The Tasting Panel magazine

October 2011

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DEPARTMENT HEADER This Victorian house, built in 1885 by the property's original owner, is a locally- renowned landmark that greets Halter Ranch winery visitors, but gives no hint of the sprawling winery on the other side of Las Tablas Creek. Wines to Rein In L ooks can be deceiving. Driving along rural Adelaida Road on the westside of Paso Robles, California, a quaint Victorian house and a Halter Ranch tasting room sign don't hint at what lies beyond. Across the barnyard, a newly-built covered bridge—the only one in Paso Robles—spans Las Tablas Creek and leads to a multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art gravity-fed winery under construction, and connected to a mas- sive, intricately-caverned wine cellar being tunneled into an adjoining hillside. All of this is surrounded by 240 acres of some of the finest certified SIP (Sustainability in Practice) Rhône and Bordeaux varieties on the Central Coast, with more scheduled to be planted next year, bringing the total to 280 acres. Until recently, Halter Ranch was only known for producing grapes of exceptional flavor, which were readily sold to nearby wineries. But 90 / the tasting panel / october 201 1 Winemaker Kevin Sass and Winegrower Mitch Wyss (no relation to Hansjörg Wyss). Note the hand-picking of dry farmed Grenache in the background and the oak trees that remain within the vineyards, part of Halter Ranch's sustainable policies, which include wildlife corridors and beneficial insects to protect the vines. HALTER RANCH IS A TESTAMENT TO PASO ROBLES'S FUTURE story and photos by Richard Carleton Hacker

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