Where the Heck Is Paicines and Why Should You Care?

There I was, happily enjoying getting to know well my Monterey County wines when an interloper started showing up on the labels in “my” tasting rooms – Paicines.  “Where the heck is Paicines?” and “How do you pronounce that?” were my early questions.  First, I saw it on the label of one of Ian Brand’s wines.  Then I saw it in Pessagno and Puma Road tasting rooms in Salinas Valley.  In April 2019, I took a hiking trip to the Pinnacles National Park and we drove through acre after acre of grape vines.  I knew then that something was up – I had to find out.  I challenged myself to create a class of exceptional wines from Paicines.  This wasn’t easy, as there really aren’t that many wineries which call out Paicines specifically on their labels.  But I pulled it off and presented 5 delicious wines to the Washington Wine and Cheese Seminar in the Fall of 2019 – eh…during the Nationals’ final playoff game.  Lesson learned.

Paicines AVA – A Prelude

The Paicines AVA is a sub-AVA in San Benito County about 10 miles from Hollister, about an hour south of San Jose and just east of Monterey County.  Today it is rolling vineyards.  What else is there?  It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, so not much.  The quaint town of Paicines, population 204, and the tiny town of Tres Pinos (population 500).  If you blink, you will miss them.  And I learned it is pronounced “Pie-See-Ness.” 

I did a lot of research on Paicines back in 2019.  Much of this information likely came originally from Donati Family Vineyards website, but their website has changed, so I cannot properly source it.  I still give credit to Donati for the information!

Once known as a hideout for bandit Tiburcio Vásquez and later a bulk brand growing region by Almaden and others, Paicines is now being reclaimed – this time as a high-end grape growing region.  The Paicines AVA covers an area inside a valley, separated from Monterey by the Galiban Mountain range, which is home to the Chalone AVA further south. It is about 17 miles north of Pinnacles National Monument and Park and consists of about 4,500 acres of grape-growing area.

Warm daytime temperatures and afternoon, cooling breezes that comes in off the ocean, across the Salinas Valley, allowing grapes to mature more slowly, resulting in wines of great character, balance and complexity. Elevation ranges from 500-1,200 feet above sea level and it gets about 12-15 inches of rain annually.

Predominantly sandy soils with gravel and limestone provide good drainage, and deep root systems to access the water in the ground. Combined, the dry heat and the abundance of quartz in the soil creates big, bold wines with hints of spice and minerality.

My next few blog posts will be wines specifically from the Paicines AVA, before I move on to Cienega Valley and the greater San Benito County.

There is a cool (albeit somewhat dated) “San Andreas Fault in the Cienega Valley Wine Tour Route in San Benito County, California” article and map by the Geology Café here:  https://geologycafe.com/fieldtrips/cienega_valley.html.

© Decanting Monterey 2020