Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/688647
{ SOMMjournal.com } 121 In May, San Antonio Winery announced that Ben Mayo would join their winemaking team in Paso Robles. Established in 1917 in Downtown Los Angeles, San Antonio Winery is the founding winery of Riboli Family Wine Estates, which has expanded to California's Central Coast, concentrating on the burgeoning Paso Robles region. Raised in San Luis Obispo and boasting more than 15 years of winemaking experience in Paso Robles, Mayo joins the San Antonio winemaking team focusing predominantly on the San Simeon, Maddalena, and Opaque brands of the Riboli Family Wine Estates portfolio. Mayo will also be heavily involved in the construction and management of the new state-of-the-art winery on Wisteria Lane off Golden Hill Road, opening this summer. Most recently, Mayo was the winemaker and GM at Rotta Winery. Previously, he spent 14 years as winemaker and partner at Eberle Winery. Both are located in the Paso Robles AVA. Mayo says what drew him to San Antonio is the fam - ily's vision and passion for the Central Coast, as well as the oppor tunity to lead vineyard-driven boutique brands that showcase the ver y best vineyards in Paso Robles and Monterey. The family farms eight estate vine - yards in the El Pomar, Creston, Santa Lucia Highlands and Arroyo Seco AVAs. "As a fourth-generation family having produced wine for almost 100 years, the Ribolis are dedicated to constantly evolving as a company and are completely invested in the Central Coast," says Mayo. grandmother got upset that she didn't have her own vineyard, so we bought the land across from it. It used to be an almond orchard; and of course it's named Maddalena, after her. Now they can look at each other from their own vineyards. Maddalena vineyard is more of a calcareous soil type called Linne-Calodo." Later in a conversation with Riboli, he would compare Paso Robles's El Pomar District to Napa's Stag's Leap, and "these south - ern areas of Napa that were thought to be too cool for Bordeaux grapes, but now those areas are being planted more and more. Is it global warming? Well sure, probably some of it is, but I think it's also just the way people are farming in those areas that are cooler to compensate—tricky farming, but your rewards for that longer hang-time is greater flavor development." Then, in true laid-back Paso fashion, we followed Anthony to the back of his car to uncork a bottled sample of San Antonio's 2015 Stefano Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. "This is first time I've ever tailgated in a vineyard before," joked one of the somms. "It's delicious!" "And young," added Riboli. "This is a taste of a young vine in its first [cropping] year." This made us wonder what was in store for the future of these rich, deeply colored, structured Cab grapes and for San Antonio Winery, especially considering its history. "We're certainly evolving—focusing on estate vineyards and planting for quality. Compounded with owning a winery now in Paso, that's gonna give us the freedom to raise the quality bar with small lots, co-fermentation and just fun experiments. Being known as the 'Urban Winery' is our history, but it's no longer who we are. We should certainly tell our story, because we have a unique story—and we should never forget our past; but we should also show people what we're doing now. It's not just my grandfather's winery anymore." Riboli's sentiments ring in unison with the striking results from the "Judgment of Paso" at the Allegretto Resort that culminated our SOMM Camp. The blind-tasting, conducted by a group of high-level somms in front of a packed audience, analyzed critically acclaimed Cabernets (and Cab blends) from Napa, Paso Robles and Bordeaux. It revealed that we could distinguish the earthy, funky Bordeaux from the others, but that Napa and Paso were interchangeable. Says Riboli, "Finding a Napa Cab by the glass at decent price is difficult and that's the great opportunity for Paso. If another area is going to outprice itself, let's take advantage of that." The somms of Paso Robles Cab Camp and Anthony Riboli in the El Pomar District AVA. See page 115 for names and affiliations. Current winemakers Arnaud Debons and Anthony Riboli (center) with newly appointed winemaker Ben Mayo at the San Antonio Winery in Downtown Los Angeles. Ben Mayo Joins Winemaking Team at San Antonio Winery