Wine Matters: Paso Robles wines reflect diversity of soil, climate

If you want to learn about wine, you need to drink wine, the old saying goes. By extension, if you want to learn about a particular wine region, then it helps to taste what is produced in that area.

Several hundred San Antonians got the chance to learn more about the wines of Paso Robles, Calif., during a recent tasting at the Pearl Brewery Stables. The event, sponsored by the New World Wine & Food Festival, brought together 20 wineries from across the region.

What people got to taste was a mixture of new brands looking for distribution in Texas as well as old-favorites including Treana, L'Aventure and J. Lohr.

They also got a picture of the great diversity of climates in the area, which is known for its warm, sometimes hot, days and cool nights. Fifty-degree temperature variations in a 24-hour period are not unheard of in the area, which lies south of San Francisco and is separated from the Pacific by the Santa Lucia Mountains. The diurnal swing, supposedly the largest in the state, allows the grapes to ripen fully.

Red wines from Paso Robles are often characterized as being approachable with soft tannins, voluptuous fruit expression, a touch of cocoa powder and often a haunting trace of violets. That could be found in a side-by-side tasting of 2006 Clayhouse Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ($15), 2005 Robert Hall Meritage ($40) and 2006 Vina Robles Suendero ($48), the latter of which won Grand Champion Best of Show at the 2009 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Wine Competition.

Though the complexity in the wines progressed in keeping with the price, all three were smooth on the palate and had a bracing acidity that made you want to grab a slab of meat to go with them.

Whites from the region are generally crisp and clean, whether you're dealing with the more familiar viognier and sauvignon blanc to the lesser-known verdelho and vermentino, all of which Vina Robles uses in its White 4 blend.

Rhone varietals, both red and white, are finding a market, thanks to such excellent wines as the Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel ($30) with its use of roussane, grenache blanc and picpoul blanc; Treana White with its marsanne; and plenty of youthful rosés made from grenache, cinsault, syrah and mourvèdre.

Big red lovers can find plenty of zinfandels, syrahs, petite sirahs and petite verdot blends to keep them satisfied, with the solera-style Candor Merlot blend ($20) from Hope Family Wines and the cabernet franc-blend Niner Fog Catcher ($50) earning praise for their complexity and intensity.

That so large a range of wines can come from one area is no surprise to the farmers there. A number of microclimates exist within Paso Robles, making it hard to pinpoint just what one or two grapes grow best there. There's a saying in Paso Robles that "if you don't like the soil you're standing on, take a step behind you," said Stacy Miller, who grew up in Paso Robles and is sales and market director for Eberle Winery, one of the oldest in the region.

The folks who grow grapes in Paso Robles are trying to address that variety. They've proposed a series of 11 sub-appellations that would let wine buyers know exactly where a bottle is coming from, so they can better determine its style. It's the first time an area has proposed such a division, according to Steve Lohr of J. Lohr Winery.

He's been working on the project for several years now and has no idea where the application stands in the process. "I think they've been busy with other matters," he deadpanned, referring to lawmakers' workload in Washington, D.C.

Miller has seen the way wineries have changed the face of her home, and she thinks it's all for the better. The number of wineries has grown from a half-dozen in 1979, when Gary Eberle opened his winery, to more than 180 today.

The wine business generates about $1.8 billion a year in both sales and tourism, she said, and has fostered such compatible ventures as olive oil and cheese producers.

"I couldn't ask for a better industry," she said.