Some people view retirement as a chance to kick back, to take
life easy. Perhaps to travel a bit.
Some people view retirement as a chance to kick back, to take life easy. Perhaps to travel a bit.
Not Dave King. He got his travel yaa-yaas out while viewing a big percentage of the globe through the windows of some of Uncle Sam’s finest ships during a 22-year Navy career. And he’s not exactly the kind of guy you can imagine lying supine in a hammock, cold beverage in hand, or spending his days chasing little white balls around a golf course (cold beverage in hand). He’s a wiry, intense individual possessed of boundless energy and an obvious and infectious love of wine and winemaking
During his Navy years, Dave spent a lot of his shore time learning about the wines of the world. He enjoyed collecting wine, and eventually his love of wine and fine food morphed into a desire to grow wine grapes and to shape that fruit into quality wine.
In 1994, Dave and his wife Carol DeHart-King bought what would become Vista Del Rey Vineyards. It’s a wonderfully bucolic setting, perched on the top of a hill about six miles north of Paso Robles. Their home is set among the vines and the pistachio and walnut trees that they also tend. The vineyard is planted entirely with Zinfandel – except for about 63 Grenache vines that are salted among the 3,200 Zins. Another 4-acre plot nearby is devoted to Barbera vines.
Paso Robles’ wine industry has experienced explosive growth in the last decade. There are now more than 60 bonded wineries in and around Paso, and together they produce more than 26 million cases of wine each year. Many of those wineries are Mom-and-Pop operations like Vista Del Rey (the name is Spanish for “King’s View”) producing limited quantities of premium hand-crafted wines that don’t usually show up on supermarket shelves. Instead, news of these wines is spread by word-of-mouth from one aficionado to another. These wine lovers make a sport of finding small, out-of-the-way producers and sharing their discoveries with others. And that’s how I found the Kings.
Vista Del Rey’s grapes are dry-farmed. That is, there are no irrigation lines strung among the vines, all water that reaches them comes from above. In Paso, that rainfall averages less than 20 inches per year. At Vista Del Rey, it’s more like 13. Dave believes that this method produces fruit with the more intense, full flavors that define Zinfandel.
Winemaker Dave is especially proud of his 2001 Zinfandel. That was a year when everything went just right and the combination of rainfall, warm days and cool evenings produced ideal grapes.
A visit to Vista Del Rey is a lot like stopping by to see some old friends who happen to make wine for a hobby. There is nothing pretentious here. A small tasting bar is set up in a large garage that also does duty as the equipment and wine storage room. There are dogs underfoot, and visitors are made to feel welcome and at home. Visitors will never experience high-pressure sales techniques or feel obligated to buy anything, although the wines are very good, and the chances of leaving without at least a couple of bottles are slim at best.
Dave and Carol produce and sell private-label chocolates and nuts that are designed to compliment the wines. They recently introduced raspberry Zinfandel and old-fashioned chocolate Zinfandel dessert toppings for ice cream, produced for them by Carol Hall’s Hot Pepper Jelly Company of Fort Bragg.
If you go: Vista Del Rey Vineyards is located at 7340 Drake Road in Paso Robles. From Highway 101, turn west on San Marcos Road about six miles north of Paso Robles. Drake Road is three-and-a-half miles from the highway. Tasting is by appointment only, so it’s a good idea to call several days in advance. (805) 467-2138.
