Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Frankel.
Paul, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
At the young age of five, I fell in love with the outdoors and especially farming! I grew up on a 265-acre ranch in Paso Robles, California, where my father and I eventually planted 135 acres of wine grapes. I was only six years old when we planted our first grapevines. Grape growing was new to the Central Coast until the 1990’s rolled around, where it seemed like everyone in Paso Robles decided to plant wine grapes! People in this area soon discovered that Paso Robles’ climate is perfect for growing premium wine grapes, the semi-arid desert climate with huge swings in temperature makes it like no other place on earth. We quickly jumped on the bandwagon and planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel to start with. My father’s plan was to sell the fruit we grew and soon settled with some solid grape growing contracts. For the first ten years, we didn’t make any wine and simply sold all the fruit to other amazing wineries, like Castoro and J. Lohr. But my father’s real dream was that someday I would have the desire to make wine and maybe we would open up our own tasting room on the ranch as well.
Let me back up a bit and tell you more about my parents, Warren and Kathy. They bought the property in Paso Robles in 1979 moving up from Woodland Hills, California. My father, who still is a full-time family doctor, moved his medical practice from Encino, California to the Central Coast of California in the small rural town of Templeton. My parent’s desire was to raise their children in the countryside. My Mother Kathy is an avid horseback rider and dreamed of owning land to raise and ride cutting horses. My parent’s dream came true when they acquired 265 acres of land in Paso Robles, were at the time had a long dirt road that leads into the sleepy town of Paso. The land is breath-taking, with amazing 100-year-old oak trees scattered throughout the land and gentle rolling hills.
This property is where I grew up and where I nurtured my love for nature and the beauty that can be created from it. I love to create, whether art, music or now WINE! Also, I love hard work. I love waking up early and working long hours, filling my day with everything from re-stocking the shelves with wine, to forklift driving, to wine pouring events. When I was just a teenager, I decided that I would do my best to run the family vineyard and I headed to Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California, where I majored in Wine and Viticulture with hopes to move home after college and run the vineyard.
Everything changed once I got a taste of winemaking at the young age of 21! I made wine at college in 5-gallon white buckets and a potato masher, we sourced the fruit from student managed vineyards around campus. We, as students, pruned the vines, cared for the vineyard and hand-picked the grapes each fall. From there, my passion for winemaking grew! I became hooked and loved the sights and smells of winemaking. Now 13 years later, winemaking still fascinates me. It has endless variables and outcomes all dependent on the quality of the grapes and the style of the winemaker. During my junior year of college, I decided to not only run my families vineyard but make the wine as well. My Dad was so pleased and proud that his son had the desire to run with our young tasting room and winery!
In 2008, I made my first vintage of wine and I started with the hardest grape imaginable, Pinot Noir. It was a hard-learned experience, I had so many questions on procedure, taste, fermentation style, and oak barrels. And by the grace of God that first vintage came out spectacular and it has all been wonderful ever since with lots of hard work and long days.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Interestingly, yes it has been a smooth road and I owe it all the LORD. We have been tremendously blessed in many ways these past 13 years of our business. I can’t explain it any other way other than that the LORD’s blessing is upon my family and our ever-growing business. The pieces have fallen into place in a miraculous way. Amazing individuals have helped us in our journey. John Jagger, the world renown sculptor, and Bob Bentley, a word class ironworker were both instrumental in the early success of our brand. In recent years, we have hired Dale Evers to make larger bronze sculptures as well. Dale’s art is edgy, modern and like no other. There is truly no place like Sculpterra! The art is out of this world, Jagger’s 10-ton Puma sculpture is a feat all its own. Bob Bentley’s custom metal canopies and chandeliers are incredibly detailed and unbelievable to see in person. Our theme combines art and wine in a big way, and we have embraced our motto, “wine lovers love art and art lovers love wine.”
I have learned a tremendous amount about business, such as marketing sales, and of course how to create a desirable product. We have had minor difficulties during our journey, just like every business experience, but those trials have made us stronger! That being said, I am pleased to say that we have not seen any major setbacks what-so-ever, in fact we have grown tremendously year over year!
It’s such a wonderful feeling to make a product that truthfully makes people happy. Wine sales are always constant in America, in the good economies and bad. Wine buyers will continue to buy wine and again we are blessed with an amazing property that produces terrific world-class wine grapes. My job as winemaker is made easy when the fruit starts at such a high level of quality.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Sculpterra Winery – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Our business covers a vast array of moving parts, first off, we are a wine producing vineyard that has the most amazing tasting room in Paso Robles! Our art is out of this world inspiring and like no other sculpture garden you have ever experienced. The tasting experience is exceptional as well, multimedia art forms are everywhere all around you and the experience is greatly heightened by tasting our fine wines. We are also a vineyard and pistachio grower. In addition to wine, art, and gifts, you can also buy our own home-grown pistachios in our tasting room. They are delicious and highly addicting!
We specialize in four main wines, Viognier, Primitivo, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon blends. Viognier, a white wine originally from the Rhone region of France is Paso’s best matched white wine. No one does Viognier as good as we do, ours is full-bodied while maintaining great acidity, a clean mouthfeel and loads of stone fruit flavors. I love working with different varietals, in fact I make 20 plus wines every year! Blends are fun to create, it’s always a blast experimenting with unique lots, barrels, fermentation styles, and different combinations, creating unique tasting and different wines.
Our main business is centered around tourism and events. Our tasting room is a jewel on the Central Coast of California. We attract thousands of people each year to tour our sculpture garden and taste our award-winning wines. Of course, my main focus is to produce the wines, manage the vineyards and keep everything moving forward, but it all comes back to one on one time with the customers and presenting our wines to new people each day. We also have a growing wine club which entails many wine club parties, special tasting, food and wine pairings, and informative vineyard tours.
I love working at Sculpterra for many reasons. I am most proud of our amazing employees, we now have over 30 people that work the property, the winery, vineyard, pistachios, and tasting room each week. These amazing folks have dedicated their talents to greatly aid in the growth of Sculpterra. We are set apart by our art, I cannot say enough about the sculpture garden. All I can say is that everyone needs to visit and experience it for themselves. We have been recognized multiple times as one of the best places to visit in California. We were voted one of the top 10 wineries to visit in the Paso Robles Appellation by California Winery Advisor.
My favorite part would have to be that we are family owned and operated. I feel immense joy in working side by side with my father. We talk throughout the day, making business decision regarding sales, marketing, production, our future growth and overall strategies for growth. I can honestly say that this is a fun business. My dad is so level headed, he is a man of great vision and he stays focused on our continued growth in all areas of our business. My job is so varied that my title as “winemaker” covers a wide variety of jobs and that is what ultimately makes my day so much fun!
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Wow, where do I begin. We have BIG plans for the future! We wish to grow to 30,000 cases of wine sold and produced each year. Currently, I make 12,000 cases but with good yields, we will have the grapes to make 30,000 cases in the near future.
Currently, my father is leading the charge to make a massive art wall-mural project featured at the tasting room. This 200-foot long structure depicts the history of California winemaking. Local artist, Steven Kalar, painted pictures that take the viewer through a visual journey through the history of the wine grape in Paso Robles. Photographs are seen on the second half of the art-wall and show off the early days of Paso Robles, from trailblazer, pioneers, early crops, natural hot springs, and of course the start and growth of the wine industry. The art wall is currently being installed and we hope for an unveiling event in September of 2019.
Our main focus is to keep the winery in the family. We have no desire to sell the business or to move away. I love what I do and my prayer is that this wonderful property and business can be passed down to my son and the future generations to follow. Sculpterra has been a blessing to its many visitors and workers and certainly, Sculpterra has been blessed in return, and Lord willing, may it continue to be that way years to come!
Contact Info:
- Address: Sculpterra Winery
5015 Linne Road
Paso Robles, CA 93446 USA - Website: www.sculpterra.com
- Phone: 8052268881
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/sculpterra
- Facebook: facebook.com/sculpterrawinery
- Twitter: twitter.com/sculpterrawine
- Yelp: yelp.com/biz/sculpterra-winery-and-vineyards-paso-robles
Image Credit:
Randy Coons
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