Page 93 - SLO Visitors Guide Fall 2023

Wine Tasting
Mystic Hills Vineyard is a family venture built with love and passion
Joel Cox is an award-winning film editor who has worked with Clint Eastwood for several decades. He recently began editing Clint East- wood’s latest movie “Juror #2”. Joel loves working with Clint and his talent has earned him the nickname “the Film Doctor”. His son David shares his passion for film and works with him in the industry.
Their passion isn’t just for film, Joel and his wife Judy purchased the Mystic Hills Vineyard in 2004 after being inspired by wine-tasting tours during the Cannes Film Festi- val. They create 100% estate-grown Bordeaux wines from their 8-acre vineyard. The entire family helps with the winery business and shares the love. Each shipment of wine includes a piece of art by one of the grandkids and a special note (often a “We LOVE You!).
Private tastings at the Cox’s home, located next to the vineyard, are offered by appointment only. During the tasting, Judy or Joel will walk guests through the current wine offering and share plenty of stories from both the wine and film industries. Judy recommends allowing 2.5-3 hours for the tasting appointment.
The main wines pro- duced vintage after vintage are Bor-
deaux blends
with movie-
themed
names and
cabernet
sauvignon.
Winemaker
Keith Roberts
uses neutral
oak and a four-
year aging process
to deliver robust red
wines. The flagship blend, “Unforgiven” includes all five of the estate red Bordeaux varietals, while “Gran Trio” includes cabernet sau- vignon, cabernet franc, and merlot. In years that the vineyard produces enough fruit, standalone offerings of other varieties are produced in limited quantities along with a rosé
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and sauvignon blanc. These wines all feature labels created by their son David.
This year they released a merlot named “Joy Ride”. The label is based on an image of Judy in a beehive hairdo that appeared on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine
in 1967. In the image on the label, she is in Joel’s 1972 Chevrolet
Cheyenne. With limited pro-
duction, they do not offer this during
tastings and
the wine is already almost sold
out. Another
very special wine recently released is a 2017 Unforgiven Reserve.
This wine was five years in the making and was produced using new French oak barrels. The bottle is gorgeous with pristine glass and a medallion that was designed
by Joel and Judy. Joel places the medallions on each bottle by hand.
Walk-ins welcomed!
Open Daily 11am to 5pm.
Reservations recommended for larger parties.
(805) 237-1425
asuncionridge.com • 1525 Peachy Canyon Rd., Paso Robles
FALL 2023 93