Paul’s Story
Wine should be very pure and natural. The only thing synthetic about our wine is the closure, so you never have to worry about getting a “corked” wine. We drink more of our wine than anyone else and want it to be delicious and satisfying. We guarantee our wine.
BUT . . . it has to be distinctive wine. Wine with full, rich flavor. Wine that makes food and friends better. Wine that brings dismay when you find the bottom. Wine that makes music in the glass, sings on the tongue to tell where it grew. Wine you can afford to drink. Wine made by Paradisos del Sol.
We consider wine part of a meal and as much food as milk, coffee, or tea. Paul has been an Organic gardener for over 70 years. A paradis or paradiso or pairidaēza is a walled garden. Vineyard del Sol is our Paradiso and is part of our gardening, so, of course, it’s WSDA Organic.
Paradisos is the Spanish derivative of pairidaēza, Persian پردیس (pardis) for a “walled enclosure,” from pairi “around” + diz “form, shape.” It originally comes from the Ancient Greek π (paradeisos, “Persian garden”). It is a word that goes back to 5000 B.C. and refers to beautiful, irrigated gardens walled off from the desert. When I walk through a vineyard, I feel I am in a paradise.
Our small family-owned estate winery uses only grapes from our WSDA Organic, pesticide-free Vineyard del Sol. We list all ingredients and would list any pesticides used in our winegrowing. Ingredients are a short list. Since 2013, no pesticides have been applied to the grape vines that we use.
Following the principles of Organic and regenerative agriculture leads to food with higher nutrient density and better taste. Multiple researchers have verified this phenomenon, so that is how we grow and how we roll.
Paradisos del Sol is an expression of my soul. The winery is not named for me (even though I am plenty arrogant!), because it is more than just my sweat in a bottle of Paradisos Red. I have help tending the vines, lots of different sweat irrigates our paradise.
My wife, Barbara Sherman, does all the paperwork—there is plenty of sweat there! She alsodoes all the compliance for the state and the feds and all the accounting. She also helps run the tasting room with me.
Even as early as 4, our son Kevin (now 28 and old enough to give us the occasional break by covering and managing the farm and the tasting room) helped by pulling weeds, picking grapes, and putting bottles on the bottling line. Kevin has now graduated (with honors) from Western Washington University and is looking for a gig as an actor. Does anyone need an actor? Or dramaturge? Or anything in the acting scene? He is really good (says his proud parents). We might be a tiny bit biased.
We are believers in letting the grapes become wine. We are Winegrowers, not Winemakers. Our job is to eat grapes and imagine what wine they wish to be—then provide the best conditions for the transformation into great wine. Sometimes, we use barrels (old, neutral barrels, never new), and sometimes tanks. Most often, a barrel is the cocoon where the juice transforms into a dry table wine. Sometimes, the wines yearn to be sweet and luscious, and a temperature-controlled tank is the cocoon. (But then Angelica is sweet, luscious, and barrel-fermented [it’s just as complex]).
As one of Washington’s most experienced enologists, my first venture into wine was with blackberries in 1968. I have made my living via fermented grapes since 1983, and I have collected pay from over 10 Northwest wineries (sometimes working for wine!).
I love the way wine can express its influence on its development. How its roots grow, and the way the sun strikes the leaves. The prevailing wind, the slope of the hill, and the work of the viñador. What the French call terroir and we call mesoclimate.
Great wine is grown, not made. As a winegrower, I let the wine be what it is, not adjusting pH and acidity to some textbook standard.
I have been an Organic gardener since shortly after birth. I was at Badger Mountain Vineyard when it became Washington’s first certified Organic vineyard, and was at Worden’s Winery to produce the first Organic wine in the state. Now we are working to bring you the best wine our Organic pesticide-free grapes can become. We guarantee our wine, period.
To help keep the planet green, we try to use only clear glass, which is recyclable everywhere. Our packaging is 100% recyclable; please do!
For over forty years, I have envisioned a traditional wine estate growing wine and food for my family and other families. My vision is of a home at Paradisos del Sol for the elevation of grapes to the elixir of the gods—WINE!
My pleasure in gatherings of kith and kin, for food and wine, drives my desire to share this experience. What better way than for us to provide the wine for your next gathering?