We just returned from nearly a week touring the windy roads west of Paso Robles in California’s Central Coast. Paso is roughly 30 minutes north of SLO — or described another way — about 1/2 way between L.A. and San Francisco on the 101.
Paso Robles was named for the large oak trees — literally El Paso de Robles, or “The Pass of the Oaks.” In terms of wine history, well those crafty missionaries planted most of the region’s original vines back in the late 1700’s, just like in most of California’s growing regions. Later, quite a few Europeans settled in the area and brought with them vine cuttings from Europe, including California’s first appearance of Zinfandel.
Zin is what Paso has most been known for but that has been changing quite a bit in the last twenty years. Cabernet Sauvignon actually accounts for 38% of the regions plantings — making it the most widely planted varietal. Just as exciting though has been the increased plantings of Rhone varietals. Syrah & Grenache on the red side, along with Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussane on the white side make up a pretty healthy chunk of the balance.
We had the amazing pleasure of staying amongst the vineyards of Halter Ranch Vineyard, about nine miles east of the ocean in the rolling hills. HRV has always been one of my favorites in the area, and after touring the property that first morning with sales manager Jim Witt and vineyard manager Mitch Wyss, that affection only deepened. We boarded a Mule ATV and headed from the Victorian farmhouse built in 1885 through the nearly 1,000 acres of hillside vineyards. They have 19 varietals planted, with Cab & Syrah dominating the mix.
The thing that initially struck me about the property, and of the western part of the region in general, is just how hilly it is. Not only does this make the property stunningly beautiful, it makes for better grapes. You see, when a vine is planted in really flat & nutrient rich soil, the grapes aren’t “stressed” and the end product grapes are uninteresting. Mitch explained to us that the grape is like a battery for the vine. That is, storing up energy in the form of sugar to help keep the vine alive. If the vines have it too easy, there’s no reason to keep your batteries charged, so to speak. It’s only when the vine is planted in an area where nutrients are harder to come by that the vine stores up energy in the fruit.
Of course, being in this vineyard in the middle of July means that the fruit hasn’t fully ripened, so you are left with a gorgeous canopy of trellised or head pruned vines basking in the warm days & cool nights of westside Paso. We were encouraged to try the grapes to test the acidity & flavor compounds. It was great to taste some great obscure varietals like Picpoul Blanc & Tannat, although at this stage of growth they are little acid bombs!
It was interesting to see what I always knew to be true of great vineyard managers — dropping fruit. Again, too much competition for scarce nutrients makes for uninteresting grapes. Mitch & Jim both dropped whole clusters every place we stopped. Mitch stated that 50% would be dropped during the growing season, and of that last 50%, another 50% would be dropped to leave only the best looking clusters.
The proof is in the bottle as they say, and not only do the wines of Halter Ranch Vineyard show that attention to quality, but everywhere we toured had this same excellent fruit. Our favorite wines on the trip were from L’Aventure & Adelaida Cellars, as well as HRV.
My lasting impression of Paso Robles is that it’s one of the most beautiful of California’s wine regions. And, I believe that the friendliness of and camaraderie between the growers is so strong that the sky is certainly the limit. As I said to Stephan Asseo, the owner & winemaker of L’Aventure, he is not only making the best wine in Paso, for my money, it’s some of the best in the world.
It’s a short 5 1/2 hour drive to Paso — certainly a small price to pay to visit the Frontier of Amazing wines!
