I thought I'd pose some about the places we've been so far in Paso Robles. We went to Herman Story on Thursday, and I don't think I need to post much about them that most here already don't know. If you like big and bold Rhone style wines, Herman Story is for you. They are reasonably priced and can mostly be drunk on release.
Friday started with Bodega de Edgar. They are located east of town in an industrial park, so if vista views of the rolling hills and oaks is your priority, do not come here. They do have a very nice courtyard to taste in, but you're going to also be listening to forklifts and other heavy equipment around you. The quality of the wines and hospitality more than made up for the location.
Edgar Torres has a very interesting past about how he became involved in wine. He started out as a waiter in high school, serving food and wine. His bosses realized that he really liked wine and had a good palate and encouraged him to get involved in the wine business. He told his parents he was dropping out of community college and going to become a cellar rat, and his parents were fully behind it. He stayed at it, working his way up and eventually had someone give him four barrels of wine to start making his own wine. He was doing all of this without having US citizen status, as he'd missed out on DACA and every other program available to him (primarily due to his age) besides the regular path to citizenship. However, he was undeterred, he applied for US citizenship and became a US citizen in 2019, the same year he purchased his second and newest production facility. He's never taken money from private investors and made all his money through his own hard work and banks that were willing to lend to him. His wines lean to a Spanish influence, as he uses a lot of tempranillo and Graciano in his blends and makes an Albarino as well. The wines are all excellent and will benefit from some time in bottle. They only make around 3,500 cases now and they don't distribute outside of Paso, so if you want something, you'll have to order it. All in all, and great place to visit if you want to try something outside of the typical GSM blends you see in Paso. He also has a second label called Straight Out of Paso that we are visiting today (Saturday).
Next up was Calcareous on Peachy Canyon Road. I don't have a lot to say about this place, since I would have liked to learn more, but it was very busy. Our server poured, said a few words, and left. The wines weren't anything exceptional, but they have excellent views and serve food that looked very good. If you happen to be nearby and want something to eat with a great view, it's worth dropping in.
Final winery visit of the day was Alta Colina. This is another small producer at 3,500 cases per year production-wise. Bob Tillman bought the property in 2003 and planted the first vines then, with the first harvest being in 2008. His daughter Maggie is now the winemaker, and all their wines come from the 30 acres on vines on-site. Their estate is planted mostly to Syrah, with Mourvedre, Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Petit Sirah, Roussanne, and Marsanne. Everything we had here was excellent, with the Old 900 Syrah being my favorite. It's made in more of an Old World style, and some years they add a tiny amount of Viognier to make it in a Cote-Rotie style. Our host Erica was highly knowledgeable about all the wine and the vineyard, and made us feel like we were drinking wine on someone's back porch. This is a do not miss place.
Dinner Friday night was at Les Petite Canailles. It's your typical French Bistro fare but done really well with an extensive wine list (35 pages when it's printed, and a little cumbersome to navigate on your phone). They have a bunch of L'Aventure on the list, which would make since as the owner is Stefan's (the owner of L'Aventure) son. There was also a ton of Saxum on the list, and everything from Paso was very reasonably priced. We go a bottle of Alta Colina Old 900 Syrah 2013 for $75, which I thought was a steal (Alta Colina is selling their library releases at the winery for $65). It was drinking really well right now.
I'll save my overall thoughts on the visit for when we get back on Monday. Today is Linne Calodo, Kukkula, Straight Out of Paso, and dinner at Six Test Kitchen.
