The Story Behind Cypher Winery

Cypher is the latest project between myself and my long time business partner Susan Mahler aka Sam. It is my new creative wave pushing the envelope again. I want to continue what I started with the Freakshow and focus on the art of high-end winemaking moving forward. When I started working on the ideas that would become the Freak wines, I was working with some amazing and unique vineyards that I NEEDED to make wine from. Killer sites make killer wines. Anarchy, Peasant and Phoenix were all right on the cutting edge. My only limitation was vine age (young vineyards) and limited supply. There were other things I wanted to do as well, which included planting new vineyards to get the fruit I needed. I worked with two of my favorite growers: the Hofers of Kiler Canyon Vineyard and the Brays of Alta Vista Ranch. Both sites are in Kiler Canyon on the West side of Paso and already produce the grapes that make up Anarchy, Peasant and Phoenix. Don Hofer is a chemist/mad scientist and together we planted an ultra high density, high tech vineyard next to his existing Syrah vineyard. The new planting with Don included Grenache, Mourvedre and Tempranillo. Ken & Doris Bray cleared 18 acres of Almond trees to plant Mourvedre, Grenache, Tannat and Zinfandel and train them as old school head pruned vines. So we have the best of both worlds; old and new style, planted in the most amazing hillside calcareous soil Paso has to offer. That was 6 years ago, meaning these plantings are now mature and producing gorgeous fruit. In the 2010 Vintage we made rock star wines from these two vineyards. These sites and others like them are the foundation of Cypher Winery and all of my latest madness.

Now you have the inspiration for Cypher, here is what you can expect. Cypher will be the umbrella for the Freakshow wines beginning with the 2009 vintage which will be released this spring. In March we will also be releasing the new 2010 Cypher Chardonnay from Santa Barbara, a 2010 Cypher Grenache Blanc from Paso Robles and 2010 Cypher Rose. All three are amazing wines produced in very small quantities and available only through the Tasting Room and Wine Club. For reds this Spring we will be releasing under the new Cypher label our first straight Mourvedre and straight Grenache and single vineyard Zinfandels from Dusi and the Preston Vineyards.

Cypher is the next wave focused on high-end winemaking in extreme vineyards. We invite you to discover Cypher. Please join us for the epic release party for the new wines at our Tasting Room this Spring. Dates to be announced. Go Big in 2011…Shine Bright!

Christian Tietje
Winemaker, Troublemaker, Firestarter