The SLO Coast: California’s Newest AVA, and Perhaps its Most Extreme - Wine & Spirits Magazine

Wine News

The SLO Coast: California’s Newest AVA, and Perhaps its Most Extreme

by Patrick J. Comiskey • March 17, 2022

Courtesy of Dan Fredman

California’s newest appellation, the San Luis Obispo Coast, takes the state’s identity as a coastal winegrowing region to the very edge of possibility. The new AVA, also known as the SLO Coast, hugs beachfront property from Big Sur to Santa Maria, running west of most existing AVAs (though it encompasses two well-established appellations on its southern flank, the Edna and Arroyo Grande Valleys—home to Talley, Baileyana, Laetitia, Stephen Ross, and Alban Vineyards, to name a few).

Courtesy of Dan Fredman

Twenty-five years ago, no one would have dreamed of considering an AVA in this stretch of coastline. With its foggy, windy, excessively cool temperatures, the area held few prospects for the support of vineyards outside of a few protected sites. But vineyards have indeed taken hold on barren fogbound hillsides, for some of the coolest, most extreme vineyard land in the state. Much new planting is being established just north of Pismo Beach, on the hills overlooking Cambria and Cayucos. That is where Stolo Vineyards, Bassetti Vineyards, Bassi Vineyard, and Rajat Parr’s new project, Phelan Farm, are found, just miles from the beach.

Patrick J. Comiskey

Patrick J. Comiskey covers US wines for Wine & Spirits magazine, focusing on the Pacific Northwest, California’s Central Coast and New York’s Finger Lakes.

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TAGS California News San Luis Obispo Coast Wine News

David Paradela
Associate Editor

David joined Wine & Spirits in 2021 after immersing himself in the world of wine at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally from Boston, he graduated from Boston University with a degree in English and completed a master’s degree in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College in 2021. Prior to working at the magazine, he served as an editor and staff writer for the music blog Sound of Boston and worked in scientific publishing. Aside from wine, he loves basketball, arguing about Taylor Swift’s best album, and everything Greta Gerwig touches.

Corey Warren
Tastings Editor

Corey Warren moved to New York in 2015—fifteen years too late to join The Strokes—after earning a degree at Cornell in Comparative Literature. He started polishing glasses at Betony and threw himself into the restaurant world. Later, while a captain at Aquavit, he began working part time in the Wine & Spirits tasting department. Now, in addition to running tastings, he serves as critic for the wines of the Loire, Southern France, Argentina and South Africa. Corey likes almost anything bubbly, from Miller High Life, the Champagne of beers, to Champagne, the Champagne of Champagne, but he’ll drink anything once, and loves finding unique wines.

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Patrick J. Comiskey
Senior Correspondent

A former sommelier, Patrick J. Comiskey serves as the W&S critic for all domestic wines outside of California—including New York, Oregon and Washington—and contributes articles on the wines and viticulture of these areas. His wine travels include regular visits to US wine regions, as well as trips to France, Italy, Germany and Australia. Comiskey’s writing credentials include contributions to the San Francisco Chronicle’s wine section, the Los Angeles Times, Bon Appétit and the Robb Report, and also teaches classes and moderates panels on viticulture, wine tasting and various wine regions. His recent book, American Rhône: How Maverick Winemakers Changed the Way Americans Drink (UC Press 2017), was shortlisted for the 2016 André Simon Food & Drink Book Award and 2017 Louis Roederer Domaine Faiveley Wine Book of the Year.

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Patricio Tapia
Senior Correspondent

After graduating with a degree in journalism from the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Patricio Tapia attended Bordeaux University in France, where he studied for a diploma in wine tasting and winemaking. Since then, he has visited wine regions around the world and authored several books, including his annual Descorchados, a Chilean wine guide; The Wines of Colchagua Valley; TodoVino and Wines for Great Occasions. Tapia is also the South American correspondent for The Oxford Companion to Wine, The World Atlas of Wine and Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Book. For the past three years, he’s been a host on the El Gourmet channel in South America. At Wine & Spirits, Tapia is the critic for the wines of Argentina, Chile and Spain, and regularly contributes articles on these regions.