ALTIPIANO VINEYARD & WINERY
20365 Camino del Aguila, Escondido, CA 92025
Phone: (760) 839-7999
Online: www.altipianovineyard.com
Email: altipianovineyardandwinery@gmail.com
Tasting Room Hours: Saturday – Sunday, 12:00 - 6:00 pm
Reservations: Walk-ins are welcomed. Groups over eight should call to make a reservation. Private wine tastings available by appointment. Call for info.
Wine club membership available
From the ashes of the Witch Creek Fire sprang a winery of Italian grapes, stewarded by Denise Clarke, San Diego’s first and, to date, only Black woman winemaker. The Italian villa setting is a perfect place to enjoy wine outdoors year-round. There are four rooms with private entrances that can be rented if one wishes to enjoy a longer stay in the area. After my initial visit I am already dreaming of and will return for the Aglianico, a difficult to find grape in California.
The drive-up to Altipiano on this lightly rainy afternoon in Escondido is a turn from Highland Valley Rd where I follow a small winding tree-lined road. I soon arrive at a Tuscan-style villa with multiple outdoor patios covered by canopies and umbrellas and interlaced with fountains and fire pits. The property is clearly outfitted for enjoying the outdoors year-round. The indoor tasting room entrance is marked by a fountain decorated with cherubim. When I open the door, I am welcomed to take one of the several seats at the tasting bar. The exuberant winemaker, Denise Clarke, is pouring and that makes me happy since I always have questions. I feel like I am immediately made family. Adjacent to the tasting room is an enclosed winemaker’s library with a gathering in progress.
Wine tasting is $35 for three 3-ounce pours, giving a generous sampling of some of the best wines produced here. From a list of five choices I choose the Estate Sangiovese, the 100% Syrah sourced from Poway’s Old Coach Vineyard, and the 100% Aglianico sourced from this same vineyard. A couple Merlot choices are also available, one from nearby Starvation Mountain Vineyard. Several library wines are only available by the bottle.
These red wines are sumptuous and refined. Full-bodied with the right acidic core. Plums and mulberries and figs and olives dance across my palate, with the Aglianico offering that something extra in the finish, a revealed pocket of flavor. The Syrah conceals violet pastille in a rich framework. If one is primed for juicy reds, one would not go wrong sipping on these beauties in any setting. The company at the bar are regulars and enjoy every minute of these wines. Denise, the winemaker and owner narrates the selections and her husband, Peter, drops in from the library to talk with me about the winery. I notice that each of the wine descriptions include a recommended song. Denise says that she hears music in winemaking, a song and a rhythm to the entire process and the tagline from Peter for the winery is “the music of wine”.
Denise and Peter Clarke purchased the 500-acre property in 1997 when it was an avocado grove. Ten years later, the Witch Creek Fire of 2007 wiped out the avocados and the couple were left with major decisions. A birthday trip to Tuscany that year gave them inspiration. Denise, an adventurous Air Force veteran who had worked in government human resources, decided to go all-in on learning winemaking from the ground up. In the former avocado groves, she planted 3,600 vines the following year, mostly Italian Brunello and Barbera. In 2012 the winery released its first wine. Besides the two varieties planted, the winery specializes in Italian varietals like Primitivo, Nero D’Avola, Arneis, and Aglianico with some Syrah, Zinfandel, Merlot, and Petite Sirah made from time to time. These varietals are most often sourced from county vineyards. They are barreled for 18 months or more in French, Hungarian, Boswell Kentucky, and Minnesota barrels amongst others.
Denise has elevated the industry as being the only Black woman running a winery in San Diego County. She has won numerous awards at festivals including a Double Gold at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. Her fascinating story is best described at this PBS episode of Fresh Glass.
I so recommend spending an afternoon sampling these meticulously created and powerful red wines and perhaps you will meet Denise and Peter. Denise’s winemaking achievements have brought renown to the area and are amongst the first to showcase the characteristics of Highland Valley wine.
MAKE SURE TO TRY: Altipiano Estate Sangiovese. 100% Estate Brunello Sangiovese, Highland Valley, San Diego County.
Every kind of cherry, wrapped up in a core of spiced strawberry and potpourri. Berry-forward, enticing the palate by measure with each sip adding another dimension of herbs, earth, and fruit leather.