DINING OUT
Racing inspires series of winning wines
As the morning sun was rising over the mountains of California’s
Central Coast I caught up with racing legend Kevin Buckler during
his morning commute on I-5. He was driving a Porsche, of course.
Porsche was an early supporter that got Buckler into Le Mans. As
a driver Buckler, took 1st place at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the
24 Hours of Le Mans in 2002. He is now the founder and CEO of
The Racers Group (TRG) and Adobe Road Winery.
The Firestone Grand
Prix of St. Petersburg
will have the city
buzzing March 13-16.
TRG is racing that
weekend, but today I
am just as interested in
Kevin’s other passion,
Adobe Road Winery.
Buckler’s interest in the
wine business began
as a college student
working a harvest
season in Stellenbosch,
South Africa. After some
successful business
moves in real estate
development, he
decided to only work in
businesses that he was
passionate about. That led to racing and wine.
In the beginning Adobe Road Winery was
a small wine club operation. Today, Adobe
Road is opening a state of the art facility in
Petaluma, California, working with an exciting
and creative winemaker (Garrett Martin),
and utilizing some of the best vineyards in
Bavarian Lion, and Famighetti Vineyards). Buckler’s philosophy
in the extremely challenging businesses of motorsports and
mentality means not being distracted by the competition and
not making any mistakes. The others will “inevitably make a
according to Buckler.
In 2015, Buckler brought on Garrett Martin as the winemaker for
Adobe Road. Martin is the perfect partner because he is smart,
high energy, collaborative, and doesn’t back down from Buckler’s
challenges. Their latest project is The Racing Series. These are a
24 StPeteLifeMag.com March/April 2020
series of wines that allude to TRG’s racing history.
The wines include:
Apex – A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc,
Petite Sirah, and Petit Verdot from Dry Creek Valley, Rockpile, and
Knights Valley in Sonoma County. This is the premier wine of the
Racing Series lineup.
Redline – A Cabernet
Sauvignon and Zinfandel
based blend sourced
primarily from Napa.
This is the bottle that
introduces you to the
power and precision of
The Racing Series wines.
Shift – This is a rare
red blend containing
Zinfandel, Barbera,
Grenache, Petite Sirah,
and Carignane. The
bottle has a stunning
presentation with a
metal label that looks
just like the gated shift
plate of a classic Ferrari
and a 5-speed shift knob
as a cork.
The 24 – A Rhone blend of Grenache,
Mourvedre, and Syrah with the unique
The label pays homage to the winery’s
endurance racing success with checkered
hour races of Daytona and Le Mans.
Buckler also shared with me that there is one more wine coming
Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, and Malbec called Carbon. I haven’t
tried this wine yet, but Buckler and his team are not accustomed
to failure. I’m sure Carbon will be another winner in the series.
All of the Adobe Road wines, including the Racing Series, are
directly from the winery at adoberoadwines.com.
Will Howard is Sommelier and Wine Director at Rococo Steak in St.
Petersburg.
Adobe Road
BY WILL HOWARD
/StPeteLifeMag.com
/adoberoadwines.com