Wine & Food Fest: Que Paso in Paso Robles? Austin

We all know Austin has more than a touch of California influence these days, but would you have guessed that the laid-back, friendly Austin vibe can be found throughout the entire wine region of Paso Robles?

At Que Paso?, a Hill Country Wine and Food Festival tasting on Saturday at Perry’s Steakhouse downtown, Paso winemakers gathered to talk about what’s going on in the hippest, hottest region in California.

Hosted by Ross Outon, the Austin certified wine specialist who spent months in Paso while filming the upcoming PBS reality series “Winemakers,” which is set to premiere in May. Outon explained that Paso, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, is the fastest growing wine American Viticultural Area (or AVA in wine speak) in California, with five or six new wineries opening a month, but it isn’t as polished as its well-established neighbors to the north, including the Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino regions.

The range of temperatures, sometimes from above 100 degrees during the day to 50 degrees at night, and the steep, rolling hills and deep valleys just a few miles from the ocean make for a climate that is ideal for growing more than 40 varietals.

Winemakers Austin Hope of Treana Winery, David Frick of Clayhouse Vineyard, Tommy Oldre of Tablas Creek Vineyard and Deb Coppage of Four Vines Winery served eight wines:

• an acidic, mineral-filled sauvignon blanc from Clayhouse ($12-14 retail)
• a bright, aromatic Cotes de Tablas Blanc from Tablas Creek that was hard to put down ($25)
• an earthy, peppery 2006 Esprit de Beaucastel Rouge from Tablas Creek ($45)
• from Four Vines, The Biker Zinfandel, so-called because it would be the only wine hearty enough that a Hell’s Angel would admit to drinking, Coppage explained ($25)
• Hillside Cuvee, the flagship wine from Clayhouse Vineyards ($35, a stunning deal, Outon says)
• Loco from Four Vines, a tempranillo, which came with a temporary tattoo of a bull, that even my tempranillo-loathing friend liked ($35-40)
• a powerful, elegant syrah from Austin Hope with legs that would make a stripper blush (see photo, above) ($42)
• Treana Winery Red 2006, which Hope said is one of those wines you’d want to keep around for 10 years to really see what it can do ($40-50)

“It’s like the 60s in Paso right now,” says Hope between jokes about chicken-frying turtles and any other meat he could get a hold of. “People are trying new things all the time.”

We’re a little odd in Paso, says Coppage, who lives most of the year in Iowa but feels at home among the scrub oak, cows and youthful “weird” winemakers of the area more than two hours north of Santa Barbara. “What sets us a part is how truly friendly and neighborly we are,” she says.

Weird and friendly? Sounds familiar.

Hailing from the Ozarks,  Addie Broyles expanded her cooking (and eating) skills on the West Coast and Spain before settling in Austin, mainly for the aguas frescas at the taco stand down the street from her house where she, husband Ian and son Julian are now attempting to grow their own food in the backyard.

Relishing food is about taking time to enjoy what has become the often hurried and mundane task of nourishing our bodies. Relish Austin is Addie's search for things that make her go "mmmm." High brow, low brow. Fast food, slow food. In Central Texas. On the Web. On the streets. In your garden and in your kids' lunch box. In your refrigerator and on your dinner table.

Relish Austin is also the name of Addie's print column that appears in the Austin American-Statesman a few times a month.