Blog #4: “Paso Through My Lens,"
"How do you deal with that heat in Paso, though?”
This is a question which repeatedly occurs by friends when speaking of my move from San Diego to Paso Robles. Paso can be hot, and in the summer months, you bet your ass the afternoons will be! However the area also experiences cold, cool, warm, warmer, and even “W.T.F!". Most of the time this shift between cold and scalding will transition languidly throughout a single day. While I do find myself answering this question, often I like to turn my head and look more deeply at the landscape of which I am surrounded. I frequently find myself enjoying the serene beauty of Paso's landscape; often, through a lens.
A typical afternoon in Paso’s summer months’ can be 100+ degrees. Though at the end of that day Paso Roblians’ will experience a mind boggling eastern-wind so vigorous that if one should step outside they will instantaneously receive a complimentary “drybar” style blowout as the area cools. This diurnal temperature swing due to the wind patterns will be up to 60-degrees by the early morning hours. Yes, this news is wonderful for humans who wish to live in the area, however it is also bewilderingly complimentary for our growing of vines.
One of my favorite parts of moving to Paso has been the terrain, and finding wonderful areas to photograph it's features. There are a plethora of beautiful vistas, gorgeous vineyards rolling-expansively, cute barns and boutique tasting rooms; even castles and estates tucked in corners of the rolling golden and green valleys. This is a most-lovely product of Paso's symmetric-balance of climate and topography. Now I'd like to share that beauty with you, through my lens.
Beauty Through My Lens.
Cinematography: Evan Taylor of Experience Paso
Two years ago I had the opportunity to work on a music video with a very good friend of mine, Sophia Alone. The filming took place at Four Lanterns Winery in the Templeton Gap district of the Paso Robles AVA. From atop their vineyards facing the Santa Lucia Mountain Ranges before sunset on a warm fall-afternoon. We became inspired, jumped in the truck and headed to the top of the vineyard just before sunset and found our film-set.
Facing west as the sun starts a daily descent behind the Santa Lucia Mountain Ranges. Please enjoy our video.
"Why is this weather pattern important for grape growth?"
Paso Robles lies approximately 20-miles inland from the Pacific Central Coast. Between the ocean and our lovely small town, is an immaculate design of rolling hills, ravines and a small mountain range known as the Santa Lucia Mountain Range. These ranges deliver powerful micro-climates and intricate wind patterns which produce our quintessential wine growing climate. This directly benefits the production capability of ultra-premium wine grapes in Paso Robles AVA. This area is known as the Paso Robles Wine Country American Viticulture Area (Paso Robles AVA). The temperature differential will play a daily role in both ripening and phenolic-development of each cluster of grapes.
“Why does this formation of mountains near the coastline allow for Paso to be such a phenomenal place to live, though?”
Well, let’s look at the wind. Anybody who has ever spent a significant amount of time near the beach, or like myself, lived next to it for 20 years, has experienced the cold, powerful offshore breezes of the Pacific Ocean. These winds come from the surface of the cold Pacific ocean miles off of the coastline. These cool winds push all of our sun-delivered warmth further east, cooling off the areas which make up Paso Robles.
"What also occurs at the mercy of this symmetric balance of climate and topography?"
Well, we get wet. Yes, it rains here - in fact, last year throughout these ranges we experienced between 25 and 40 inches-of-rain throughout the expansive area. So let’s dissect this now… Warm weather, cool weather, and rain? Sounds like the perfect storm to create some of the most beautiful scenery possible.
While you are sitting at home, sheltering-in-place, know that we are too, all of us, together. I hope you are planning your next trip to our beautiful wine country, playing games and connecting as humans. We are sitting here with a glass of Cordant & Nelle's Bedlam Blend (a blend of 50% Syrah, 35% Grenache and 15% Petit Syrah), enjoying the fruitful rain dumping on our vineyards right now and for the next four days. The grapes will ripen, the wineries will produce, we will continue to indulge, and this will all be over soon! I look forward to the opportunity to see you all again very soon, and I wish for the health and safety of all of our friends, families and loved ones. I hope you enjoyed reading and watching with me today.
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Cheers,
Evan Taylor, a true wine enthusiast.
