Wild West-Side Wine Country: Paso Robles

Paso Robles, CA

The bright December sun was warming the moist, fertile soil. Waiting for their turn to soak up the heat, the precious vines formed precise rows that smoothed the rugged hills like a manicure. Two dogs ran ahead with unabated enthusiasm. Winemaker Ryan Hebert planted each step with the slow caress of intimate knowledge of the dirt that crumbled beneath his feet.

Hebert is much like his vineyard — well-groomed and grounded, learning the ropes as he grew up in the trade. His pride in the wine he produces for Tablas Creek Winery is evident with every word he thoughtfully speaks. He portrays a quiet confidence from knowing that his hands-on career, starting as a teenager working part-time in the local vineyards, is paying off as Tablas Creek vintages gain steady recognition and acclaim.

Due to its diverse terrain and multiple microclimates, Paso Robles is one of the main reasons for the rapidly spawning wine industry of California’s Central Coast. The Paso Robles appellation boasts the third highest number of wineries in the U.S. Established in 1983, the 614,000-acre Paso Robles American Viticultural Area (AVA) and the nearby 6,400-acre York Mountain AVA have seen the number of bonded wineries more than triple in the last six years, growing from 50 to 170.

Tried and True vs. Big and New

With 30,000 residents, the town is keeping its heritage intact during its wine boom while clearing the path for growth, never losing sight of its homespun values of family and hard work. Beneath the surface, however, there’s a hairline fissure between the east and west sides of town with the 101 Highway the unofficial fault line.

The east side wineries are larger and more commercial, some producing more than 500,000 cases a year. Averaging 1000 acres with flatter terrain producing a more even solar coverage and sandier soils, irrigation and conventional growing practices are regularly used. As somewhat of a satellite for wineries elsewhere, including the Napa and Sonoma valleys, many of the wineries here carry recognizable brand names that populate the shelves in wine stores.

And here lies the “discontinuity.” Almost 60 percent of the grapes grown in the Paso Robles appellation never bear a Paso location on the wine label. They are sold out of the county, ending up in lower-priced generic wines with Central Coast or California appellations. In addition, surplus grapes are blended with grapes from other appellations. So, only about one-third of the grapes grown in Paso Robles end up as wines with a Paso Robles label. Much of these “rogue” Paso grapes are raised on the east side, if for no other reason than the availability of more open land there.

And this open land is also being developed in more conventionally commercial ways. The east side is peppered with housing tracts and fast-food restaurants that stake their territory in new shopping centers anchored by big-box retailers. In other words, pervasive progress as we know it in sunny Californie.

On the west side of the 101, the original township of Paso Robles prides itself on buildings and houses that date back to the late 1800s. Heritage here is numero uno — even the downtown storefronts damaged during the December 2003 earthquake are being restored to their original designs. The town square encompasses a park and bandstand where residents gather to celebrate family and community traditions as well as partake in the twice-weekly popular farmers’ market. To ensure controlled change, members of the nonprofit Paso Robles Main Street Association make it their mission to keep the scale and originality of their country town intact and impervious to modern encroachment and franchise frenzy.

The wine regions of the west side also keep with the atmosphere of yesteryear. They are smaller in acreage, many less than one-tenth the size of the larger commercial vintners to the east. They’re also higher in elevation and hillier. Because farming can be difficult under those conditions, their wines are as intense as their pride in doing things their way.

There are also wineries new to the west-side scene and in tune with the established low-key but strong-work-ethic vibe, like Four Vines, Red Soles and Pipestone. Others are commercially known, such as Castoro Cellars and Peachy Canyon, but case production is not even close to that of the east side.

Tablas Creek Vineyard

pH Factor

Is the division a serious issue? Not really, because being part of a growing wine region is a powerful bond. Hebert diplomatically alludes to the diverse climes between the east and west sides: “It’s not right or wrong (regarding varying soils, climates, growing practices and production), it’s just different and, as a result, more interesting.”

Jeff Meier, vice president of winemaking for J. Lohr Wineries, which produces only red wines in Paso Robles, agrees there are differences on both sides of the highway, but he sees the west side as a bit more challenged. “They’re dealing with higher elevations, more slope, inconsistent rainfall and different solar aspects,” Meier says, which makes for “a tremendous difference in fruit quality on the west side.” The east side, he continues, is more consistent in terms of the elements and topography, therefore, the larger vineyards. “On the west side, they’re dealing with highly variable micro-climes. You really have to know your ground wherever you are in Paso. The east side is a little less challenging.”

As for the difference in soil, says winemaker Hebert, the west side’s prevailing clay and limestone content boosts the soil’s acidity, compared to the east side’s more alkaline soil content. “There was a reason our French partners picked this place to grow their vines,” Hebert says. The Paso Robles vineyard soil type and climate zone parallels the southern Rhone region in France. “This is what French varietals prefer to grow in.”

In 1989, the French Perrin family, venerated producer of Châteauneuf-du-Pape from the Rhone Valley’s Chateau de Beaucastel, and their American importer, the Robert Haas family, became partners and formed the Tablas Creek Vineyard. “We farm organically and are certified,” Hebert adds. “Not all wineries and wine regions conform to these standards, but it’s a rapidly growing trend. It only adds to the sustainability of the vineyards.”

Just a Must

A few miles down Chimney Rock Road, Justin Vineyards and Winery has secured its claim for the future. Two decades ago, two big-city transplants, Justin and Deborah Baldwin, bought acreage that was once composted by cattle. Their goal was “to belong in the company of the finest wines in the world.” As representatives of one of the leading independent wineries on the west side, they head the crusade to upgrade Paso Robles’s image from a generic producer of bulk grapes for other wineries, particularly in Napa and Sonoma, to a special wine region of its own, capable of producing first-class vintages that proudly reflect their origin.

Deborah Baldwin Justin Winery

Down the drive and behind locked gates, their 30,000-square-foot Isosceles Center and its 16,000 feet of underground caves shelter 5000 barrels of maturing Justin wines. Thousands of visitors travel here annually for a glimpse at the labyrinthine caves and exotic private tasting rooms. The silence after the first sip sends a message of lasting quality echoing long and clear.

Watch for Coyote

On the winding country road from Tablas Creek and Justin vineyards back to Paso, you can catch a glimpse of a wine-tasting room that stands out from its brick-and-mortar neighbors. With adobe architecture reminiscent of New Mexico, this vineyard and accompanying bed-and-breakfast retreat is the handicraft of owner and winemaker Gianni Manucci.

Although outwardly unique to the area, Manucci’s wildly popular Wild Coyote brand captures the free spirit of the smaller west-side vintners. Winemaker Manucci left his architectural firm after 20 years and, using his stone-sculpturing talents, carved a Taos-style Native-American pueblo out of the rocky hillsides of his 40-acre vineyard.

And it’s not just any vineyard. With five individual casitas and Native-American art throughout, it is just as much a spiritual hideaway — no phones, no internet connections, no outside interference. Its name was inspired by a small pack of coyotes roaming the surrounding countryside and hunting in nearby orchards. Another of the many couples’ teams of vintners on the Central Coast, Manucci manages the winery and the tasting room while his wife, Kati, manages their Southwestern-designed bed-and-breakfast as well as their three children, Alex, Sage and Sophia.

The spirit of the hideaway comes through in Manucci’s Wild Coyote reds. As you would expect from an artist, Manucci’s work reflects his passion. With a strong and unique fruit bouquet, tasting his Red Cloud Syrah or Black Hog Zinfandel not only brings pleasure to the palate but hints at the underlying story of artistic independence. The combination of the European-style vineyards and Southwestern architecture transport you into an earlier time where silence was preferred and nature was your connection.

The Beav

Before there was a 50’s television sitcom called Leave It to Beaver, Niels Udsen was nicknamed Beaver (his brother couldn’t pronounce Niels so, in toddler-ese, the name morphed to something he could say). When Udsen lived in Italy for a year after high school, his friends there translated the aka to Il Castoro; thus, the inspiration for the future name of his winery. Because the name stuck, a tasteful wood-block etching of the woodland critter adorns every label of Castoro Cellars’ “dam” fine wine (a pun that generously appears as the wine’s tagline on every bottle and every piece of promotional literature).

Niels Udsen Castoro Cellars

Niels and his wife Bimmer met in Denmark as children when Niels would visit his father’s homeland. At 14, he even learned to make wine from the man who later became his father-in-law. With a strong focus on friends and family, Udsen has also kept a long-term partnership with his mentor from his Cal Poly days, Castoro’s chief winemaker Tom Myers. Despite all that, Il Castoro doesn’t wax sentimental when it comes to business. “A lot of people get into winemaking and think it’s this little Tuscan lifetyle,” remarks Udsen, “but there’s a lot of work. It’s being a farmer and then having to sell all your product to the public, too. The winery isn’t a showplace: we don’t have big stone pillars and art collections, but we have everything we need to make great wine.”

One of the bigger boys on the west side, Castoro Cellars offers a vast array of varietals and has finessed many other businesses out of the business of winemaking. With a background in agribusiness and a subsequent degree from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, Udsen noticed that many small wineries in the area lacked equipment muscle. He purchased a large grape-crushing press for the wineries to lease and, later, developed a mobile bottling machine. Instead of sending grapes to be crushed or wine to be bottled elsewhere in upper California, every new crop of Paso Robles wine grapes can opt to be schooled at home.

Castoro Cellars is not only a creative stage for its wines. The environmentally conscious winery and its outdoorsy hosts also offer their guests continual exposure to the finer things in life, including art shows and musical events, to complement wine tastings and dinner parties.

The Vines, They Are a’Changin’

It used to be that Zinfandel ruled the vineyards in Paso Robles, bringing fame to the region in the late 1880s when Indiana rancher Andrew York planted some of the first Zinfandel vines. After a 100-year reign as top varietal, Zinfandel tipped its cork to an outstanding newcomer, Cabernet Sauvignon. The vine took hold and Cab remains the flagship varietal in Paso Robles, accounting for 38 percent of the appellation’s planted wine grape acreage.

With the dramatic increase of small wineries, attention has focused on downtown hotspots for wine-tasting. Wine bars such as Vinoteca and the Wine Attic have made the scene as well as downtown winery tasting rooms from Anglim, Arroyo Robles, Edward Sellers, Midlife Crisis, and Orchard Hill.

Color and Aroma Issue One

Exploring the wineries on Paso Robles’ west side, you realize there’s no need, really, to put into words the passion for a singular pursuit. You come to understand the desire to reinvent life and pursue happiness, and to experience the inner shift to a more pragmatic outlook that living more attuned to the forces of nature brings. Here, on the wild-west side of Paso Robles, the soul of winemaking grows stronger as the vines root ever deeper.

– by Dennis Myers with Rita Robinson

– photo by Eric Stoner