The Halter Ranch (Experience)

Paso Robles, CA

 

We had the opportunity to stay at the Halter Ranch Vineyard Farmhouse while we were in Paso Robles a couple of weeks ago and it was one of the best wine country experiences we have ever had.  Halter Ranch is a ten year old winery in the heart of the Westside Paso wine country.  Their closest neighbors are Adelaida and Tablas Creek which were reviewed last week.  The Halter Ranch is a 1,000 acre property with 280 acres of vines.  The property dates back to the 1880’s when it was established by a San Francisco businessman as a cattle ranch.   A grand Victorian farmhouse was built on the property in 1881 which burned down in 1885 and was rebuilt.  This farmhouse with many improvements over the years is the first thing you see when you arrive at the property.  Farming and ranching were the mainstays of the property until June of 2000 when 900 acres of the property were purchased by the current owner Hansjorg Wyss.  Mr. Wyss had seen the area years earlier and had put word out that if a property like this became available that he would be interested as he had a strong desire to be a producer of world class grapes and wines. 



The Farmhouse

Hans is a Harvard educated Swiss born entrepreneur and the second richest person in Switzerland.  Hans put the property under the guidance of Mitch Wyss (no relation to Hans) with the goal of creating a world class sustainable vineyard property.  The property now has 20 different grape varieties planted.  The wine label was started in 2002 and the winery now produces about 8,000 cases.


We all have heard that it takes a bunch of money to get into the wine business and certainly a lot of money is being spent at Halter Ranch.   But I think they are very serious about doing everything right here.  I think a lot of thought goes into every aspect of the operation.  Sometimes there are these wineries that look like they have too much money but don’t get everything right.  This is not the case here. Every aspect of the property is tastefully done.  The Farmhouse while looking old is modern and tasteful on the inside.  The kitchen, bedrooms and porches were fantastic.  Some of the windows are original dating back to the 1880’s. 

The new wine making facility
 

But about the winery and tasting facility- I think this is one of those wineries where the Tour is a requirement (unless you just want to drink wine).  They offer tours on the weekends at 10am and 1pm and you walk through the ranch, across the bridge that spans Tablas Creek, and up the hill into the newly completed winery and caves.  The winery is state of the art and built to be able to handle approximately 48,000 cases (six time their current output).  The caves are the largest winery caves I have ever seen and at this point are not even ½ full.  You will be impressed.  We were there on a Sunday just a week after the last of the grapes had been brought in for the year and the winemaker, recently of Justin, (a highly touted Paso winery) was hard at work and we got to see some hands on winemaking in process.   Our tour guide had an intimate knowledge of everything Halter Ranch and answered every question our group came up with.  On the way up to the winery we passed a couple of old barns and other ranch properties that are in the process of being refurbished.  We also passed a couple of old airplane hangars the served as the original winemaking facility.  These originally housed planes that landed at the private ranch runway.

The tour ended with a stop at the tasting room.  The tasting room is located down below next to the Farmhouse and in another totally refurbished original ranch building.  The tasting room was busy but had lots of space both inside and outside.  Our guide served as our pourer for our group of ten. 

The tasting selection was mostly red wines.  The lone white, the Cotes De Paso Blanc, was a Rhone blend of Grenache, Roussanne, Picpoul (which I am not familiar with), Marsanne and Viognier.  It was refreshing and I’m guessing you will see varietal bottlings of these grapes in the future.  The reds included Syrah, Zin, Cab and three blends.  The blends were priced at $50.00 for the Ancestor (mostly Petit Verdot, Cab and Syrah) down to the Synthesis (mostly Cab) at $20.00.  The reds were consistently good although none of them stood out as being amazing.  I’m not sure the Ancestor is up to its price tag yet, especially in comparison to my benchmark $50.00 Napa Valley wines.  My guess is that the wines will improve over time especially with the arrival of Kevin Sass, the winemaker formerly of Justin, who arrived in 2011.  We had the $20.00 Synthesis at a family event recently and it was very good.

 

The bridge over Tablas Creek on the way up to the new wine facility

 

What we liked- Virtually everything about the place.  Like I said above, by taking the tour you really get to take in the whole place.  Everything, including the tasting facility, is very comfortable.  Everyone we met was professional, yet friendly.  But kind on a FYI- The Farmhouse is not for rent.  We were able to use it as we have some very good connections with someone that was the high bidder in a charity auction.

What we bought- Nothing this time but we will return with other tasters and would certainly buy wine from Halter next time we are in the area. I think in a couple of years you will also be able to find Halter wines on the retail market.

Vitals:

Halter Ranch Vineyard

8910 Adelaida Road

Paso Robles, CA  93446

(805) 226-9455

www.halterranch.com