Linne Calodo, Paso Robles, CA
This is a part of our Winery Down Wednesday series, a simple way to discover a new winery every Wednesday with a casual write-up directly from me, Orson Hall (owner of Wine Tours by Design).
‘Linne Calodo’ (pronounced 'lynn-eh ka-lod-o') is the name of the distinct limestone-based soil type found in the Willow Creek AVA, high in calcium and marine fossils, perfect for GSM varietals.
In 1998 Matt and Maureen Trevisan started Linne Calodo with a dream and a vision to produce wines from the westside of Paso Robles. Matt and his college roommate, Justin Smith, started off picking fruit from his family’s vineyards using the Wild Horse Winery facility after hours. Many days they would pick fruit in the early morning. Then, Matt would go to work at Wild Horse at 9 am and finish around 10 pm. After everyone left for the day, they start processing the fruit for Linne Calodo and complete cleaning around 2 am. He practically lived at the winery! In fact, Matt lived in his car for a period of time in the Wild Horse vineyard. He was too busy helping Wild Horse expand both case production and facilities that he had little time to look for a place to sleep.
Matt and Maureen found a property in late 1999 and moved into the existing residence and by 2002 they had a fully functioning winery. They celebrated the Grand Opening and the first Linne Calodo Harvest Party that year.
Their enclave sits within the Estate’s organically/dry-farmed vineyards which live in harmony with the surrounding woodland. Matt’s winemaking style is a balance of science and art, not shy of experimentation and altering his approach to work with each vintage. Volumes are extremely low, but all the reds and whites are sold out in their entirety every year. They have some of the best wines in the Paso area.
One of Matt’s many hobbies is to produce olive oil from the Linne Calodo Estate, which he c-presses with good friend and Saxum owner (and LC co-founder), Justin Smith.
On our last tour, we tasted five of their 2019 estate red wines, and treated to their 2016 Nemesis and 2016 Perfectionist library wines (usually sold only to their wine club members). Nemesis is their Syrah dominant blend with 40% new French Oak and exhibits a velvet mouthfeel and rich dark fruit. The Perfectionist is their counterpoint Syrah blend, aged exclusively in concrete tanks so the tannin comes entirely from the skins and stems giving it an almost linear structure and chalky tannins. We were also treated to a couple of their Slacker wines. Every wine was delicious! It was a memorable tasting and Linne Calodo was voted the best experience on our 6 ½ day tour.
