Happy Friday folks and welcome to Part 2 of my Q&A with Maggie Tillman of Alta Colina Winery. If you missed Part 1 you can catch that here. Have a great Easter weekend.
Matt: Favorite wine related experience (which may have nothing to do with actually drinking wine)?
Maggie: Among my very favorite wine-related things are the people in the Central Coast wine community. This question made me think of Thursdays on the patio at Villa Creek listening to One Time Spaceman, running into friends at 15C, summer nights playing Bocce Ball at Faith’s house, hot afternoons floating on our irrigation pond, coozies-in-hand! We’re insanely lucky in the company we keep around here.
Matt: Favorite thing about Paso? Least Favorite?
Maggie: My favorite thing? Hmmm…please disregard the redundancy of this answer. My favorite thing is probably the people! My least favorite thing? There’s nowhere to get delicious pho. And sometimes I’m too sweaty in July.
Matt: If you’re not drinking wine what are you drinking?
Maggie: Beer or tea.
Matt: Favorite time of year at the winery and/or in the vineyard?
Maggie: Each season has its virtues. I love the weeks after bud break and at the very end of the growing season. When canopies are full, the hillsides are a uniform sea of green. The beginning and end of the growing season though, that’s when you can see block breaks and soil variation more easily. Vineyards give themselves away those times of year.
Matt: Favorite wine and food pairing?
Maggie: Any combo that tastes delicious! I love trying varieties and producers I’ve never heard of. Most often I’ll find either a wine or a dish I’m excited about and ask the guidance of the restaurant staff.
From a completely self-serving perspective, I have a couple favorite pairings of our own wines and local dishes! Claudia Cuvee Marsanne and the grilled octopus at Il Cortile. GSM and duck nachos at Villa Creek. Toasted Slope Syrah and the flatiron steak at Artisan. And our Baja Colina Roussanne and the lamb tartare at Foremost. Delicious!
Matt: Favorite spot to hangout in Paso?
Maggie: Depends on my mood and the weather. When it’s warm out, you’ll find me on a patio somewhere! Maybe Villa Creek, Artisan, or Thomas Hill. If it’s beer o’clock 15C or the Pour House. I love a good hangout on my patio at home too.
Matt: Favorite non-Paso wine region in the world?
Maggie: There are so many places I want to visit! Trips to Barossa, McLaren Vale, and Mendoza have yielded some of my favorite winery visits so far.
Matt: What other local wineries/ winemakers are you intrigued by?
Maggie: So many people! So many vineyards and wineries!
Stephan and Beatrice Asseo of L’Aventure are my heroes! They both work ridiculously hard and they’ve generously worked with and inspired so many in our industry. There are lots of people I want to be like when I grow up and the Asseos are at the top of the list.
I’m also very proud to call some other kick-ass wine women not only my peers but my friends. Riley Hubbard (asst. winemaker at Law Estate Wines), Amy Butler (owner/winemaker of Ranchero Cellars), Brandi Stansbury and Erica Crawford (dir. of communications and hospitality manager at Linne Calodo), Faith Wells (PR maven at Epoch Estate Wines), Karlie Higginbotham (asst. TR manager at Epoch), Tamara Crater (sales at Francis Ford Coppola wines), Danielle Shaw (asst. winemaker at Desparada), Maggie Cameron (club manager at JUSTIN and Landmark), Stacie Jacob (Solterra Strategies), Jennifer Porter (PRWCA), so many more. Paso’s wine community bolsters the dreams and careers of some great people including an incredible group of smart women. I love being a part of it.
Thanks again Matt!
You are very welcome, Maggie!! 🙂