Josh Klapper in Tune with Timbre Winery
June 9, 2019
How it all began…
The path to how Timbre Winery came to be is somewhat straight but far from narrow. Josh Klapper’s curiosity for how wine was made, led him to our beautiful Santa Barbara wine country in 2005. However, his passion for wine began early on at one of his first jobs as a waiter on the East Coast where he grew up. It all started with a bottle. A bottle of 1945 Bordeaux from Chateau Latour (a $7000 bottle!). One of his guests had ordered it and invited him to have a taste. Josh was hooked! From that moment on Josh knew, the wine business is where he wanted to be. It wasn’t necessarily the price that wowed him, it was the fact that for various reasons that bottle held something special, something to savor, and he set out to find out what that was.
Josh eventually moved to the West Coast and became a sommelier at a restaurant in LA that during his time there received the honorable Wine Spectator Grand Award. With his wealth of experience at such a young age (25), Josh could have done very well in the restaurant business as a sommelier. However, he yearned for more. He wanted to jump in and learn about the process of how the wines he loved were created. Like many local winemakers, their journey to becoming full-fledged winemakers started with a mentor, in Josh’s case, Bob Lindquist of Qupe welcomed him into the world of winemaking.
Some things are meant to be…
But how did Timbre Winery come to be? Elvis couldn’t have sung it better, “Like a river flows surely to the sea. Darling so it goes. Some things are meant to be.” As a fan of Bob’s Qupe wines, Josh promoted them as a sommelier at the restaurant he worked at in LA. He seized on his connection and made a phone call that changed his life course. This call seamlessly led to Josh assisting in the next three Qupe harvests and the creation of Josh’s first label, La Fenêtre (which Bob welcomed him to produce at Qupe). From there Josh’s voice as a winemaker has fine-tuned with clarity and harmony in his Timbre Winery label that he began in 2012. In Josh’s words, “Timbre is my voice as a winemaker.”
We invite you to watch our entertaining interview with Josh where he not only shares his story in his own “timbre” but also shares his wealth of knowledge about the Santa Barbara wine region. As he describes it “…crazy geology and so many microclimates.”
Timbre (pronounced TAM·ber or TIM·ber) is the “color” of music. Josh successfully uses the name of his wine label as an inspiration for the wines he produces. Each label uniquely characterized by a musical metaphor. His well-balanced beautifully harmonized flavors in his Supergroup Pinot Noir is the perfect example. “Supergroup” is a term used for a band of famous musicians from various other bands. Josh’s Supergroup Pinot Noir is sourced from three of Santa Maria Valley’s most well-known vineyards: Bien Nacido, Presqu’ile, and Riverbench. Three unique parts of Santa Maria Valley each with something remarkable to add to the wine. (Fun Fact which Josh shares in our exclusive interview: Bien Nacido planted in 1973, is the most vineyard designated vineyard in history. Meaning more wines have had Bien Nacido on the label than any other vineyard in the world!)
At the Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Cafe we focus on providing a true wine country experience. Much of our produce for the Café is organically grown at our Café farm in Los Olivos. And our award-winning wine selection of over 500 mostly local wines compliments our fresh wine country cuisine. As a hub for the local California Central Coast wine scene, we love getting to know our local winemakers and sharing their stories with you! We welcome you to check out more of our interviews and blogs here.