CALIFORNIA’S ‘OTHER’ GREAT WINE REGION
Lynne Robson explains why you should head for the hills of Paso Robles.
When you tell people you are going to California to pick grapes and that you will be working for free they generally believe you are a) kidding, or b) crazy.
To be honest, there were moments when crazy sounded about right; when the temperature edged above 29.5 C and we were lugging 13.5 kilograms of grapes up a hill to the collector bin; when all you wanted was a gulp of water but your bottle was at the end of the last, long row of vines you’d picked.
I could go on — about the divebombing wasps, the masses of earwigs and the need to be alert for rattlesnakes — but then you might not want to go to Paso Robles.
You should. You definitely should go to Paso, because my fleeting moments of discomfort were far outweighed by the discovery of a place with glorious scenery, genuinely friendly people, and overflowing with good wine.
PASO . . . WHAT?
A lot of Canadians have never heard of Paso Robles, despite the fact we drink a lot of wine from there (Liberty School and J. Lohr, to name just two).
So, a little geography: Paso Robles is mid-distance between San Francisco and Los Angeles, about 32 kilometres from the Pacific Ocean. The name Paso Robles means Pass of the Oaks — and large swaths of ancient oaks still line the back roads.
Until about 20 years ago, Paso was a sleepy place, surviving mainly on walnut groves and beef grazing.
There were a few vineyards but only the most imaginative could have predicted how quickly wine would transform Paso Robles. Wine production is now the economic driver of the region. Paso has become California’s third-largest producer of wine, and regularly wins prestigious awards and high scores for fine wine.
Still, when many people think “wine and California,” they think Napa and Sonoma. Paso Robles is seen by some as the “other,” less noteworthy wine region.
Two friends and I decided to go see for ourselves.
One of our travelling trio had the idea of making it a working vacation. Debbie Gordon is a sommelier. She convinced the winemaker and the owner of Rangeland vineyard to let us get a hands-on view of their wine harvest.
Rangeland is a good example of the changes that have come to Paso.
When Laird Foshay bought the land 17 years ago, it was a beef and sheep ranch. Foshay sank his fortune (earned during the early days of startups in Silicon Valley) into converting much of the ranchland to growing grapes.
“Grapes are the highest value agricultural crop you can grow just about anywhere but especially in hill country and woodlands like this,” says the entrepreneur. His vineyard produces about 2,000 cases a year, and distribution of Rangeland wine is limited to the region.
That is a common story in Paso, where there are 200 wineries and a whopping 95 per cent of them are family owned.
Most produce under 5,000 cases a year.
The advantage of the small operation is the “care and attention we are able to give our crop,” says Foshay.
“Small producers have the luxury of knowing all of their vines. We can pick half a row at peak of ripeness, and wait for the rest.”
As a small producer though, Rangeland has limited full-time staff, which explains in part how three Canadian women of a certain age wound up picking grapes, sorting grapes and tying up grape vines. We were occasionally useful, but seldom efficient. We provided great entertainment to the casual workers (mostly Mexican pickers). And some days we were just downright laughable.
Especially the day of the sorting and de-stemming machine nightmare.
Picture four tons of grapes pouring onto a conveyor belt. Our job was to find and dispose of dehydrated or unripe grapes. Sounds easy enough, right? And it was … until the mass of grapes headed at us was so big we were no longer examining grapes but desperately grabbing them. Now picture the I Love Lucy episode … when Lucy and Ethel worked in a candy factory, packing bonbons.
When the conveyor belt went faster than they could handle, Lucy stuck candies in her shirt, in her hat and in her mouth. That was us, sorting grapes. We ended pretty much every day covered in grape juice and earwigs and ready to drink some wine rather than wear it.
Fortunately in Paso, that’s an easy thing to do.
100 TASTING ROOMS, NO WAITING
For tourists, the good thing about all those small wineries is all the tasting rooms that go with them. One of the best ways to see Paso Robles is to get a wine country road map and meander from one locale to the next. The average cost
of a tasting flight (four to five varieties of wine) is $15 to $20.
In no particular order, here are a few we enjoyed at the end of a working day: Daou: The breathtaking, panoramic view leaves you feeling all is right with the world. Perfection, except for the price of the tasting flight ($45). I opted for a fine glass of Sauvignon Blanc instead. Adelaida: At 35 years, Adelaida is one of the oldest vineyards in Paso. We all bought Anna’s Red, a Rhône-style blend. Beautifully bright, with savoury notes. Justin: Everyone orders Isosceles, Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a classic ripe California wine. This is the wine that in 1997 put Paso on the map in terms of big league awards, when Wine Spectator named Isosceles the sixth best wine in the world.
Calcareous: Perched on one of the highest limestone plateaus in Paso Robles, Calcareous is named for the limestone soil that gives Paso wine its minerality. At Calcareous, I tasted a rose so beautiful I regret not having brought a bottle home. Vin Gris Cuvée is a blend of pinot noir and Grenache noir.
Tablas Creek: This winery is often called the “pioneers” of Paso because they imported and cultivated the Rhône grape varietal on which much of Paso’s reputation was built. Tablas is revered for its red wines, but I bought the 2016 Picpoul Blanc, which is a single varietal white Rhône.
Rangeland: Foshay calls himself an “advanced beginner” winemaker, but his 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon suggests otherwise. His vines are maturing well, the wine has a lovely herbal nuance with delicious spice notes and a decidedly long finish. His “tasting room” was his back deck with a gorgeous view of the Paso hills.
BUT BIG IS GOOD, TOO
We visited one other tasting room, Treanna. This is another family-owned winery but on a very different scale (producing 250,000 to 300,000 cases a year).
Austin Hope, CEO of Treanna, gave us a private tasting, including Liberty School, which sells well in Canada (75,000 to 85,000 cases a year). “In the late 1990s, we were just about the first Paso Robles wine to break into the Canadian market. When we first put out Liberty School, we listed it as ‘California’ wine. We thought saying Paso Robles would confuse people and put them off.”
In October, Hope released his new, favourite wine, called Austin Hope, and right under his name, in bold letters, PASO ROBLES. The name that once was “confusing” is now a matter of pride and part of the sales pitch. “We are definitely planting the flag with this one. I think it will stand up against any wine made in California.” (The Austin Hope wine will hit the Canadian market next year.)
BIG REDS AND MUCH MORE
Paso Robles made its reputation on producing Big Red Wines. For a while the region was even criticized for having wines TOO big, too much alcohol forward. “Unbalanced” is what the wine experts call it.
Now, the new winemakers in Paso say they have tamed the beast. Paul Hinschberger, winemaker at Rangeland, explains what people should expect from Paso now.
“We still make big wines. That will never go away because of the hot climate. But now we are making more elegant wines, too. Paso does big wine and delicate, beautiful wines. Now we can cater to all different palates. That’s a sign we have evolved as a wine region.”
A TOAST TO FINE WINE
On our last morning, we “The Canadian Ladies” picked a half ton of grapes. We were given a new nickname: “The Half Ton Mammas.” I like the label.
When I dare open one of my few Paso Robles wines, it will remind me of the hot sun, sticky grape juice … and the hopes of the people who made the wine, and made a unique vacation possible.