TASTEMAKERS
Paso Robles Beyond Cabernet
From Spill
10 wineries
Paso Robles gets described as a Cabernet town. That is true in the way that describing Burgundy as a Chardonnay town is true, which is to say it is accurate and it misses almost everything.
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The other Paso
Tablas Creek imported Rhone cuttings from Chateauneuf-du-Pape and the region followed. Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, Counoise, Roussanne and Viognier all do well in the limestone on the west side. Somebody replying to us called the Rhone Rangers the most underrated thing about the region, and they were not wrong.
Villa Creek, Alta Colina, Adelaida, Dubost and Giornata all sit in that conversation. Giornata went a different direction again and works almost entirely with Italian varieties, which nobody predicted would suit Paso as well as it does.
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On the natural wine question
We use natural wine as a spectrum rather than a badge, because there is no legal definition to lean on. At one end, nothing added and nothing taken away. In the middle, native yeast fermentation and a little sulfur at bottling. At the other end, certified organic or biodynamic farming, which is really a statement about the vineyard rather than the cellar.
Turley and Ridge both came up in the replies and both sit toward the farming end of that spectrum.
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Going
The west side districts hold most of this. Adelaida and Willow Creek are the two to know. Roads are slow and the distances are longer than the map suggests, so three stops is a full and satisfying day.
Hours and current details are on each winery's Spill page.
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