Five Reasons Why Winter Is the Best Season to Visit Wine Country

Most people think of wine country in the autumn, with colorful grapes on the vines, golden hillsides, and clear blue skies. And that is a pretty great backdrop for a wine country visit. But I'm here to tell you that as excellent as the fall is, it's the winter that you should be looking to visit Paso Robles or really any California wine country. To give you a sense of why, a photo to start:

So why do I think you should schedule your next wine country visit in winter?

• No crowds. There's not really an "in season" and "out of season" period in wine country, but our weekly traffic numbers should give you a sense. In March, April, and May we averaged 584 visitors per week. The summer is a little quieter, and in June through August we averaged 496 visitors per week. September through November we averaged 544 people per week. But unless your visit is in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, or over either MLK or President's Day weekend, our average weekly visitors last December through February was just 321 people per week. That means that you'll likely have the tours to yourself and tasting rooms nearly so, especially if you come during the week.  
• The weather is lovely. You might think that people avoid Paso Robles in the winter because of the weather. Of course, there is the occasional rainstorm, but even in winter here we get on average five sunny days per week. And relative to other parts of the country, the winter climate here is downright glorious. On those sunny days, the average high here is in the 60s. About a third of days between December and March top out in the 70s. That sounds pretty nice to me. Nights are chilly, yes. It's not unusual for it to drop below freezing. But that's what sweaters are for. And if you're worried about snow, don't be. The last time we saw any out at Tablas Creek was in 2011, and it was gone an hour later.  
• Winemakers and proprietors are around. One of the charms of a place like Paso Robles is that most of the wineries here are locally owned, and there's a pretty good chance that when you visit you'll meet the people who run the place and who make the wines. But during harvest, winemakers are buried in grapes, working 60-hour weeks. Vineyard managers become nocturnal. And the owners who aren't also doubling as vineyard managers or winemakers are likely on the road trying to sell their wines before the holiday season. By mid-November the selling season is over, as is the grind of harvest. Wines are largely pressed off and quietly finishing fermentations in barrel. And the wholesale market doesn't really get going again until March. So the key people are around. 
• Animals are out in the vineyards. OK, this isn't applicable to every winery. But more and more, wineries around California are realizing that one of the best ways to increase fertility and biodiversity (and therefore soil health) in their vineyards is to integrate grazing animals, mostly sheep, in the off-season. You can get sheep in the vineyard as early as the end of harvest, but there's not much for them to eat until the grasses get established at this time of year. But starting in mid-December, the next four months are when the flocks are most important in the vineyard. Most operations time lambing for November or December, so the lambs are being weaned when there's the most food available. So this is the time of year to see this piece of regenerative farming in action. Come budbreak in April, the sheep have to be exiled to unplanted areas so they don't switch over to eating the new buds and leaves.  
• The beauty. Back to my first point. Winter’s beauty here in Paso Robles may not have the drama of summer's golden hills and deep blue skies, but it's profound nonetheless. This is a more subtle beauty: layers of clouds and sky, carpets of green growing over deep brown earth, and textures that seem like they change daily.⁠ Right now, you have the end of the fall colors as the last leaves hang on the vines, at the same time as the hillsides are turning from brown to green. The earth, dampened from the first rains, turns dark brown. As the winter goes on, the green of the grasses deepens, eventually in March bursting into wildflower glory.

I'll share a couple more photos to give you a sense. First, a look west across one of our many dry-laid limestone walls toward a section of Grenache Blanc with a few yellow-green leaves hanging on above the rapidly growing cover crop.

And finally one more photo that to me captures the atmospheric loveliness of this time of year. This is taken at my home vineyard looking east over the town of Templeton. You can see the winter fog that sit over the Salinas River Valley and the towns of Templeton and Paso Robles. You can see the wild tangle of bare but unpruned grapevines. And you can feel the warmth of the day approaching. That day started at 28°F and was probably 33°F when I took the photo around 8am. By 3pm it was 71°F.

If you're coming in the next few months, you're in for a treat. If you haven't yet made your plans, put it on your list. You won't regret it.