Welcome to the New Winery Information Page

A site dedicated to informing you about the features & accoutrements of Le Cuvier's new home as it is built from the ground up.

Stay tuned for important opening information....

Progress Report: A successful (albeit stressful) tasting room opening (read all about it on John's blog)

Your "club house" - At long last our tasting room is open for Elliptical Society members & guests. Mary Fox, the "eye" behind the room's design, has outfitted the room with a tasteful selection of furniture & service areas. What visitors will notice on arrival are the bright Provencal-inspired colors - and no bar! Walk up to one of the serving tables & enjoy Le Cuvier's fine wines & hors d'oeuvres. Then soak in the views from the large picture windows & doors. A large oak tree looms over a small picnic area - soon to be landscaped for your enjoyment. The staff agrees this has been well worth the wait, & we hope you agree.
  

A simply smashing crush pad - The production area of our new winery, situated on the second level, will be the heart of operations, as this is where our winemakers will display their vinous skills & know-how. In short, this is where they toil. The crush pad, appropriately, is where grapes are de-stemmed & crushed at harvest time. It will be located immediately adjacent to a nattily decorated fermentation room, painted gaily in lively shades of red & purple. Reminiscent of wine, yes? Our open-top fermentation tanks, pictured here, are right at home in their new home. Club members will be able to safely observe activities in the production area from the tasting room above on the third level - something of a relief to forklift-driving winemakers who sweat over the thought of bumping into things other than picking bins & pallets. The production area is also spacious enough to host larger events, where we'll all be able to flex our elbows & walk about in amiable fashion while tasting wines & enjoying paired hors d'oeuvres.

A Kitchen Worthy of Fine Pairings - The photo at left shows the assorted pieces of what will eventually be the ventilation system of the future tasting room kitchen. This equipment is required for a commercial kitchen, one that we will use with creative fervor to enhance our wine & food pairing experiences. Over the years we've treated guests to unique hors d'oeuvres carefully selected & prepared for our wines. This practice will continue, of course, & built upon, we hope, with opportunities to expand food & wine pairing events & activities for the Elliptical Society. Our wine club manager, Tiani Bajema, is the driving force behind our food pairing program & she looks forward to taking charge of this new facility. Maybe we'll get her to wear a chef's toque (or not)! 

A Room for Library Wines - Le Cuvier has been collecting wines made by John Munch from vintages dating back to the early 1980s. The cumulative effect is a collection of bottles numbering in the thousands (approximately 6,000 to be specific). This stash of Library Wines has been largely untapped, save for a few library wine dinners each year. So, needless to say, we are extremely excited that our new facility will include a special home for these bottles. In this picture, Diane (our Promotion pedaler) is looking up from the "hole" which will eventually be our Library Room. It will sit directly under the tasting room, in an appropriately dark & mysterious corner cooled by the earth into which it is built. We look forward to luring small groups of Elliptical Society members into the deeper recesses of the winery for special tastings of rare & highly valued wines. In addition, our future Library Wine Program will feature events, such as special monthly pourings & vertical tastings.

A Room With A View - Visitors to wine country love a view, & our new location will offer a vast one. The tasting room will sit atop a scenic mountain ridge above Adelaida Road, only 4 miles from downtown Paso Robles. The half-mile long road leading to the site climbs about 200 feet up to John & Mary's home property. Upon reaching the top (1381 feet elevation), visitors are greeted by sweeping views of the Salinas River basin northeast & west of Paso Robles. The tasting room will feature a relaxing porch upon which to soak in the wine country atmosphere.

Club members who have joined us for dinners at Las Puertas Elipticas, John & Mary's home, already know the grandeur ambience of the area. "We...felt like visiting royalty at your castle on the hill" - Phyllis P. from Lake Tahoe.

The Basics: From the Ground Up, A Barrel Room - Le Cuvier derives its name from the French, meaning "little barrel room." The pictures here show our construction crew finishing the floor of what will be Le Cuvier's future "little barrel room." Located on the new facility's bottom tier, it will be the first structure guests see as they climb the road up to the home property. Because it is being built into the hillside, we'll benefit - ecologically & economically -from the natural cooling provided by hillside storage.The room will be just large enough to hold the barrels we currently store at our existing winery. It will provide a cozy space to entertain our members for barrel tastings.