Up Close in Paso Robles - 2 of 2

Photo credit: Mitchella Winery

[This post is part two of a two-post series. Read the first post here.]

Someone once observed that vineyards around the world are always found in beautiful places.  Indeed, every wine country offers its own distinct charms; the challenge for a visitor is to discern them and pursue those strengths. 

For example, longtime California wine lovers often bemoan the way that development has taken place in the Napa Valley.  They can remember the ‘old days’ when there was little traffic and the person pouring wine in a tasting room was often the owner of the vineyard.  While it’s true that Napa no longer offers much of that particular wine country experience, it does offer the chance to sample some of California’s most sought-after wine and is one of the most fully developed wine tourist destinations in the world – complete with a wine train!  Those are Napa’s current strengths.

For those who seek those “up close and personal” winery visits, they can still be found in Paso Robles (and California’s whole Central Coast region).  There are large-production wineries in Paso as well, and they are certainly worth visiting because they often have more to offer in the way of facilities and comfort.  But we made the conscious decision to focus on small producers during our most recent trip to Paso.  In the process we learned more about what brings people to the passionate business of wine making.  The first post in this series profiled two wineries whose people are as rooted in this place as the vines themselves.  This second post is about vintners who became passionate about wine after success with other pursuits.

Mitchella
The tasting room and gift shop at Mitchella appear to be built right onto the side of a private residence.  Tucked behind the much-larger Robert Hall facility on the east side of the 101 freeway, one encounters a lone Tuscan-inspired structure surrounded by vines.  Tastings are offered at outdoor tables or in the covered patio.  All are accompanied by cheese pairings.  These morsels are just enough to make the connection with each of the wines.  (They are not intended to be a meal!)  Darren Mitchell grew up in the Paso Robles area, but then went on to success in the petroleum drilling industry.  When he discovered a passion for wine he set about learning how to make it himself – initially as a way to save money (one of Mitchella’s blends is called “Cheap Bastard.”)  Formal education and mentoring led him to eventually plant vineyards and for nine years he has been making small lots of handcrafted wine.

Photo credit: Mitchella Winery

Despite a yearly production of about 2,000 cases, Mitchella’s offerings span practically every style one finds in Paso – Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay but also white Rhône varieties like Viognier.  The reds include Tempranillo and Malbec alongside both Rhône and Bordeaux varietals. There are several deeply-flavored red blends and we also tasted a rosé made from red Rhône varieties.  Obviously, some of the fruit is sourced from other vineyards in Paso.  Darren’s love for the area shows through in not only his wine, but in the winery’s inspiring mission statement. The wine industry as a whole is still defining the word “sustainability,” but in the meantime, it is a hopeful sign to find words like these from this small producer:

“We believe that sustainable agriculture rests on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their own needs.”

Epoch
History is the draw at Epoch winery, which is built on the site of York Mountain Winery, the first bonded winery on the Central Coast.  Epoch purchased this property in 2010 and proceeded to dismantle the earthquake-damaged original winery building, marking each stone and board so that it could be restored and repurposed for wine tasting and events.  The resulting space opened in 2016 and is stunning. This project bespeaks a reverence for this region’s history that began with the winery’s purchase of the Paderewski vineyards, further north, in 2004.  Owners Bill and Liz Armstrong are geologists, an expertise that they put into the service of locating attractive vineyard sites to purchase as they created Epoch that year.  

Current view of the restored original York Mountain Winery building at Epoch

The emphasis here is squarely on the white and red Rhône varietals for which Paso is most noteworthy, along with Zinfandel and Tempranillo.  Nearly all Epoch’s offerings are blends, crafted by winemaker Jordan Fiorentini.  I was captivated by Jordan’s “vinpressions,” which can best be described as visual tasting notes. “When I taste a wine, I see abstract shapes and intersecting lines,” she writes. “So, to describe my thoughts, I started experimenting with drawing my tasting notes instead of describing them with word alone.”  These drawings are available on cards in the tasting room and are a welcome alternative to the purple prose that often gets used when we try to describe wine.  

Example of a Vinpression by Epoch's winemaker, Jordan Fiorentini (from epochwines.com)

All four of the producers we visited on this trip to Paso Robles are passionate about the place where they are making wine. For some, Paso’s wine culture is a heritage gained from their family or passed on by mentors as they came up in the industry. Others have carefully chosen this particular spot along California’s Central Coast after success in other pursuits and now they craft their wine here with equal care.  Whatever their individual path, it was a pleasure to experience the handmade results.