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Robert Hall Winery Reflecting the character and terroir of Paso Robles. June 2007 Arthur Z. Przebinda, redwinebuzz.com Founder. e-mail Arthur |
Just before this year’s Hospice du Rhône, I received an invitation to a dinner at Robert Hall Winery. As part of the Dine Around, Paso Robles wineries host dinners featuring their best library wines paired with food prepared by a recognized chef. The dinner at Robert Hall was prepared by Jeffrey C. Scott, the former Chef de Cuisine at the Playboy Mansion West. He is trained in classic French, Italian and contemporary cuisine and, as Maître Fromager, is an authority on California artisan and farmstead cheeses.
I look for three things in the wines of any given producer: varietal typicity, regional typicity and good value for the wine offered. Having read up about the winery on line, I was very interested to try this relative new winery’s wines. I had a sneak peek at the Barrel Preview and Library Tasting. There is always the chance that the winery one is asked to evaluate may just not be up to standard. The Library Tasting dispelled those concerns. At the end of the day, we left the Paso Robles Fairgrounds and headed east on Highway 46 to Robert Hall Winery.
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We arrived at the recently completed Hospitality Center at the corner of Mill Road and Highway 46 just before sunset. The canopies of the nubile vines of Bench Vineyard which wraps around the Hospitality Center glowed in the acutely incident light of the westerly sun and begged to be photographed. That diversion satisfied, we proceeded into the spacious, bright tasting room. Uncluttered by trinkets, logo clothing, scented candles o other paraphernalia, the layout alloweds visitors to mingle around the centrally-placed dark-stained wood bar. Large windows open to broad views of a big terrace, the vineyard and immediate vicinity. |
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Cabernet sauvignon vines in the gently rolling Bench Vineyard along Highway 46. |
Completed just a few years ago, the large, single story Hospitality Center with its arcade and brick facade sits at the corner of the 22-acre Bench Vineyard of Cabernet sauvignon and Syrah at the junction of Mill road and Highway 46, some 3 miles east of the town of Paso Robles. The building sits on top of the 19,000 square foot, temperature-controlled wine caverns. A large dining area and a full-service kitchen are located towards the back.
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Robert and Margaret Hall founded Robert Hall Winery in 1995 with the planting of a vineyard on their newly-purchased land - named Home Ranch. Terrace and Bench Vineyards were added soon thereafter. A builder and developer (his past ventures have included apartment buildings, bowling centers and laundromats), Robert Hall has also been involved in the travel and hospitality industries. His inspiration for starting a winery came in the late 1970s during a trip to France. He searched for a location for his winery, moving west from his native Minnesota to Arizona and finally Paso Robles in the mid-1990s. |
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The Robert Hall winery and vineyards are located east of the town or Paso Robles. (Click on image to enlarge). |
The winery and hospitality center opened their doors to the public in 2002. Located on the south side of Highway 46, east of the city of Paso Robles and east of Huerhuero Creek, the property encompassing the Bench vineyard, winery and Hospitality Center is in good company, with Eberle, Firestone and Treana as immediate neighbors. A little farther to the east are Eos, Meridian and Tobin James. This area enjoys warm to hot daytime temperatures but not as extreme as in the vineyards to the east of the AVA – near Shandon, at the foot of the Diablo and Temblor mountain ranges. There is a cooling marine effect seen here, particularly at night. This comes from the Pacific Ocean, 20 miles to the west. Cool air drafts in through the Templeton Gap of the Santa Lucia Mountains to the west. All in all, the growing season in the area is long, dry, consistent and well suited to late-ripening varieties.
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The estate's vineyards lie roughly along a north-east to south-west running diagonal between the Estrella River and Huerhuero Creek. Fertile, moderately deep soils of this area are highly varied, with patches as small as a few feet across in some areas. Slightly alkaline and calcareous, the soils are a mix of decomposed granite, shale, sand, loam, limestone, clay, gravel and chalky elements. There are several named vineyards on the 300-acre estate: Home, Bench and Terrace. Additionally, these vineyards are subdivided into named lots: Bell Tower, Estrella Linda, and Red-Tail. |
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Founder and owner, Robert Hall takes a question in the wine library. |
The original vines are now about 12 years old and the estate grows 17 varieties: Cabernet franc, Cabernet sauvignon, Carignane, Cinsault, Counoise, Malbec, Merlot, Mourvedre, Orange Muscat, Picpoul blanc, Roussanne, Sauvignon blanc, Souzao, Syrah, Tinta cão, Touriga, Viognier and Zinfandel.
Don Brady is the Director of Winemaking at Robert Hall Winery. I sat with Don during the dinner, and conducted an impromptu interview between the courses. I found Don very approachable and, contrary to what one might expect from a Texan, very mild-mannered. He exudes a quiet, humble confidence while maintaining a fun-loving and playful side.
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Don, has a respectable resume. He joined Robert Hall in 2001 and bottled the winery's first wine in 2002. He studied horticulture at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. At the time of graduation in 1984, he’d worked at the Pheasant Ridge Vineyard and the University of Texas experimental wine and grape program. His first job out of school was for Llano Estacado Winery (just outside Lubbock) – the largest premium winery in west Texas. His contribution to Texas viticulture earned him the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association’s “Louis F. Qualia” Award for his contributions to the Texas wine industry in 1999. |
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Director of winemaking at Robert Hall Winery, Don Brady, and Arthur take a moment away from dessert. |
Prior to coming to Robert Hall, he was Director of winemaking at Delicato's San Bernabe vineyard in the the AVA of the same name. Don has received additional recognition since then In 2001, he received the "Wine of America" Award from International Wine and Spirits. In 2006, the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance with the Independent Grape Growers of Paso Robles and the San Luis Obispo Vintners Association named him “Winemaker of the Year”.
Don's approach to winemaking is rooted in his horticulture background. He focuses on bringing out vineyard expression in the wine by getting the fruit to its best prior to harvest and vinification. Once on the crush pad, he says he treats the fruit in a traditi0onal manner. Rather than molding fruit to predetermined style, he believes in letting the fruit and site express themselves.
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The Robert Hall wines are typified by restraint and food friendliness in a world of Tim-Allen-esque "more power". Entry-level reds are clean, usually medium-bodied, fruit-forward with a distinct Paso Robles character and less defined varietal typicity. The reserve wines tend have a greater degree of extraction with structure conducive to longer aging. The most memorable whites, at the time of our visit to the tasting room, were the Rhône whites. The 2005 Blanc de Robles offers aromas of honey, bright fruit, nice acidity and minerality. The 2006 Viognier offers honeyed tropical flavors framed by white floral elements and good acidity. The 2005 Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc have good varietal typicity with prominent oak elements. |
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The dinner menu paired a number of library and current releases. The Hors d'oeuvres were accompanied by a non-vintage Brut Rosé (52% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 19% Cinsaut and 9% Mourvèdre) which mingles bright and crisp effervescence with bouncy red berry flavors. The 2006 Blanc de Robles, consistent with the 2005 vintage, was paired with Seared Diver Sea Scallops. The wine had enough acidity to contend with but not overpower the scallops. The 2002 Rhône de Robles, a blend of 44% Grenache, 40% Syrah, 11% Cinsaut and 5% Counoise, is a marriage of red-dominated fruit and peppery spices. It paired seamlessly with the Spinach pasta with confit of duck ragout, ricotta and morel mushroom balsamella. The 2002 Reserve Syrah offered blueberry and cherry backed by warmer spices, notes of oak and good structure paired well with the braised Kobe beef short ribs with Shiitake mushrooms. The meal finished with a Crème Brûlée Apricot Tart paired with the 2006 Orange Muscat. Sweet, but not cloying, and distinctly floral, this went well with layered complexity of the Crème Brûlée, its apricot component in particular.
Robert Hall Winery's trademarked tagline is: "The Essence of Paso Robles". That is not hyperbolic self-promotion. Despite the immense size of the AVA, and the variability of its soils and microclimates, there is a very distinct character to all Paso Robles wines. It is present in varying degrees in every one of the AVA's offerings. It combines different proportions of a dusty, herbal, briary character with a more elusive, rustic element and a bold ripeness occasionally accented by elevated volatile acidity. The composition of the Robert Hall wines focuses on showing terroir with finesse. Easy drinking, they pair well with food and offer good value. They reflect the positive elements of the Paso Robles character.
Robert Hall Winery is located at 3443 Mill Road in Paso Robles, CA. Their website is www.roberthallwinery.com.
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