy to have your
eyes wander but I'll
-Right.

- Remind you. Come back here.
- Right.

Any stories about tasters?

People looking in
to like that you can...

I mean we've had a lot of girls
show their boobs at Wine Shine,

but I don't think that's
appropriate for, you know.

And that wasn't really
my thing, 'cause I'm married.

But you know, Patrick.

Okay, can I
Snapchat you guys please?

- Yeah.
- Yes please.

All right, Snapchat take one.

Snappy chatty.

Everybody, Snapchat, Tin City.

Drinking rosé.

So nothing gets wasted
at Wine Shine, besides us.

I love the sound of that.

Okay. Stu!

- Stu.
- Okay.

It's actually Stew.

But Americans can't say Stew.

- Stew?
- Yeah.

- Stewart right?
- Stewart.

But that "ch", it's not there.

- Americans just...
- We turn it
into a dang ooh.

"St, st", so it's
not Stu, it's Stew.

- Stew, yeah?
- And... Anyway.

It's like being called Cara and
if your name's fucking Karen,

- is all I could say.
Live with that. Anyway.

About the diversity
of the purchase of wines.

- It's Mike English.
- Oh is it really?

- Yeah.
- -Oh cool, we heard all about him today.

- He's just...
- I've never
met him actually.

He's just rolling up
into our interview.

- Dude, what's up, Mike?
Get the hell out of here.

- Alright.
- Don't want to be in my shoes, you know.

Living the nightmare,
we're selling the dream.

You know, that's how it is.

Everyone's like, "Oh
man, I'd love your job."

You want to work
70 hours a week,

you want to go muscle
round all that, go for it.

And then I'm like what do
you do? Brain surgeon, great!

Give me a scalpel, man,
I'll go in there

and we'll switch
jobs for a little bit.

What's Mike English like?

I've never met him.

He's a very good guy. He's
bitchin', I would say that.

- He's a bitchin' guy.
- Do you have any tricks

to how you pick your names?

Wait till the last minute.

No, I don't have any tricks.

I'm going to say I'm
really bad at just trailing on

so, I'm assuming
you can make it sound

like there's an actual
conclusive remark
in anything I say.

I get calls every week
from somebody that's, you know,

got some brilliant idea
and they live in Manhattan

and they want to release
their first canned wine.

- Hey, quit it.
- Oh shit.

- That's okay.
- Did I just help with...

Shit.

- Yeah, you can.
- Maybe something.

And I ended up living in
the San Francisco Bay area

that's where I met my wife.

Oh, what was that?

What was that little noise?

- Sounds like our equipment.
- -It sounds like a frog.

Sounds like a frog, it
literally sounds like a frog.

I have no idea,
I've never seen a frog in here.

I could tell
a really gruesome story,

that door fell on
my assistant winemaker

- three harvests ago and snapped his leg in half.
- -Oh, my God!

And it came through his pants

and ambulance took him away.

Planning three acres
of pinot noir, that was...

Uh oh, hang on.

Hey!

We're trying to make
a video here!

I don't come
to Tin City on my days off.

I don't, I'm sorry.
I love Tin City but I... mm mm.

Mm mm.
I'm not coming here on
my day off. You kidding me!

Well, sometimes I wonder
how he gets anything done

when he talks so much. But
he's great at what he does.

Do you know
you're in the frame right now?

Oh I'm sorry.

You see all
these cameras pointing at you?

I'm just kidding.