Paul’s
Story . . .
Wine should be very pure and natural. The only thing
synthetic about our wine is the plastic cork, so you never have to worry about
getting a “corked” wine. We drink more of our wine than anyone else, we want it to be healthful and nutritious. We
guarantee our wine.
BUT . . . it has to be distinctive wine. Wine with full, rich flavor. Wine that makes food and
friends better. Wine that brings dismay when you find the
bottom. Wine that makes music in the glass,
sings on the tongue to tell where it grew. Wine you can afford to drink. Wine
made by Paradisos del Sol.
Paradisos is the Spanish derivative of pairidaēza,
Persian پردیس (pardis)
for a “walled enclosure,” from pairi “around”
+ diz “form, shape.” It originally comes from
Ancient Greek παράδεισος (paradeisos
“Persian garden”). It is a word that goes back to 400 B.C. and refers to
beautiful, irrigated gardens walled off from the desert. When I walk through a
vineyard, I feel I am in a paradise.
We are a small family-owned winery, using grapes primarily
from our Vineyard del Sol near Sunnyside. We also use grapes from other small
family vineyards in the Yakima Valley.
Paradisos del Sol is an
expression of my soul. The winery is not named for me (even though I am plenty
arrogant!), because it is more than just my sweat in a bottle of Paradisos Red.
I have help tending the vines, lots of different sweat irrigates our paradise.
My wife
We are believers in letting the grapes become wine. We are
Winegrowers not Winemakers. Our job is to eat grapes and imagine what wine they
wish to be—then provide the best conditions for the transformation into great
wine. Sometimes we use barrels, sometimes tanks. Most often a barrel is the
cocoon where the juice transforms into a dry table wine. Sometimes the wines
yearn to be sweet and luscious and a temperature-controlled tank is the cocoon.
(But then Angelica is sweet, luscious, and barrel-fermented [it’s just
complex]).
Based at our farm in Zillah, Paradisos is a mostly estate
winery. Grapes are crushed and wines are bottled at neighborhood wineries.
As one of Washington’s most experienced enologists, my
first venture into wine was with blackberries in 1968. I have made my living
via fermented grapes since 1983 and I have collected pay from over 10 Northwest
wineries (sometimes working for wine!).
I love the way wine can express the influenced on its
development. How its roots grow, the way the sun strikes the leaves. Prevailing wind, the slope of the hill, the work of the viñador. What the French call terroir, and we call mesoclimate.
Great wine is grown not made. As a terroirest,
I let the wine be what it is, not adjusting pH and acidity to some textbook
standard.
I have been an organic gardener since shortly after birth.
I was at Badger Mountain Vineyard when it became Washington’s first certified
organic vineyard, and was at Worden’s Winery to produce the first organic wine
in the state. Now we are working to bring you the best wine our grapes can
become. We guarantee our wine, period.
To help keep the planet green, we use only clear glass,
recyclable everywhere. Our packaging is 100% recyclable, please do!
For over twenty years I have had a vision of a traditional
wine estate growing wine and food for my and other families. My vision is of a
home at Paradisos del Sol for the elevation of grapes
to the elixir of the gods—WINE!
My pleasure in gatherings of kith and kin, for food and
wine, drives my desire to share this experience. What better way than to
provide the wine for your next Gathering!
Winegrower
COME TASTE PARADISE!
Paradisos
del Sol
www.paradisosdelsol.com
3230 Highland Drive
Zillah, WA 98953
509.829.9000
509.829.5590
Updated 10/11/07