Treasure Island Wines® is the first Treasure Island Winery and tasting room founded in 2007 by intrepid brothers James and Paul Mirowski. Dedicated to making “affordable luxury” artisan wines minutes from downtown San Francisco, Treasure Island Wines is a “micro winery” that incubates other “micro wineries” with a small complementary collective of alternating proprietorships including Bravium and Eristavi.
What prompted you to pursue winemaking as a career?
I studied at UC Davis and had been a serious home winemaker for well over a decade when I discovered the former Naval PX on Treasure Island. It was a perfect spot to make wine – with the infrastructure in place from the food processing. Consistent temperatures – drained paver floors - high humidity- three points of access for processing/large equipment to get in and out. There isn’t another comparable facility on the island.
Describe your winemaking philosophy:
Old world technique meets new world fruit.
What are you most proud of so far in your winemaking experience?
Validation of my business model and unwavering unapologetic commitment to integrity and quality. My brother and I had to be incredibly tenacious to get the first winery licensed. The rest as they say is L’histoire.
Tell us about the people who influenced or mentored you as a winemaker?
Robert Rex at Deerfield Ranch was early influence, started out small and progressively moved to bigger volumes. He previously was a faculty at UC Berkeley so we shared a passion for some of the science of winemaking. Also was inspired by guys like Kent Rosenblum and Siduri who were doing great stuff at urban wineries .
Tell us about your wines:
They have complex, edgy personalities and are irreverently fun – which amplifies the fun factor in our tasting room.
What is next for Treasure Island Wines®?
We are all about quality over quantity and growing slow and smart. Its no secret how well we are doing – just take a look at the signage at the guard gate –arrows pointing in every direction - we have well… been copied copiously. We are adding more APs to our collective and have a wait list. Our tasting room bar is maxed out so we will be redesigning several elements. Our annual signature events like Cork N Pork (this year August 27) and Winter Solstice Reveal (December 18 ) sell out so we will be adding more for specific audiences - and we have such a demand on our custom corporate wine experiences we are trade marking several of them. We put our wine first – but take events very seriously so we are selective and have the only winery on the island with a professional multi-certified event team.
When it comes to winemaking, what's one thing you know now that you wish you had known before you started?
Its something I knew but reluctant to accept – that the wine industry is rife with charlatans. Maybe we take what we do too seriously at Treasure Island Wines – but I would rather be accused of that than to tolerate any unethical behavior. We have had to “part ways” from a few individuals that used to be in our facility since we opened.
A hot topic in wine circles is the "Parkerization" of wines. Some people claim his 100 point scoring system has been an enabling factor for consumers as they navigate the endless array of brands from which they can choose. Others claim his influence has negatively impacted wine quality as producers are increasingly crafting their wines to earn a high score from Parker at the expense of making the best wine they can with the fruit and resources they have available. Given this, what are your thoughts on Parker and the 100 point scoring system?
We respectfully follow Parker with thoughtful introspection but do not want to be distracted from our prime directive to make “affordable luxury” artisan wines minutes from downtown San Francisco. Parker himself emphasizes that he is scoring based upon his preferences. His is only one of many scales that consumers should ideally factor in when choosing the wines they like.
How have the points systems like Parker’s impacted you as a winemaker/producer?
We believe that wine preferences– especially the small batch hand crafted winemaking that we do – is highly subjective so we are driven to make the wine we want to drink.
Rising wine alcohol levels are a hot topic these days in wine circles. What are your thoughts on the subject?
We agree that the wines have trended too far to the “hot” side. We strive to keep our alcohol levels at reasonable levels by picking our fruit early. We also prefer acid levels that are slightly higher by design because we make wine to pair with great food.
Lastly, where can your wines be purchased?
From our tasting room most Saturdays 1-4PM , on line at www.tiwines.com and in select restaurants starting in 2012.
