The Grapevine: Steinbeck Vineyard: From grapes
and WineYard to its own vintage
By Laurie Daniel
The Tribune, San Luis Obispo
Cindy Newkirk
Steinbeck Vineyard in Paso Robles has been a top-notch fruit source for a number of wineries for more than 20 years. Consumers of Eberle wines, for example, have seen the Steinbeck Vineyard name on several labels, including syrah and barbera.
In 2003, the Steinbeck family embarked on a new venture, opening the 350-acre vineyard on the east side to visitors as the educational WineYard. Guests bounce along the vineyard roads in a 1958 Jeep with Cindy Newkirk, whose family owns the vineyard and whose ancestors moved to San Luis Obispo County in the 1870s.
This summer, the family is unveiling its latest project: a cabernet sauvignon and viognier under the Steinbeck Vineyards and Winery label.
Steinbeck country
Newkirk’s father, Howie Steinbeck, started planting the vineyard in 1982. The original 50 acres included cabernet sauvignon that’s planted on its own roots. Sixty acres more were planted in 1985. Steinbeck continued to add to the vineyard over the years and planted a range of grape varieties, but Newkirk still sees cabernet as the flagship grape of Steinbeck Vineyard.
Steinbeck has had a long relationship with Gary Eberle of Eberle Winery. “I met Howie when I came out of Davis in 1973,” Eberle says. Eberle co-founded Estrella River Winery (now Meridian) that year, and Steinbeck, who worked for Western Farm Services, advised the young winemaker. Steinbeck went on to become a partner in Eberle Winery; that partnership also owns the 150-acre Mill Road Vineyard, which Steinbeck farms. “Howie grows great fruit,” Eberle says.
Despite growing up on the Steinbeck property, Newkirk—who is president and CEO of the family’s vineyard and wine businesses — didn’t start out working in wine. She studied 16th century history and theology and worked with youth groups. In 2007, she and her husband, Tim, moved to Paso Robles to help out with the vineyards.
But Newkirk loved teaching and began to think about how she could put her background to work at the vineyard. She eventually developed the WineYard, setting up a “classroom” in a building overlooking the vineyards. This schoolhouse of sorts features displays about her family and the vineyard. Newkirk says that 600- 700 people a year take the two-hour tour, which costs $50 per person. (There’s also a $75 version that includes a picnic in the vineyard.)
Launching a family vintage
In the 2005 vintage, the family produced a little cabernet sauvignon under the Steinbeck label. That wine, and a 2006 viognier, are just being released. Newkirk says one aim was to “showcase who we are” and help market the Steinbeck grapes to other wineries. Steve Glossner, a consultant who was formerly the winemaker at Halter Ranch, Adelaida and Justin, is making the wines.
“I was a pretty die-hard west side guy,” Glossner says. But he was impressed by the history of the vineyard and the family’s commitment. He says he’s still learning about the vineyard but adds, “I really like working with it. It surprises me.”
The 2005 Steinbeck Cabernet Sauvignon ($40) is an auspicious debut for the family’s label. The wine is bright and juicy, with black cherry fruit and cassis and hints of mocha and cedar. The tannins are very polished. The 2006 Viognier ($26), meanwhile, is fleshy, with flavors of creamy white peach, vanilla and honeysuckle.
The family still sells nearly all the fruit it grows, but the Steinbeck Vineyard name appears on relatively few bottles. Often, the grapes are blended with fruit from other sources. But I did manage to assemble a few bottles to taste. A highlight was the 2006 Eberle Winery Barbera ($22), which is about three-quarters Steinbeck fruit. This very easy-to-drink wine displays bright blueberry and blackberry flavors, juicy acidity, nice spice and medium tannins. Steinbeck is also the source for Eberle’s syrahs: The 2007 Eberle Syrah Rosé ($16) is fruity and refreshing, while the 2005 Eberle Syrah ($20) offers ripe blackberry, mocha and spice, supported by juicy acidity. Eberle also makes a reliable viognier from Mill Road Vineyard, as does Arroyo Robles.
The 2006 Maddalena Sauvignon Blanc ($12) — made from Steinbeck grapes, though this isn’t indicated on the front label — is ripe and a little tropical, with pineapple and passion fruit flavors. And it offers more evidence of the impressive range available from this vineyard.
Steinbecks honored
by Fellow Vintners Saturday
The Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance honored Howie and Bev Steinbeck,
owners of Steinbeck Vineyards on Friday, Jan. 19 as the 2006 Wine Industry
Persons of the Year.
Click here for the complete story. . .
Explore the roots of the wine -
through the eyes of reporters who have experienced our hospitality!
Taste California Travel - Paso Robles:
First-Rate Second Banana tastecaliforniatravel.com
Michael Eady November 2005
Paso Robles legacy of the American west is the nexus to the 21st century. It has become a place where cowboy boots and blue jeans co-exist harmoniously with art galleries and haute cuisine. That spirit which shaped the American landscape for over two centuries is alive and thriving in Paso Robles. The spirit of industry, innovation and entrepreneurship is evident everywhere.
The WineYard is the fledgling concept of one such entrepreneur, Cindy Newkirk. Cindy is kinetic energy in blue jeans, a fifth-generation farmer with very deep local roots. Warm and engaging, Cindy loves to teach as well as farm. She has found an innovative outlet for her twin passions in the WineYard, serving as both instructor and tour guide.
Her concept is simple enough and to this end she has built a rustic "schoolhouse" on the top of a hill on her farm. This was her way of being able to educate visitors about the fundamentals of vineyard farming. This wine room schoolhouse, so to speak, is part museum and part agricultural school. It is appointed with photos and farm implements that illustrate the history of both her family and the difficulty of farming as a way of life.
She explains many of the farming practices involved with growing grapes and tries to answer all questions. The highlight of the trip to the WineYard is a trip around the ranch in her old Jeep. We bounced around taking in the morning air as she stopped periodically to show us old farm equipment or blocks of vineyard, detailing when, why and how each would be harvested. We stopped and clambered aboard a grape-harvesting machine to check out the technology of the day. The WineYard is a good way to learn first-hand the effort involved in producing good wine. The vineyard itself (Steinbeck Vineyards) counts familiar wineries such as Castoro Cellars, Meridian, and Peachy Canyon among its clients.
San Francisco Magazine - The Central Coast p. 173
Oenophiles will love this down-home, upscale trip.
November 2005
Something's happened to the sleepy Central Coast farm burgs of Atascadero and Paso Robles; they've morphed into exciting wine centers offering everything you'd expect from long-standing wine country destinations, where the locals can trip terroir off the tongue without tripping up. Try a twist on the usual wine-tasting expedition, Cindy Newkirk, a fifth-generation scion of a wine-making family, offers tours of her 500-acre Steinbeck Vineyards from aboard WineYard Willy, a 1958 jeep. No tasting here: Steinbeck's a grape supplier, not a vintner. But this field trip is a vivid reminder that without up-before-dawn farmers, there'd be no wine country.
You can still find a Travelodge in Paso, but you'd probably prefer Villa Toscana, the ultimate in B&Bs. This country idyll offers vineyard views from private terraces. Over in Atascadero, the plush Carlton Hotel may look like a refurbished bit of history, but it's brand-new, incorporating just two of the original building's walls.
Posted on Fri, Oct. 24, 2003
American Idol® producers Nigel
Lithgoe and Ken Warwick filmed Corkscrewed: The Wrath of Grapes in
Paso Robles.
This reality
television series featured these two rookie vineyard owners and the perils
of owning vineyards. Cindy appeared on two of the eight episodes enlightening
Nigel and Ken about vineyard life and life in Paso Robles.
Wine Notes
Paso's Steinbeck Vineyards
offer visitors a chance to learn
about fruit of the vine
Michaela Baltasar
The Tribune
PASO ROBLES - A new venture has sprouted at Steinbeck Vineyards in Paso Robles.
Called The WineYard, the program walks visitors through the grape-growing process from start to finish for a small fee. Guests leave with a better understanding of how wine is made, while the vineyard receives extra income.
Tour guide Cindy Newkirk's family has farmed the 350-acre property since 1870 and planted the vineyard there in 1982. The family's grapes have had long-standing contracts with local wineries such as Castoro Cellars, Eagle Castle Winery, Eberle Winery and Meridian Vineyards.
Despite their success, the family is always looking for ways to diversify their product and find ways to bring in revenue. Newkirk said agritourism was the answer.
"We've been welcoming visitors to the vineyard for years and thought we'd try to make a living educating people," Newkirk said. "We're doing this because it's fun -- we want to share what we have here."
The opportunity to educate others is what excites Newkirk the most. An academic who holds a master's degree in Reformation history and theology, Newkirk loves teaching. "We want to reach the tourist, the tasting room staff and the local resident who sees vineyards going up all over the community," Newkirk said. "We also are open to school children for field trips."
The WineYard's grand opening is Nov. 15, but guests can schedule visits now.
The program is housed in a building that overlooks Steinbeck Vineyards, which produces cabernet sauvignon, merlot, zinfandel, syrah, chardonnay, muscat canelli, viognier and barbera. Farm equipment and poster-size photographs line the walls, chronicling every step of the grape-growing process, from tractors ripping the soil to prepare it for planting to matured grapes ready for harvest.
Guests will even have the chance to "adopt" a vine on the property and participate in farming. Paso Robles Wine Services will then make and bottle wine from the adopted grapes, and guests will be able to take it home. "We believe appreciation for good wine will grow when people understand the farming practices," Newkirk said.
The WineYard is the only program to focus on grape-growing, but Newkirk isn't the only farmer in San Luis Obispo County to catch onto the agritourism trend. Membership in the Central Coast AgriTourism Council -- which serves San Luis Obispo, southern Monterey and northern Santa Barbara counties -- has doubled since the group's inception just two years ago, said Jeff Rodriguez, a project coordinator who works with the council. At least 100 people are now members, and the group is still growing.
"Agritourism creates another revenue source for farmers and ranchers," Rodriguez said. "It may be what keeps the small farmer in business, keeps him from selling his land to a developer. It keeps agriculture viable on the Central Coast." Creating an additional revenue stream for farmers, ranchers and vintners is a major draw, but agritourism presents another benefit, too. "People want to share what they love doing," said Teresa Love, a Cal Poly professor in the recreation, parks and tourism administration program. "They get to share it with the public, with school buses full of children.
Michaela Baltasar's Wine Notes column appears every Friday.
Reach her
at 238-2720, ext. 20, or send e-mail: mbaltasar@thetribunenews.com
