Meet Avery Zaninovich | Tlo Wines Director of Marketing Tlo Wines, Sommelier

We had the good fortune of connecting with Avery Zaninovich and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Avery, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My dad’s family is from Croatia and his dad was the only one in his family who immigrated to the US. When my dad would visit his family in the old country, he remembers sampling wine that his uncles’ had made in their basements. It’s always been a part of our culture…sharing wine with loved ones while reliving old memories, and making new ones. At the same time, my mom’s dad had experimented with making his own homemade wine. None of it was ever very good, but it was something he really enjoyed doing. He was in the business of selling cuttings to graft new vines and plant new vineyards, so he had a few contacts on the Central Coast that allowed him to pick grapes for his hobby. He had asked my dad to join every year, and finally, in 2008, my dad went for it. His number one goal was to make homemade wine that was good (that can be hard to come by). For the 2 weeks he had before harvest, he studied every winemaking book and website there was…my dad is a research fanatic! He ordered grapes from a well-known winery owned by a family friend and jumped right in! When it came time to bottle and share his wines, they were GOOD! He took them to family gatherings, holiday parties, and shared them with anyone who was interested in trying them. Everyone agreed, he had a knack for it. At the same time, I was working on a Marketing degree at Cal Poly and to graduate, students have to complete a senior project. I had worked for a Paso winery for an internship I had earned through school and fell in love with listening to people talk about wine. I also saw how my dad lit up every time he was able to share his wine with loved ones. I decided to focus my senior project on turning my dad’s hobby into a business. And…well, the rest is history!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My dad has been making wine since 2008, but Tlo was officially established as a business in 2013. We started small with a Wine Club mostly made up of friends and family, locally. We attended pop-up tastings, events geared towards boutique wineries without a brick-and-mortar, and private events in backyards. As a family, we had thrown around the idea of a tasting room but every time we looked for a spot on the Central Coast, it was never quite right. There was always something missing, or a hindrance that would make us hesitant to move forward. We were growing quickly, and we knew we had to find a new location to host our Wine Club pick-ups (that wasn’t my parents’ backyard). We had a meeting scheduled with a local event space where we could host bi-annual tastings and Club events. At the same time, downtown Bakersfield was beginning a revitalization and new businesses started popping up. We were driving home from dinner at a downtown restaurant one night and noticed a vacant building with a phone number on it. When my mom called the next morning, the owner of the building recognized the name of our winery, after sitting next to my dad at a wine dinner in town! Long story short, the building ended up being perfect for us and we opened Bakersfield’s first and only wine-tasting room, downtown. Even though we make our wine in Paso Robles, using Central Coast grapes, our heart, our support system, and our business has always been in Bakersfield. This community is incredible in every way, but especially to small, local, family-owned businesses. We’ve met some hurdles along the way but being the first to do what we do has always been so exciting and something we cherish.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Bakersfield has such amazing culture and history, especially when it comes to food, so I would make sure my friend was hungry when they came to town. We might start with a classic breakfast at 24th street and sit at the counter on those original green barstools. Next, we might drive out to CALM and walk-off breakfast while we check out the local wildlife they have. Lunch on the patio at Luigi’s would be a must! We could even enjoy a bottle of Tlo bubbles from the deli. Next, we might venture to somewhere that has live music on a regular basis… Sandrini’s, Ethel’s, Jerry’s, Buck Owen’s Crystal Palace. We would definitely have to go visit our friends over at Crusader Brewing and taste Devotion, a Tlo-Crusader collab beer. After that, we might go for another walk on the Bluff’s or out at Wind Wolves Preserve. Lastly, the trip wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Woolgrower’s for some basque food!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Yana Todorova was so sweet to give us a shoutout! She has been so fun to work with on pairings and events over the years. I would also like to shout out Emily Hay of The Playful Space. She is a giant champion for local businesses, especially those led by women, and has been a huge supporter of us and what we do. I would also like to shout out Ericka Lopez of HoneyBox Bakersfield. She just celebrated the first anniversary of her charcuterie business and is an incredible human being. We love being able to work with her on a weekly basis as she curates the charcuterie we serve at the tasting room. She holds classes and events and always includes Tlo. I’d also like to shout out Evan Morgan. He is our resident musician at the Tasting Room and is not only an incredibly talented singer-songwriter but a very amazing individual!

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Yelp: Tlo Wines Tasting Room (https://yelp.to/rKXo1bXoLub)