Sculpterra Winery & Sculpture Garden

09/09/2026

Is every vineyard supposed to look like this?? I get asked that a lot when people walk through our Grenache block, and honestly, I ask myself the same thing! This is, hands down, the best looking vineyard on the whole property. We almost don’t want to pick it because it’s just so pretty to look at. **ery **e **e

09/09/2026

Okay wait…I need everyone to just stop and look at this for a second. This was the view from my own house the other night, looking right back over the vineyard and w**ery, and the sky just did THIS. No filter, no editing, nothing, this is exactly what came straight out of the camera, I promise you. I stood outside for probably ten minutes just watching it change, orange, then red, then this crazy fire color rolling across the whole sky over the vines and the garden. Is this real life?? Praise God for views like this, I get to see this stuff from my own backyard and I still can't get over it.

-Paul Frankel, w**emaker

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09/08/2026

Is every vineyard supposed to look like this?? I get asked that a lot when people walk through our Grenache block, and honestly, I ask myself the same thing! This is hands down the best looking vineyard on the whole property, full clusters everywhere, just loaded with fruit. We actually use this block as "bait" for our harvest crew! We pay by the ton, and this vineyard fills up your picking bin FAST, unlike some of our other blocks where you work twice as hard for half the fruit. We're talking 10-15 tons off just an acre and a half, and a crew of 8-10 can pick the whole thing in about 2 hours! Nothing natural about how good this fruit looks either, we leaf pull everything below the guide wire, strip the basal leaves right around the clusters for light and airflow, and we pin the canes up onto the cross arms to expose the morning side to the sun while letting the canopy shade the afternoon side so we don't sunburn the grapes. Every year we make a bet with the crew on the tonnage. My guess this year? 12 tons. It's a heavy crop, just not our biggest ever. We almost don't want to pick it, it's just too pretty to look at! 🍇

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09/08/2026

It's the day after Labor Day - a historic weekend when typically the harvest is just kicking off. This year's harvest started weeks ago..for over a month ago! Most vineyard managers and w**emakers are happy with this harvest thus far...and so am I! Quality has been high even though yields might be on the leaner side. Although this was not the case for this week's Viognier "Lago De Los Patos" harvest! We handpicked 10.435 tons in 1.5 acres...that's 6.9 tons per acre! Incredible indeed and welcomed as we need to make as much Viognier as possible! The crop was heavy because we transitioned the vines this year from VSP-spur trained to Head Trained-Cane Pruned. The vines responded with vigor and capacity! Check out our Viognier harvesting video right here. Today I focused on Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Primitivo check ups. Cabernet is doing great! Both Chivos and Bentley Blocks are at 21.0 BRIX, that's super high considering how early we still are this harvest season. Petit Verdot, which is typically the last to be picked, is already at 22.5 BRIX...again that's much further along than normal. Primitivo shot up to 25.0 BRIX and it looks, smells and tastes ripe! I plan to harvest Primitivo next week along with our Estate-Kathy's Forest Syrah. Next week the colder weather pivotes to daytime highs that could reach 90 degrees. Tropical storm Marie in the Pacific is not supposed to bring us rain, maybe just to Southern California. So I'm not too worried at this point of rain next week.Speaking of the weather...by now I'm sure you've heard a SUPER EL NINO is brewing in the Pacific Ocean. Temperatures in the ocean have increased up to 5 degrees Celcisus making it the highest increase in 40 years! Forecasters say this indicates that the California coast will get pummeled with rain this winter but the middle of the country could get drought-like conditions. Apparently this SUPER EL NINO is almost 100% confirmed. Paso's biggest rains came in 1968-69 and local old timers have been calling in on KRPL local radio to share those stories. Will this actually occur? Will we get catastrophic rainfall, flooding and devastation? Only time will tell.

09/07/2026

Say hello to our incredible event chef, Ryan Swarthout! 👨‍🍳 (Yes, it's SWARTH-out, not Darth Vader) Fun fact, "Swarthout" is actually Dutch-German for "dark wood" or "black forest," his family's roots trace back to four brothers who landed in New York from Amsterdam! Ryan knew he wanted to be a chef from the moment he watched the short-order cooks at the burger place he bussed tables at as a kid. He got accepted into BOTH the Culinary Institute of America in New York AND the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, chose SF at just 18 years old right out of high school, and he's been a chef for almost 30 years since! He's worked hotels, catering, restaurants…even the kitchen of a nuclear power plant! And a historic hotel he swears is genuinely haunted. Every event we do together, the man just pulls incredible course ideas out of thin air, and he's the reason our food and w**e pairings are always something special. So grateful to have him as part of the Sculpterra family. Watch the full episode of Taste of Sculpterra to hear more from Ryan! 🍷🍽️

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09/06/2026

"There's no such thing as a w**d." That's what my w**d science professor told me back at Cal Poly, and it's stuck with me ever since. His point was it's just a plant that's out of space or out of time, not supposed to be there right then. We're deep into suckering season right now in the vineyard, that's removing the "suckers," the little shoots that pop up from the trunk of the vine. Shovel, hoe, or just your hand, you knock them out. In our new Cabernet vineyards we're doing something interesting, killing off the old vine while it keeps trying to come back, pulling those suckers, and tying the new vine up to the stake, it's an ongoing project out there. We've also got a really stubborn w**d problem in our Bentley Ironworks Cabernet block right now! But here's the honest question…does a w**d actually change the quality of the w**e? Probably not. We still don't like them though 😂 So much of vineyard work is stuff nobody ever sees, but it all matters. 🍇

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09/06/2026

09/05/2026

The day we got that barrel steamer was honestly a LIFE-CHANGING event at the w**ery 😂🔥 Every six weeks, even though harvest is still months away, we pull every empty barrel out with the forklift, 4 to 6 at a time, lay them out on the concrete, and steam each one at 300 degrees Fahrenheit! This keeps them leak-proof, smelling clean, and kills off any bad bugs, bacteria, wild yeast, acetobacter, none of that stands a chance. Here's the cool part…we put the b**g in while steaming, which pulls a vacuum inside the barrel and makes it basically self-cleaning! We have to release the pressure every couple minutes though or it can actually implode the barrel. After 5 minutes we pull the b**g, flip it, rinse with 180 degree hot water, and we're done. And get this…the whole process only uses about HALF A GALLON of water per barrel. Water conservation matters a lot to me out here, and little details like this add up. This is the unglamorous side of w**emaking that nobody sees but it's SO important. 🍷

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09/04/2026

Did you know Paso Robles has a w**e that scored a PERFECT 100 points?? That's right, straight from Robert Parker and the W**e Advocate himself. It was Saxum Vineyards, made by Justin Smith, whose family owned the James Berry Vineyard out in the Willow Creek District. He grew up here! Started Saxum in 2000, made a GSM blend (that's Grenache, Syrah & Mourvèdre) from the 2007 vintage, and Parker called it "utter perfection." 100 points, can't score higher than that. This blend style actually traces back to the south of France, Côtes du Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but it was Tablas Creek that really championed it here in Paso back in the 90s. And here's the cool part…Napa's got Cab, Sonoma's got Chardonnay, but for a while Paso didn't have "its thing." That 100-point score put Grenache blends on the map and gave our region an identity, and honestly it's part of why I love making them too, our Mega Focus and Repoussé are both a nod to this whole tradition. Grateful for guys like Justin who put Paso on the map for all of us. 🍷 Watch the full episode of Taste of Sculpterra!

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