San Luis Obispo: At the Edge of the Ocean

BY JOSH RAYNOLDS | APRIL 28, 2022

The wines of San Luis Obispo continue to grow in popularity and availability. Recent vintages will only enhance the region’s well-earned reputation for high quality. The consistent success of the wines from this cool, Pacific Ocean-influenced region resulted in the creation of the new San Luis Obispo Coast AVA. Winemakers in California have been struggling to make graceful wines in regions where temperatures have steadily been increasing. The San Luis Obispo Coast, which is the coldest AVA in the United States, is becoming a highly attractive source for fruit that can deliver wines of real tension, detail and freshness. Most of the wines included in this report will start bearing that moniker with the 2021 vintage.

John Alban's home vineyard, planted in 1990, is the source for some of the New World's most sought-after, Rhône variety-based red and white wines.

Recent Growing Seasons

Due to the cold winds that roll off the ocean, growing seasons here have proven to be quite consistent, even predictable. This is rather different from other regions on the west coast, which lie more inland and are dealing with increasingly warmer conditions. So far and based almost entirely on my experience with white wines and weather details, 2021 is shaping up to be an outstanding vintage thanks to a cool early season and a warm, event-free summer, with no severe heat spikes. Moderate to cold conditions ruled through September, and harvesting was conducted at leisure, with the fruit coming in at mostly low sugar and pH levels.

Fortunately, the smoke issues that plagued many of San Luis Obispo’s northern neighbors in 2020 mostly didn’t visit the growers here. A majority of the smoke, from fires in Monterey in the third week of August, stayed high, causing haze but not settling down to affect the grapes. And, that smoke, which was quite quickly blown away by coastal winds, was from relatively far away and more than 24 hours old, thus not “fresh” and less impactful on the fruit. A number of producers told me that testing revealed no smoke taint on their wines. I’m looking forward to checking the red wines out this coming fall and winter.