This project is the result of Villicana Winery’s founders Alex and Monica Villicana’s desire to promote and encourage sustainability by utilizing existing, unused resources to create a high-end, local, artisan product. This concept of finding a new use for wine and refining it into spirits is basis for the name Re:Find.
We spoke to Monica Villicana the proprietor of the Re:Find Distillery. She touches on so many important factors about running a successful distillery, that we feel honored to have been able to speak with her.
Every time we interview a distillery, there is so much information to absorb, and we are truly grateful to all the distilleries for opening up to us and sharing their story.
Monica, please tell me how the Re:Find Distillery came about? Tell us about the name.
MV: Re:Find Distillery was established in 2011 and was San Luis Obispo first craft-distillery. It was literally born from our winery business which was established in 1993. How is that so? In 2005, we our (Villicana Winery) Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Grenache vineyards were of age to start producing Rhone style wines. We employed a technique with these varietals that we didn’t use with our Bordeaux style wines called, Saignee. Saignee (son-yay) translates to bleed or blood in French. It happens when a vintner first destems and crushes the grapes. The destemming and crushing punctures the grapes and the free-run juice comes flowing out of them. The free-run juice is the prized juice that vintners. To bleed the juice means the vintner will extract a portion of this prized free-run juice in order to help concentrate the colors and flavors of the wines. It is most often done with the Grenache grape because it is thin skinned and the syrah/mourvedre grapes because they are larger in size. By extracting a portion of this free run juice the vintner is left with more skin influence in the remaining juice.
At Villicana Winery, pending on the year, we were extracting between 10%-30% of our prized free-run juice and we thought, “There has to be something that we can do with this”. We spent all year meticulously farming our vineyard to see a percentage of the juice being wasted. We thought about making fresh wine grape juice but pasteurization and time to market proved difficult and struck down a few other ideas as well. Then, my husband, Alex, read an article about grape based vodka and thought, hmmmm. After extensive research he learned that vodka is a method of distillation, not derived from any one source. That was the moment when RE:FIND Distillery came to be.
At first we started distilling the saignee from just Villicana Winery but demand required that we start buying the juice from other Paso Robles vintners. In 2016, we bought from over 20 Paso Robles wineries and save 50 acres from being discarded. That’s a lot of fuel, water, and man-power being not being wasted!
Our name is literally – FINDING a REuse for the prized free run grape juice and REFINing it into spirits.
What have been the main challenges involved in setting up a new distillery?
MV: The biggest challenges for us were trying to get a handle of all the laws and regulations. California has been behind New York, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado when it comes to laws regarding the craft-distilling movement. The laws just aren’t set up for craft-distillers but as of last year are starting to move in that direction.
And what has been the part you’ve enjoyed most?
MV: The greatest satisfaction we get from our distillery comes from the creativity involved in it. It truly is an artisan business. We are doing out best to change the conversation away from how many time a spirits is distilled and filtered to the quality of the raw ingredients, the quality of the fermentation, and the precision of the cuts because if those are at high standards, a distiller shouldn’t have to distill something over and over and certainly shouldn’t have to send it through a carbon filter.
What exactly does your job entail?
MV: As a owner of a craft-distillery I am involved in all aspects of the business. I work the tasting room, manage the spirits club, bottle and label the spirits, handle compliance, pay bills, procure, fulfill orders, do all of the marketing, answer the phone, clean the bathrooms and office, and whatever else needs to be done.
Where or who do you feel is the driving, innovative force behind our craft distilling industry right now?
MV: I feel the consumer is driving the craft-distilling industry at this time. It is their demand for products that are unique, authentic, and high quality that will propel our industry. Years ago they learned that they enjoyed boutique wines, then they started drinking craft-beers, now they are understanding that they don’t have to drink big brand spirits that they have a choice in what they drink and they are choosing small and quality.
Name a few other distillers or distilleries who inspire you.
MV: I’m not sure that I can say which distilleries inspire us. We have our heads down day in and day out that we are not out looking at the other distilleries, we are simply doing what is authentic to us and what our consumers enjoy.
What type of Spirits Expressions do you currently produce?
MV: After we starting the distillery in 2011 we quickly knew we wanted to distill whiskies as well. Our dilemma was how to quickly get a whiskey to market. Obviously aging would take years which we really didn’t have time for. We did research and found out that a lot of distilleries purchased already distilled whiskey from an old 7-and-7 plan in Indiana and simply repackaged it or aged it for a little time and then packaged it and they brought it to market. That didn’t feel right to us. We felt that if we were putting a product out with the RE:FIND name on it, then the consumer was assuming that RE;FIND actually called out the mash bill, fermented it, distilled it and aged it. Buying already distilled spirits and shipping it across the country didn’t fit into our model of local and craft. So, we decided we would partner with our local craft breweries to get our custom mash bill, ferment it, distill, and age our whiskies all ourselves. This allow us to stay true to our core believes of using local ingredients and employing authentic distilling practices.
We age our whiskies in 15 gallon barrels which helps us to get our whiskey to market quicker than aging in traditional 53 gallon barrel which allows us to maintain control and authenticity.
What three words do you want people to associate with your whiskey?
MV: Smooth, rich layers, extremely enjoyable (we are vintners after all)
Is there a flavor profile that you aim to achieve when malting, mashing, fermenting, distilling and maturing?
MV: We try not to over complicate things. We simply believe that if you start with high quality raw materials, conduct a high quality fermentation, and are meticulous with your cuts that you have all the ingredients for a memorable spirit. It is really as simple as that. It is truly like any other artisan product.
What is in the pipeline for 2017 that we should look out for?
MV: We are gearing up to release our Batch 6 of our Rye Whiskey and Batch 1 of a Bourbon. We were looking to release the bourbon last year, but decided to lay it down for another year. We just tasted it again in February and are really happy we made the decision because it is beautiful.
Since 2008, American whiskey has taken off, what with the expanding number of artisan distilleries and the return of rye to popularity. What’s behind the boom?
MV: I don’t really know why whiskies are as popular as they are. I believe that all products go in phases and whiskey is the boom right now. Pinot Noir was in 2005. It could be that wine drinkers are realizing that there are similarities between a great red wine and a great whiskey. It could be because consumers are now aware of their food source and are demanding high quality ingredients and practices. It could be because celebrity X drinks whiskey – who knows! All I know is that we love the layering of the flavors, the deep rich mouth feel, and that sipping on a whiskey translates to enjoying the good things in life.
