CASS Winery in Paso Robles California, part of SLO CAL (San Luis Obispo County), is a great place to experience award-winning wine and cuisine while soaking up the fun of wine country.
Sterling Kragten, winemaker at Cast Vineyards and Winery, speaks to why it is so special:
“One of the best things about making wine in Paso Robles is the diversity that you have in the topography, the terroir, and the microclimates.
That just leads to endless possibilities. I like to play around with the vessels we use, the wine making techniques, keep it fun, but a high-quality product.
Here at Cass, we have Camp Cass. You can have an immersive and experiential wine tasting weekend. You can taste wine, eat good food, have an adventure like Axe throwing, away sidecar tours, archery, horseback riding, and stay at the Geneseo Inn. For our educational classes, we have sommelier classes, a wine and food pairing class, cooking demonstrations, and agro tourism retreats.”
Of all the opportunities that you have here at Cass. It is just such a small part of what you can do here in SLO CAL. I’m Sterling Kragten. I’m the winemaker here at Cast Vineyards and Winery, and I’m proud to be SLO CAL Crafted.”
For More Information: https://www.casswines.com/
ABOUT SLO CAL CRAFTED:
The SLO CAL Crafted Certified label seeks to help consumers identify genuinely local products and support the community of business owners that help make San Luis Obispo County (SLO CAL) so special.
SLO CAL Crafted® celebrates the quality, local products made, farmed, and grown in SLO CAL. SLO CAL Crafted is an initiative of Visit SLO CAL, an organization working to inspire travel and foster our unique experiences to create life-long ambassadors and economic growth for SLO CAL.
For More Information: https://www.slocal.com/slocalcrafted/
ABOUT CASS WINERY:
The Cass Estate Vineyard, located in the Geneseo District sub-AVA, southeast of the town of Paso Robles, exemplifies the quality of the Paso Robles region with its warm days, cool coastal breezes, and exceptional soils. Resting at 900 feet of elevation, the 145-acre vineyard is planted to 12 varieties on a large terrace above the Huer Huero River. Deposited over centuries, the diverse alluvial soils make for an expressive site that produces fruit of incredible quality.
The vines on Cass Vineyard are ENTAV certified. ENTAV is an agency of the French government that is responsible for certification of winegrape clones for the wine industry in France. Vines that have been through this process constitute 90% of all new plantings in France because they are free of debilitating viruses, mature evenly, and can be matched to soils best suited to their development. Additionally, grapes in the certification process are made into wine, and descriptors of the wine are available to growers to allow for the best possible selection of vine materials.
ENTAV and the USDA came to an agreement to allow these French clones to be distributed through 3 licensed nurseries in California in 1996. Cass Vineyard was among the first vineyards in California to be planted entirely in ENTAV certified clones.
Vines are planted on 8′ X 6’ spacing. The largest planted acreage is to Cabernet Sauvignon at 70 planted acres. Also of note is our significantly large acreage planted to Roussanne and Marsanne, 5.65 and 3.93 acres, respectively, as there are less than 200 acres planted to each varietal in the entire state of California.
ABOUT THE CASS TEAM:
In 1999, Steve Cass retired from his 20-year career at Charles Schwab. At 48, he had planned a world sailing trip with his wife, Alice, but she declined after a stormy Mediterranean test trip. Steve decided to leave the San Francisco Bay Area and explore Paso Robles, a burgeoning wine country. In 2000, he established the 145-acre Cass Vineyard, with help from Jim Smoot. Steve and Ted Plemons, who built their residence and barn, fell in love with South African wine during a trip in 2002. Over dinner, they decided to start a winery due to easy building permits in Paso Robles. They hired Lood Kotze as the winemaker, and in 2005, Cass Winery’s tasting room opened after converting the barn.