Cal Poly San Luis Obispo University has a growing Wine & Viticulture program that has developed rapidly over the past several years. Last year was the inaugural vintage in the new pilot winery on campus and just this spring, a major overhaul of their 12-acre vineyard replaced a majority of the Pinot Noir and a large portion of the Chardonnay while adding several rows of Tempranillo. 

This is great news for the program which will now have four estate-grown grape varieties to produce Cal Poly wines. Cal Poly wines were first made at Wild Horse Winery before finding a new home at Orcutt Road Cellars in 2005 working with winemaker Christian Roguenant.

I was fortunate to be chosen as the 2008 student winemaker. Fruit quality was excellent that vintage thanks to the Mark Welch and Keith Patterson. The Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah were all made with 100% Cal Poly Vineyard. These wines will be available for sale next year, along with the Mustang Red and a newly created Mustang White (the new blends are a surprise, sorry). Another new addition and first for Cal Poly wines is a red dessert wine, a blend of 78% Zinfandel, 11% Syrah, 9% Tempranillo, and 3% Souzao. This wine, called the Poly Royal, has just been released in conjunction with the 2007 vintage wines.