San Luis Obispo County Plays It Cool

BY JOSH RAYNOLDS | JANUARY 17, 2019

The greater San Luis Obispo County winegrowing region is best known for the mostly brawny, high-octane Rhône-variety-based wines of its famous AVA, Paso Robles, but the elegant and energetic wines from its cool, Pacific Ocean–influenced vineyards are increasingly making their case in the market as well.

While Paso Robles has been garnering plenty of trade and consumer attention in recent years, the wines of greater San Luis Obispo County have been steadily gaining in quality while also slowly emerging from the shadow of their more famous neighbor to the north. Less than a decade ago, the region was home to just a handful of well-known producers, but that has changed. The sheer number of high-quality wineries and the wines they produce means that the area necessitates and, most importantly, deserves its own coverage.

The marine-derived, sandy soils and cold winds from the Pacific Ocean give the wines of coastal San Luis Obispo their distinctive freshness and energy