Wild Horse Winery: The Central Coasts Best Fruit

Wild Horse seems a fitting name for a winery located near Paso Robles, and one who, for 25 years has sought to create unique and compelling wines from the Central Coast. One of the things that makes Wild Horse Winery different, located just south of Paso Robles, in Templeton, is that they source fruit from 16 diverse AVA’s in California, including some of the smallest and largest appellations in the state.

From well know areas such as the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara, to Edna Valley in San Luis Obispo, and Monterey, to smaller AVA’s like Cienega Valley and the single vineyard Lime Kiln Valley, the goal has been to find compelling fruit. (AVA stands for American Viticulture Area, a federally recognized area, "as a delimited grape growing region, distinguishable by geographical features. Viticultural features such as soil, climate, elevation, topography, etc., distinguish it from surrounding areas," according to the Department of the Treasury).

In 1983 Wild Horse Winery, under the winemaking skills of Ken Volk, decided that Templeton would be a great place to plant grapevines, given the winery’s unique site and proximity to prevailing ocean breezes and underground aquifers,. Not to mention the wile horses that used to roam the property. Few people argued with the idea because few people lived in the area. Ken began planting grapevines with the purpose to showcase central cost wines in particular and, to "select the best fruit from some of the finest AVA's," he said. California currently has nearly 90 AVA's on record. Ken also experimented with pinot noir fruit from Oregon and zinfandel from Sonoma.