Eberle Winery

We often find that many wineries have interesting family stories, either with classic multinational companies, agriculture or wine itself. Eberle Winery falls into the last category. Gary Eberle started his career in his family business, the Estrella River Winery and has since worked to begin not only his own winery, but also the Paso Robles American Viticulture Area (AVA).

Eberle, which means small boar in German, began with the 1979 vintage. Interestingly, despite the German translation the small boar reference is in regard to the bronze statute which greets visitors in Florence, Italy. The legend says that anyone who rub's the boars nose and throws a coin into the fountain will not only have good luck, but is destined to visit Italy once again. To that end, many people follow the tradition at Eberle. A nice note, Eberle gives all money thrown into the fountain to a local children's charity.

Gary's life is one full of memorable events, such as playing football at Penn State (yes for Joe Paterno) and then attending Winemaker University (aka The University of California at Davis). His dream for a winery was not the large production operation run at Estrella, but a smaller production, world class quality, small production winery. While at UC Davis Eberle decided that although grapes were grown in Paso Robles, no one was employing truly world class winemaking techniques there so the wine was not fulfilling its true potential.

Beginning with his first vintage Eberle has shown that outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon can be produced from Paso Robles when given the same type of care that is standard practice in places like Napa, Bordeaux and Tuscany. It now produces approximately 25,000 cases per year in the small, intimate winery and tasting room. With an eye to keeping the buildings on the property as an extension of the vineyard and not an overbearing presence, when a significant expansion was needed Gary decided that an underground expansion was a better fit for his vision. To that end, 16,000 feet of underground caves were created, leaving enough space to age every bottle of wine crafted on the property.

If you want to experience the best of what can be produced on the California central coast, take an afternoon to visit the Eberle estate. You'll see one of the historic vineyards in California and taste some of the best that Paso Robles has to offer. An additional bonus if you're wine tasting on the central coast, Eberle crafts Cabernet Sauvignon which can be a welcomed break from the Rhone Varietal explosion at every other winery in the region.