Wow, we were busy year last year—so busy it took me many months to start chronicling all of the tasting notes; not to mention reporting about the many producers who have invited us into their wineries to showcase their innovative and unique wines.  Also, I certainly need to narrate the motives that prompted us to visit the regions we travelled to despite the uncertainness going on in the world today. I also want to applaud the brave souls who courageously continue to travel on their personal wine journeys no matter where the excursions may take them.

Fresh after returning from discovering what I could earnestly call, “America’s Best Charity Wine Event,” we ventured down the Central Coast of California to one of the best wine regions in the world: Paso Robles, a place we know well because we used to call it home.  If you love wine and haven’t been there you need to go!

Our new familiarization of the area was hosted by the PRWCA. They have been exemplary in promoting the region. Starting out as a committee in the Paso Robles Chamber of Commerce to promote tourism more than three decades ago, they decided to hold a wine festival. In May of 1983, the very first Paso Robles Wine Festival took place in the downtown city park with 17 wineries pouring. This was all of the wineries in the region at that time. Eventually the committee grew its responsibilities to year round promotion and basically split off from the chamber.

In 1993, the Paso Robles Vintners and Growers Association formed from this group, and took over the festival, adding additional celebrations, and the promotion of the district as a world class wine region. In 2005, the association was renamed the ‘Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance.’ This move was to make the organization more inclusive of all of the businesses in the region that support the greater wine industry.

The Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance is dedicated to the promotion and protection of Paso Robles Wine Country, and the continuous improvement of the quality of its wines, vineyards, and experiences. They have been facilitating that mission for more than three decades and doing a damn good job at it. Leading that charge is the hardest working man in wine region communication, Christopher Taranto. A more informed and congenial representative for the Paso Robles wine region would be impossible to find.

By the mid-nineties, any wine savvy sommelier already had at least one wine from Paso Robles on their wine list. If you didn’t, you were behind the times.  By 1998, the area had attracted the attention of anyone who was scrutinizing wine trends. These days, I find it incredibly hilarious when people call out Paso Robles as the new, up and coming wine region.

Flying into San Jose and driving down to Paso Robles was quite an eye-opener in of itself.  I have visited Paso Robles a couple of times since moving away, but we had not made the drive down since we moved away in 1999. Back then, once you drove past Morgan Hill, you were in the country and it stayed rural all the way to Paso Robles. Now, almost twenty years later, the big-box retail stores and sub-divisions of newly-built homes stretch past Gilroy to Salinas and on to Soledad. I suspect these retail stores will soon reach all the way to Paso Robles and into San Luis Obispo, linking San Francisco and San Jose to the Central Valley in one continuous metropolitan conglomeration. Hopefully the agriculture will survive. It must, as much of our survival depends upon it!

Now Paso Robles has a lot more upscale lodging and dining options, something they were woefully lacking twenty years ago. One of the newer lodging facilities in Paso Robles, La Bellasera would be our base of operations for this excursion.

We began our visit with an afternoon stop, high on a hilltop at Derby Wine Estates. Their Derby Vineyard located in Templeton Gap on the Westside is one of the coolest vineyard sites in the region. The vines growing there, I imagine, are listening to Big County’s 1983 release, “Living in a Big Country,” playing in a continuous loop, because it totally fits the feeling you get when visiting this absolutely stunning vista. Happy vines mean tremendous wines! Vineyard manager Steve Viera is proving every vintage just how accurate that statement is. I found the 2013 Derby Mourvedre to be a fantastic representation of what can be accomplished under the right growing conditions. The wine is meaty, ripe and plush with flavors of raspberry and peppered beef and finishes softly.

We also tasted wines from Brecon Estate, where Damian Grindley is the owner/winemaker. Their 2014 Albarino is made from 100% Albarino grapes from Price Canyon with a wonderfully complex array of tropical and citrus flavors obtained through sophisticated split fermentation and careful blended before bottling. There are almost endless culinary applications for an Albarino with this flavor profile and almost non-existent residual sugar. The balance and integrity of fruit was impressive.

Next we are off to York Mountain where some say Paso’s legendary wines began. York Mountain Winery dates back to 1882 and is known today as Epoch Estate Wines. The architecture is amazing from the winery to the newly opened Epoch Tasting Room that is now in the original York Mountain Winery structure. Here, we started with tasting of their Rose, a rare example of Rhone varietals that become more than the sum of their parts in this bottling.  The renovated structure was designed to reuse materials when able, while simultaneously creating a beautiful functional structure that would blend seamlessly into the surrounding landscape as if it had always been there. In addition to enjoying the wines from Epoch, Russell From, winemaker at Herman Story, and Anthony Yount, winemaker at Denner Wines, would be joining us with some of their very fine libations. Victuals for the evening were prepared by Chef Jeffery whose delightful Crab Cakes with a 2010 Viognier from Denner was the perfect beginning for dinner. In case you were wondering, yes, the 2010 Viognier was exquisite. So now we know the whites and the reds from Paso Robles will age well. The lightly smoked beef tri-tip and lamb leg with duck fat fried potatoes paired exquisitely with Herman Story’s 2015 Nuts and Bolts, 2013 Milk and Honey, and 2013 Grenache 440.  These are big, bossy pants wines with a ‘take no prisoners’ attitude—some of the boldest Syrah and Grenache I’ve ever tasted anywhere.

Russell and Anthony are two of the best representatives the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance could have possibly picked to speak to journalists. Russell is probably the most honest man in Paso Robles, a man of few words, and many great stories. Anthony Yount’s youthful appearance belies the weathered soul and eyes that listen, taking in every nuance of conversation before he weighs in on the subject at hand. Both of these gentlemen would be great dinner guests with, or without their wines. As our dinner conversation wound down, and the realization of how early our first appointment would be in the morning, the inevitable call of sleep beckoned.   Our chariot awaits; well, not an actual chariot, but the never seen before anywhere combination of Certified Sommelier and professional chauffeur services provided by 101 Wine Tours. There is no better way to tour Paso Robles than under the tutelage of Laura Jeffery. She is one of the best Central Coast wine educators available. Laura can get you to the do-not miss stops, from Rhone Ranger legends to the new, up and coming producers. Laura knows them all, big or small. These days there are a lot more small producers doing well in the wine industry, due to one thing, and one thing only—direct to consumer wine sales.

At the turn of this century, Paso Robles success as a wine region was the domain of large producers. The small producers had little chance to attract enough new customers to develop distribution.  A lot folks may have a hard time remembering eighteen years ago, so let me refresh your memories, and bring the recent past just a little more into focus. The internet was just starting to blossom for online retail sales, and wineries were a little slow to embrace its possibilities due to complicated shipping rules for alcohol. Although direct shipments to consumers constituted only about 2% of wine sales in the United States in 2003, direct sales were thought to be an opportunity for growth. In 2005, the Granholm vs.Heald  Supreme Court decision allowed a change in shipping laws that would alter the way small wine producers sold, and delivered their wines.

Direct to consumer wine sales changed everything for small producers in the growing regions located away from metropolitan areas and now constitutes 61% of all wine sold in the United States. No longer does fewer than 5k case annual production mean you do not have a financially successful winery. In fact, some of the best wines made anywhere are made in smaller wineries, and most specifically Paso Robles.  DTC (Direct to Consumer) enables almost everyone to have high quality fairly priced wine delivered to their homes in saleable condition. I mention saleable, only because the chances of you drinking a flawed wine is much higher, if the wine has been handled by several companies through the shipping, warehousing, distribution and retail sale before it gets to you rather than shipped direct from the winery to you.

We met quite a few small producers during this trip and also some large producers who continue to offer the type of wines Paso Robles’ reputation was built on. If you visit Paso specifically to taste the wines or just happen to be driving through the Central Coast on California Hwy 101, take a few minutes to visit Tin City.

This new mixed use industrial space is home to a lot of the small wine producers and brewers; here you will be able to experience the wines made by Vailia From at Desparada Wines. They make big, bold wines, and they do not follow any rules except being deliciously exciting.  There is a lot of magic happening at Tin City especially the wines coming out of Cordant/ Nelle made by Tyler Russel. You will definitely want to taste wines here, because this guy is the future of Paso Robles wines.

Another small producer making some top-notch wines is Steve Gleason at Four Lanterns Winery. His 2015 Third Blue Hour Cabernet Sauvignon is outstanding with a Pork Pate made by Ian Adamo at Somm Kitchen, located on the square in the historic downtown Paso Robles. Ian’s charcuterie skills are impressive, like Michelin star impressive. At Somm Kitchen, we met a couple more accomplished winemakers. Paul Hinschberger of Rangeland Wines makes a Chardonnay that is fantastically citrusy with broad flavors, and an exciting and expansive finish.  Kevin Carter with Sea Shell Cellars shared this unusual blend called Balboa Reserve. It is a red blend that is composed of Tempranillo, Mourvèdre, Grenache and Syrah. The 2013 vintage is seriously awesome and a huge bargain. We paired a bottle of this with our meal at Cass House in Cayucos and it paired well with a Central Coast version of Surf and Turf, Tri-tip and seared scallops.

One of the best meals I ate on this trip was a lunch prepared and hosted by Dr. Mareeni Stanislaus and her husband Ishka who grows some of the most sought out fruit in Paso Robles at Guyomar Wines. The vines at Guyomar are planted on the steepest inclines in Paso Robles affording these vines access to sunlight not obtainable in any other location in the region. Two of Paso Robles legendary wineries were also pouring their wines at this lunch too, the legendary John Munch of Le Cuvier, and Tobin James Cellars.  The tasty menu included spice rubbed lamb, saffron rice, and a wonderful eggplant dish that truly highlighted all of the wines.

We were treated to a 1997 Le Cuvier Cabernet Sauvignon that had some of the most expressive fruit I’ve ever tasted in a wine of that age. So, if anyone thought the jury was still out on whether Paso wines are age worthy, the verdict is in. They will!

Early spring is a great time to visit Paso Robles because the temperatures on the central California coast start to rise before they do anywhere else in California, besides the desert and the southern border. Try getting a world class bottle of wine from either of those locations; it’s not going to happen. Listed below are a few of the fantastic wine events taking place down there. I’m sure there are at least a couple ya’ll will find interesting. Now get on down there and have some fun!

Vintage Paso: Zinfandel Weekend is scheduled for March 16 – 18, 2018.

Paso Robles Wine Festival takes place on May 17 – 20, 2018.

For more information, visit www.pasowine.com. @PasoRoblesWine, @PasoWine, #PasoWine, #BlendFest, #VintagPaso, #PasoWineFest

 

Feature image: Winemaker, owner John Munch of Le Cuvier. Photo credit, Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance