3940 Laurel Canyon Blvd. #298, Studio City, CA
warsonwine.com
Region: Santa Ynez Valley and Los Angeles County
Owner: Paul Warson
Winemaker: Paul Warson
About: Paul Warson grew up in Los Angeles, attended UC Davis where he eventually studied Fermentation Science. Before his final year, he worked at a sparkling winery in Carneros, where he decided he would spend his career doing what he did for his summer vacation. Upon completion of his degree, he was invited back to see “the other side of things.”
Feeling he needed a change of perspective, Paul traveled to Australia, where he lived and worked for six months. With the change in varietals, climate, and overall attitude to winemaking, Paul discovered a different approach to the craft he studied and trained in for so long. Desiring to seek outside perspectives to winemaking, when Paul returned to California, he worked at Chateau Potelle, back when it was owned by both Jean-Noel and Marketta Fourmeaux and sat atop Mount Veeder. It was here Paul integrated his schooling, his experience from Australia, along with what he learned from the owners: that with each wine that is created, the winemaker has an intimate commitment to both the wine and the consumer, to craft wines that are distinctive and true to their place.
After working an additional nine years in Napa Valley, a conversation with Bill Foley brought Paul Firestone Vineyard, in the Santa Ynez Valley, where he was winemaker and General Manager for nine years. By this time, estate vineyards had become Paul’s specialty, and he was able to elevate all of the tiers for each winery he worked for.
Warson Wine Company started as a need Paul felt he had to fulfill. An inner call, to again make wine on his terms, for people to enjoy, but now with the fruit he chooses. There’s so much on the horizon for Warson Wine Company. I invite you to follow us in all that we do.
What is your favorite undiscovered grape? Petit Verdot. I have worked with it since 2003. It, along with Malbec and and Cabernet Franc, make far more interesting wines than Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. While it can provide massive tannins, that is part of the fun of the variety. To create a balanced wine, yet not over-extracted. It is a variety that can test and challenge a winemaker.
What was your first experience with an undiscovered grape? For PV, it was in 2003. The winery I worked at had grafted over some Chardonnay to Malbec, Cab Franc, and PV. I was the Assistant Winemaker, and the Winemaker decided to treat all three varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Now, the CF and MB turned out fine, but the PV was huge! It was angular, aggressive, tannic, and almost unusable. It smelled pretty, but for all the blends for that vintage we could not use more than 2% in any blend without it becoming too tannic and aggressive or just generally disjointed. The following vintage, the winemaker pretty much threw his arms up in the air, giving up, and asked if I had any ideas on what to do with the Petit Verdot. I said I had a few ideas, mostly from what I saw in Australia and how the winemaker at Rosemount treated is high end Shiraz. To cut to the chase, it worked well. It involved a lot of cold soaking and new French Oak. What surprised me was how beautiful the wine was on its own. It provided an amazing structure to the final wine that I can only liken to liquid velvet, and has proven to many that Petit Verdot does not need to be a wine used sparingly in a blend.
What do you love most about the undiscovered grapes? That they buck the trends. That they offer an opportunity to learn, and to expand one’s understanding of what wine is, and why they may enjoy it.
