Page 105 - SLO Visitors Guide Summer 2023

Wine Tasting
Explore the award-winning wines of Brecon Estate
Welsh winemaker brings cave- exploring background to Paso Robles wine region
Whether he’s exploring the world’s deepest, darkest caves or crafting award-winning wines, Brecon Estate winemaker Damian Grindley revels in the excitement of discovery.
“It’s the explorer in me,” Grind- ley said. “The great thing about be- ing a cave explorer is you can round that corner in a cave where no one else has been and you’re the first footprints; that’s a bit of a buzz. You don’t know where it’s going to go.
Winemaker Damian Grindley
And that’s why I’m in Paso, there are so many microclimates here and I love exploring emerging varietals in Paso. I get the most excitement out of trying to make these varietals
world class and my international experience helps me to do that.”
Grindley brings nearly 25 years of experience from winemaking regions in Australia, Europe and
the United States to Brecon Estate. When it came to naming the win- ery, he and his wife, Amanda, chose to venerate the Brecon Beacons in Grindley’s native Wales. “Before
I got into the wine industry, I explored, mapped, and discovered quite a few caves in the Brecon Bea- cons of the wild, windswept Brecon National Park, which are underlain by a big band of limestone.” Caving is how Grindley met Amanda.
Before settling in the area, the Grindleys looked long and hard for their ideal property. “Being a cave explorer, I couldn’t buy a winery that wasn’t on calcareous soil,” Grindley said. “When I return to the caves of my youth, I literally get a tingling down my neck from the limestone. I get the same feeling here. Plus, I have cool British blood, so we were trying to get as close
WINERY OF THE YEAR 2021 & 2022
26 varietals, endless views
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
TASTING ROOM OPEN DAILY 11am-5pm 4900 Union Rd, Paso Robles, CA
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