A Weekend of Wine in Paso Robles

We hadn’t been to our favorite California wine region, Paso Robles, in over a year…and so it was time.

In the past year, there’s been an explosion of new wineries in this valley (a climate similar to France’s Cotes du Rhône), with more on the way.

We just spent a blissful weekend trying some of what’s new in the area, as well as what’s simply new to us.

 

We love Paso for a lot of reasons, namely rolling, golden, oak-dotted hills, farmhouse porches and friendly people who love to talk about their vines. Old barns find new life with pendant lights and picture windows, and soft-scaped gardens bloom with the blues of lavender and salvia. Here, we can breathe deeply, and our shoulders settle into a healthy place far below our ears.

Taking a look at the Paso Robles wine tasting map, we immediately noticed a slew of new names, and decided to make it a weekend of trying wineries that were either recently opened or that we’d just missed in the past. To maximize our tasting stamina, we shared one tasting per couple and regularly asked for water.

Over two afternoons, here’s some of what we tried:

Alta Colina
WHY GO: To try winemaker Bob Tillman’s excellent, medium-bodied GSM (a blend of Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedre), meet his delightful daughter Maggie behind the tasting bar, and sample complex Syrahs from vineyard blocks named after her grandparents. Set on the second floor of a wooden house, you can perch with a glass on the side porch or hang out below on the sprawling, shady lawn.

Booker Vineyard
WHY GO: One of the most architecturally stunning tasting rooms in the area, with a lovely patio right beside it; this is a great spot for a picnic lunch. We’re almost never fans of dry rosè, but their Pink was a floral surprise. Smile and ask what’s being poured off the tasting menu; this is how we ended up taking home their stop-in-your-tracks ’07 Fracture, which should be perfect in a year’s time.
WHY NOT: Proceed with financial caution. Said bottle of Fracture set us back $50.

 

Caliza Winery

WHY GO: To delight a lovely Spanish house at the end of a dusty road, and learn about growing grapes in limestone from Carl Bowker, Caliza’s passionate vintner. (Caliza means “limestone” in Spanish.) His wife Pam helps around the winery part-time, and the two seem quietly thrilled to be making a success of Caliza together. The wines are exquisite:  Carl poured his Robert Parker-rated Companion blend and 2006 Syrah for us, and we took both home.

 

Terry Hoage Vineyards
WHY GO: The corrugated metal and washed-concrete tasting room here looks out over 26 acres of healthy, happy, sustainably farmed vines. The winemakers here, former NFL player Terry Hoage and his wife Jennifer, are committed to producing low-yield Rhône-style blends, and we were wowed by their 2006 ‘5 Blocks’ Cuvee. Hoage himself offers a wealth of information on pest control, soil and where to find good food in the area (he suggested Cambria’s Black Cat Bistro, the best meal we had all weekend).

Jada
WHY GO: Because you want to see a great view over Vineyard Road from a refurbished, glassed-in barn; you like miniscule pieces of artisanal cheese; you need to buy a cool book on wine; or want to pick apricots off a neglected tree.
WHY NOT: You prefer your tasting rooms not packed with bus tours and your wine not blended almost to death by a nakedly corporate entity.

Thacher Winery
WHY GO: Here you’ll find a friendly, all-female staff in a cozy but polished tasting room with big glass bottles, sunny flowers and organic walnuts in a huge wooden bowl. Well-behaved dogs and towheaded moppets hover just around the edges of the scene. The stars here are their bright, peppery Syrahs like the 2005 Coast View, made from fruit grown in Monterey County. Our Thacher favorite was the big, juicy, locally-grown 2005 J’Taime Vineyard Zinfandel.

Halter Ranch
WHY GO: In our opinion, the huge 1885 farmhouse here is the prettiest in the county, and the white and weathered old barns don’t hurt matters, either. Last year, the winery earned its local sustainability certification, and more good work is afoot: a covered bridge over adjacent Las Tablas Creek will someday lead to a new “gravity flow” winery that will enable more minimally-processed wines. In the present tasting room, help yourself to some water and flip through a book of vineyard stats and varietal percentages on each wine as you taste. Their 2008 Sauvignon Blanc was the only white we took home all weekend, and just last night, we enjoyed their robust GSM.

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See also
Central California – Paso Robles