Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/637107
{ SOMMjournal.com } 53 W hen the Hope family moved from Bakersfield to Paso Robles in 1978, they had no idea that their namesake would one day become a benchmark in the wine industry. Chuck Hope moved his family to Paso Robles after his father-in-law, William Austin, passed away. Hope had worked as a driver for his father-in-law's distribution company, which had been one of the first to secure distribution rights to Coors west of the Rockies. But when his father-in-law passed, Chuck knew that this was not the business he wanted to be in. Hope was a farmer at heart and was advised by a family friend to move to Paso Robles and plant apples and vineyards. "We started the old-fashioned way, without money," says Austin Hope, second-generation winegrower. Hope's grandmother signed a $200,000 bank loan to purchase land and plant a vineyard in Paso Robles. Once the vineyard got started, they sold that vineyard and planted two more. Soon, they became one of the largest growers of Cabernet Sauvignon in the area, selling fruit to esteemed vint - ners, including Chuck Wagner of Caymus Vineyards for his Liberty School label. Soon after, Austin's uncle, Paul Hope, joined the family business. Paul spearheaded the move to start a winery. "My uncle was very interested in making wine, and so was I," says Austin. In 1995, Chuck and Paul purchased the Liberty School label and began laying the groundwork for Treana Winery. Tragically, Paul passed away in 1996 and Austin's father turned to him to lead the family wine business. Austin had worked in the vineyards all of his life and had interned harvests for Wagner up in Napa Valley. "My dad asked me 'Well, do you think you can do this?' Luckily when you're young you're pretty cocky and think you can do anything so I said, 'Well, yeah I can do this,'" Hope laughs. He jumped right in at the age of 23 with the help of a consulting winemaker, along with Hope's longtime friend, Jason Diefenderfer (named Head Winemaker in 2006), and Hope's vineyard foreman, Jesse Aispuro. "The First Ones Out There" "When we started Treana in '96 everyone looked at us like we were insane," Hope recalls. To release a $30 bottle of "red table wine" was unheard of at the time since it carried the connotation of being a jug wine, and the brand was from a relatively unknown region. "Maybe it's not the smartest thing in the world to be the first ones out there doing things, but that's what we do. We're like salmon swimming upstream," he laughs. In truth, Treana Wines cre - ated the category: quality, high-end table wines (blends) at a mid- to high-end price point. Today, these blends, which are still labeled as red/white table wines, are widely accepted in the marketplace and make-up a significant portion of the higher-end wines from both the Napa and Paso Robles regions. From the beginning, it has been their commitment to quality, both in their aggressive farming practices and winemaking tech - niques that have set the Hope family apart. High-density vineyard plantings, canopy manipulation and shoot thinning may be com- mon today but were not 20 or 30 years ago. While Treana may have started with estate vineyards, as the brand expanded they began to purchase fruit from other sources. Early on, the Hope family sold a few of their properties to pay for the costs that come with starting a new winery. "At the time it was sad," said Hope, "but I think we're in a better position since we aren't strapped to just those vineyards." Diversity truly defines the Paso Robles wine region. "As this area matures, there's new plantings, new clones—we're like kids in a candy store really," says Hope. There are now eleven AVAs in the region, each with its own unique microclimate and soils. Hope Family Wines has roughly 50 families throughout the area farming grapes for all of their brands. It's like a chef who has access to an enormous variety of produce, and in this case, they're not stuck with one source or one climate profile. "I love blending and from day one we've been blenders. So The Treana winery in Paso Robles.