Wine Insiders |

The Central California coastal wine region is a delightful place to tour and visit wineries, eat great food and enjoy some awesome weather. And it is not in the rush of them ore famous wine regions to the north. Don’t get me wrong I love Napa, Sonoma and the rest but sometimes a slower pace and a relaxing time are what you need.

This past weekend we visited the central coast and made a day of tasting and touring in Paso Robles. The highlight of the day was a visit to the Robert Hall winery which is located on Hwy 46 just a few short miles east of the heart of town in Paso Robles.

The Robert Hall property is a delightfully laid out and invites one to want to hang out and enjoy the ambiance. The architecture is modern brick and stone with a lovely fountain out front that rolls into a creek of sorts down the middle of the two main buildings. Space is plenty for parties, events, and weddings both indoors and outdoors.

The main tasting room is large, airy, and inviting to the wine taster. A large square tasting island centers the room and allows the visitor the chance to interact with both the staff and the other visitors.

You can take your choice of two levels of tasting. For $5 per person you can sample six wines from the Robert Hall collection and for $10 you can choose from another menu of fine Estate wines made on the property. Robert Hall grows all of its own grapes for all of the 22 varietals they produce.

My favorite of the day was the 2006 Rhone de Robles. This rich red wine had such a depth of wonderful flavor and left me wanting to take on a whole bottle. The blending of 46% Grenache, 45% Syrah, 6% Cinsaut, 3% Counoise grapes was a revelation to me as I had never sampled this wine before.

During a family trip to France in the late 70’s, Robert visited the Rhone valley and was captivated by the winery lifestyle of farming, crafting wine and the pairing of wine with food. Robert began developing his idea for a premium-producing vineyard and winery in the early-80’s, and ventured west with the goal of visiting each of California’s wine appellations to explore the optimum growing conditions for the production of premium wine grapes, specifically the Rhone varieties he had enjoyed so much. In early-90’s, Robert and Margaret discovered the perfect terroir in the Paso Robles appellation. Featuring soil rich in nutrients, coupled with warm days and cool nights, Robert felt the viticultural conditions were ideal to the development of the enological characteristics he was seeking to produce. “Home Ranch” was acquired in 1995. Soon after, the “Terrace” and “Bench” vineyards joined the Hall Ranch enclave.

Posted by wineinsider under Wine Insider | Comments Off |