Page 106 - SLO Visitors Guide Summer 2024

106 SUMMER 2024 slovisitorsguide.com
Wine Tasting
-VISIT US FOR A COMPLIMENTARY TASTINGEnjoy
our winery grounds, taste our remarkable wines,
picnic, play bocce or just relax in the shade.
GLUNZ FAMILY
WINERY & CELLARS
OPEN DAILY 10AM-5PM ~ LOCATED AT 8331 HIGHWAY 46E
GFWC.COM ~ 805-238-1400
Explore the award-winning
wines of Brecon Estate
Damian Grindley revels in the
excitement of discovery.
“It’s the explorer in me,” Grindley
said. “The great thing about being
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.
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
Welsh winemaker
brings cave-exploring
background to Paso
Robles wine region
the ocean as possible for that cooling
influence of the fog with our roots
in a south-facing slope in calcareous
soil. Some of the best regions in the
world are planted on calcareous soil.
If you like wines from calcareous
soil, the minerality, the great acids,
and the age ability, Paso is ground
zero.” With the help of friends, Si-
mon and Anna Hackett of Australia,
the Grindleys
started Brecon
Estate in
2012. Situated
on the west
side of the
Paso Robles
wine region,
Brecon Estate
boasts calcar-
eous soil and
the influence
of the nearby
ocean fogs.
The
influence of
the coastal fog makes for long hang
times for the grapes allowing the
fruit to get past many of those green
notes generally found with Cabernet,
Cabernet Franc, and Bordeaux
varietals. About 25 acres are planted
on the 40-acre Brecon Estate – 14.5
acres of cabernet sauvignon, 5.5 of
cabernet franc, 1.5 of tannat, 3.3
petit verdot and 1.3 of malbec.
out of trying to make these varietals
world class and my international
experience helps me to do that.”
Grindley brings over 25 years
of experience from winemaking
regions in Australia, Europe, and
the United States to Brecon Estate.
When it came to naming the winery,
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
Beacons of
the wild,
windswept
Brecon Bea-
cons National
Park, which
is 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 to