VINO LAS VEGAS makes a stop in the Edna Valley with a visit to Claiborne&Churchill

We have traveled through the beautiful Edna valley in the past. Located outside of San Louis Opispo , it is worth a visit.

Claiborne&Churchill is a must stop. This is a a small, family owned and operated winery, founded in 1983. They make excellent Alsace style wines and specialize in premium dry wines made from Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Gris grapes, as well as handcrafted Pinot Noir from several nearby vineyards.

They also produce small lots of other wines, including a Dry Muscat, Chardonnay, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sparkling Brut Rose, and a Port-style wine.





Owners Claiborne (Clay) Thompson and Fredericka Churchill. have an incredible story of their journey to own a winery. They are both former teachers at the University of Michigan and left for the vineyards of California in 1981 in order to start a new life in the wine industry. Clay began as a "cellar rat" in a local winery, learning the business from the ground up and soon they started their own wine production in that host facility.











In 1995 Clay and Fredericka took their dream one step further and completed construction on their new and permanent winery building. The structure is an example of environmental architecture, a "straw bale building," the first of its kind in California. With sixteen-inch thick walls made of bales of rice straw, the winery is so well insulated that it maintains a constant cellar temperature, without the need for mechanical cooling or heating.











The winemaker at Claiborne&Churchill is Coby Parker-Garcia. We
have met Coby in the past and have always been impressed with him. Coby is one of the young winemakers that have made a name
for themselves in this industry dominated in the past by Legends. We used to describe Coby as a young and up-coming winemaker. That description in our opinion no longer applies. Coby is young but he has arrived has a home at Claiborne&Churchill.


He had great knowledge of old world style winemaking and it shows in his wines. Like a true artist, he is not afraid to experiment with different varietals and blends. Coby has great future ahead of him and we will be hearing much more about him in the future




Join Scott from VINO LAS VEGAS as he speaks with Coby about how he got started in the industry and his current projects in the tasting room at Claiborne&Churchill. For more information about these great wines, please go to Claibornechurchill.com.