If you’re like me, when you think of Paso Robles you think of
just two things: 1) it’s where you cut over from 101 to I-5 by
taking mind-numbingly-straight Highway 46 (on which you pass the
spot where James Dean crashed that beautiful Porsche) and 2) it’s
the home of the California Mid-State Fair.
If you’re like me, when you think of Paso Robles you think of just two things: 1) it’s where you cut over from 101 to I-5 by taking mind-numbingly-straight Highway 46 (on which you pass the spot where James Dean crashed that beautiful Porsche) and 2) it’s the home of the California Mid-State Fair. As a music lover, I’ve always found it simply astonishing that a small, dusty town like Paso would host a fair that attracts some of the biggest guns in the music business.
I have personally seen Stevie Wonder and Steely Dan there, and the 2004 fair boasted Joan Jett, Marshall Tucker, Crystal Gayle, Lit and Los Lobos playing on free stages. Fairgoers had to pay extra to see Blink-182, ZZ Top, Clint Black, John Fogerty, Leann Rimes, Goo Goo Dolls, Jessica Simpson (I didn’t say all the acts were talented), Tim McGraw and Smokey Robinson.
All my forays to this San Luis Obispo County town had been quick in-and-outs to catch a show, and the times I did venture into town, I found that the best place to eat was the A&W Root Beer Drive-In on Spring Street. They still make a mean Papa Burger and the root beer can’t be beat, but imagine my amazement when I arrived in Paso on an assignment last winter and discovered that little town was all grown up. It is now home to several gourmet restaurants, upscale delis and hotels and very fine wineries.
The town’s full name is El Paso de Robles (“the pass of the oaks”), but folks thereabouts simply call it Paso (Chamber of Commerce motto: “Darn Near Paradise!”). The town has been a draw for tourists since the mid-19th century, owing to the area’s natural hot springs and mud baths. People arrived via the Southern Pacific Railroad, the presence of which helped the city to develop. It was incorporated in 1889. At the time it contained 523 souls and 100 buildings. Today, there are more than 25,000 residents within the city limits.
During the 1990s, winemakers both aspiring and established began arriving in the area to set up shop. They were lured by the rocky soils and a climate that provides hot, sunny days mitigated with an evening cooling, courtesy of fog from the nearby Pacific.
Another draw was the fact that land prices had not yet gone through the roof, as they had in the Napa Valley and, to a lesser extent, the Salinas Valley just to the north. A small Mom-and-Pop winery could get off the ground without huge amounts of capital. During the last decade of the 20th century, the acreage devoted to the growing of wine grapes more than doubled. There are now around 60 bonded wineries near Paso’s idyllic town square and together they ship more than 26 million cases of wine each year.
Not that all the wineries here are new. Several players have been in the region for decades, including Gary Eberle, a great, lovable bear of a man who founded the Meridian brand there, and moved on to create Eberle Winery – a producer of numerous award-winning vintages. A tour of the Eberle facility, just east of town on Highway 46, illustrates the determination of this self-made winemaker. He is perhaps the embodiment of the spirit that pervades the Paso wine scene.
After he outgrew his production facility, Gary went underground. Literally. Using Welsh mining equipment, he tunneled beneath his property and created 16,000 square feet of caves. They contain row upon row of barrels and – because Eberle is a born host – an expansive banquet hall that seats hundreds and a more intimate setting for about 10 diners.
Other well-respected producers in the area include Wild Horse, Summerwood, EOS, Tobin James, Opolo and Silver Horse. Santa Cruz producer Bonny Doon also maintains a tasting room west of Paso on Highway 46.
Most, if not all, of the wineries around Paso boast friendly and accessible tasting rooms, and it’s a real treat to spend a day or two sampling the various wineries’ wares. More information can be found on the Paso Robles Vintners and Growers Association Web site at www.pasowine.com.
So the next time you think of Paso Robles, don’t think of sitting in a dusty arena with a corn dog and a Bud. Now, in 21st-century Paso, you can relax in an upscale restaurant sipping a world-class wine and snacking on gourmet delights.
