Jake Beckett of Chronic Cellars flanked by tasting room mangers, twins Angela and Andrea
Photos by Mira Honeycutt

75 wineries poured at the Grand Tasting in the park

-The diversity of Paso Robles wine region was in full swing at the 35th Annual Wine Festival held from May 18-21. The popular Grand Tasting staged in the downtown park drew wine lovers savoring Paso’s finest ranging from Bordeaux and Burgundy styles to Rhone, Spanish and Italian varietals offered by some 75 wineries.

The four-day festival kicked off on Thursday with winemaker dinners. The Hatch Rotisserie and Bar’s three-course dinner paired with wines from Alta Colina, Bella Luna and Grey Wolf Cellars. Nearby at Thomas Hill Organics’ Multi Winemaker dinner, owner Debbie Thomas welcomed four representatives of wineries showcasing their wines with dinner.

“I’m wearing two hats tonight,” said Jason Haas, general manager and partner at Tablas Creek Vineyards. As the current Chairman of the Board of Paso Robles Wine Alliance, Haas commented: “This festival is the local wine community’s biggest celebration.”

Displaying his own wines — hat number two — he was joined by Sherman and Michelle Thacher, owners of Thacher; Bastien Leduc, winemaker of Seven Oxen; and Gabriel Smith, assistant winemaker at Calcareous.

Steven and Steffanie Anglim

Thomas and her culinary team curated a four-course menu that made brilliant pairings with the wines. For starters, a citrusy dungeness crab salad was delightful with Calcareous’ 2015 Lily Blanc, a white Rhone blend exuding energetic acidity. The mushroom and burrata course paired well with Thacher’s 2014 Oddly Natural, a super-charged blend of grenache, syrah and counoise. Seven Oxen’s lean and elegant 2013 zinfandel highlighted the flavors of duck confit with lentils while Tablas Creek’s mourvedre-driven 2014 Esprit de Tablas, was a perfect match with the Moroccan braised lamb

Friday afternoon, the downtown park was filled with wine booths pouring over 150 special wines at the Reserve Tasting for a crowd of 500 people.

There was a galaxy of interesting wines. Along with Paso Port and Per Caso’s 2013 touriga nacional, owners Lola and Steve Gossner also poured a 2014 Bordeaux-style wine from an unlabeled bottle. “We pulled it out of barrel today,” said Lola, next offering an aromatic and smoky Port, aged for eight years in oak barrels and finished in Cognac barrels.

At August Ridge, known for Italian varietals, I savored a lively cabernet sauvignon. “It’s an Italian cabernet clone,” explained proprietor John Backer. “It’s brighter and energetic, with more red fruit character.”

Gary and Marcy Eberle

Clesi winery’s owner/winemaker Chris Ferrara poured the 2012 Sangiovese and 2013 Aglianico, a varietal from Campagna, Italy. “This is a hot climate grape and spectacular for Paso,” said Ferrara.

Pinot man Phillip Krummel, owner/winemaker of Asuncion Ridge, is now adding Rhone wines to his portfolio. I tasted his 2014 Nefarious, a syrah and grenache blend, as delicious as his 2014 silky Barrel Select pinot noir.

Tin City’s maverick winemaker Andrew Jones of Field Recordings had a different take at his booth, pouring Pet Nat bubbly made from chardonnay and aromatic Dry Hop Pet Nat grapes vinified with a bag of galaxy hops.

There were several knock-out reserve wines from wineries such as Niner, Dunning, Glunz, Windward, Villa Creek and a 2013 reserve gold medal winning cabernet sauvignon from Ecluse. There were a few pouring non-reserve, among them Rangeland’s owner Laird Foshay. “The non-reserve is drinking well,” he said, offering the impressive cabernet sauvignon.

Over at Kaleidos, winemaker Steven Martell poured the 2008 syrah called Preying Mantis. “It’s not reserve,” said Martell, “but it’s small production of 44 cases and from the best barrels.” This sort of qualifies as reserve, no?

To accompany the reserve wines, there were tasty tidbits served by Thomas Hill Organics, Apple Farm, Robin’s, Jeffrey’s Catering, Paso Terra, Niner restaurant plus an arresting display of imported cheeses from Fromagerie Sophie.

There were a few celebrations going on into the Friday evening. Gary and Marcy Eberle, ever the gracious hosts, planned a “bib-required” Lobster Boil staged at Eberle Winery’s cellar floor. Servers poured buckets filled the crustaceans, artichokes, potatoes and corn onto the center of the table. Prepared by chef Nick Nolan, the finger-food dinner was paired with 2016 viognier and 2015 sangiovese. The latter worked well for me with the lobster. A sublime 2013 Vintage Port accompanied the rich dark chocolate bread pudding with orange Anglaise.

Bastien Leduc, Gabriel Smith, Sherman Thacher, Jason Haas

Saturday morning kicked off with a seminar at the Paso Robles Inn Ballroom with a panel of winemakers from wineries such as Ancient Peaks Halter Ranch Vineyard, ONX, Turley and Vina Robles Vineyard.

For the Grand Tasting that followed in the park, eager crowds lined up at 11 a.m. for the early noon entry. At the sound of a blow horn, the security staff unleashed the crowds carrying picnic baskets and lawn chairs rushing to shady spots.

Neils Udsen, founder of Castoro Cellars, has seen the evolution of the festival for the past 35 years. “When I first started coming here there were only 12 wineries,” he said. “There was nothing going here in mid-80s.” There were no fences around the park and people could bring their kids.

The festival has evolved. Now the winery participation has grown to 75 and instead of giggling kids the park now rocks to the beat of local bands.

This year Ricky Montjio & The Mojitos performing on the main stage and Truth About Seafood band in the gazebo. The sizzling 90-plus degree temperature on Saturday did not hinder wine lovers from tasting Paso’s big bold zinfandels, syrahs, cabs and tempranillo wines. A few wine representatives had the bright idea to chill the reds making it easier to enjoy them. But clearly the favorites were chilled rosè wines and white blends.

The tents in the park were arranged by regions from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone and Italian-style wines to zinfandel and other “wild” wines. This year the tents were larger grouping together two to four wineries creating greater camaraderie among the vintners and their teams.

Saturday’s Grand Tasting in the Park

While there was a vast selection of reds, it’s evident that Paso winemakers are jumping on the rosé bandwagon. I noticed an increased number of rosé offerings this year. Among my favorites, a pale onion-skin color Thacher rosé made from cinsault and nebbiolo and Rhone blend rosé from TH Estate and Derby Estate.

There was no shortage of food with a dozen local restaurants and catering services participated as opposed to last year’s food trucks. Among them Paso Catering’s sizzling paella, Blue Moon Grill’s refreshing mango chicken salad, Heirloom Catering’s mini tacos and the popular ‘Tacos al Pastor’ from Los Robles Cafe. The umbrella-shaded stand of Leo Leo Gelato was so popular that servers ran out long before the festival ended.

The merriment continued through Sunday afternoon with open activities at several wineries. I stopped by at Chronic Cellars, where co-founder Jake Beckett and his team were busy pouring three (chilled) 2016 barrel select wines, syrah, zinfnadel and grenache, wines enjoyed with delicious pizzas hot out of Farmstead’s portable oven.

“This is my 32nd wine festival,” said Becket who started attending the festival at age six with his father Doug Beckett, founder of Peachy Canyon winery. “We were slammed yesterday,” commented Jake on Saturday’s grand tasting. “That’s because my brother [Josh] makes good wines,” he laughed.

As festival goers headed for home Josh Beckett beat them to the punch: brother Jake said he was already on his way to Indonesia to surf.