Wine

Published: Friday, Jul. 31, 2009

Wine Notes: Winemaker of the Year Austin Hope

At age 36, a veteran of 28 years in the trade

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This has been an eventful year for winemaker Austin Hope.

Earlier this year he launched his innovative new label called Candor. He also announced the new name and identity of the parent company — Hope Family Wines —that includes his labels Treana, Liberty School, Westside and Austin Hope.

In March he opened his first tasting room to the public. Then last month his Candor merlot won Best Red Wine in the California Mid-State Fair wine competition.

So maybe it shouldn’t have been surprising when he was named Winemaker of the Year at last week’s wine industry awards event at the Mid-State Fair.

But for Hope, the honor took him completely off guard.

“I was shocked,” Hope says, when the award was announced. “I was a little bit in disbelief.”

With his 4-year-old and 6-year-old daughters in the audience, he admitted to holding back tears.

“When people actually give you something like this, it’s emotional,” Hope explains. “We’ve been pretty quiet about what we do, and stay pretty low on the radar, so it’s nice that our team, our company is being recognized.”

At the age of 36, one might assume Hope is unusually young to receive such recognition. But he has been growing grapes and making wines for 28 years.

He started at the age of 8 at his family’s vineyard on the west side of Paso Robles.

One of the pioneers of grape growing in Paso Robles, Hope’s father, Chuck, started planting grapes in the area in 1978.

In the early 1980s, their cabernet sauvignon grapes caught the attention of Napa Valley vintner Chuck Wagner of Caymus Vineyards.

In search of a fruit source for his Liberty School label, Wagner began a long-term relationship with the Hopes, and Austin started learning the craft of winemaking under Wagner’s direction.

After earning his degree in fruit science from Cal Poly, Hope joined the family business as assistant winemaker.

They acquired the Liberty School brand from Wagner in 1996, launched the Treana brand that same year and Hope became Treana’s head winemaker in 1998.

“I kind of got thrown into the middle of it and went for it,” Hope explains.

He launched his namesake brand, Austin Hope wine, in 2000. Focused solely on Rhone-style wines, it received almost instant critical acclaim.

Hope Family Wines produces more than 300,000 cases of wine a year among its five brands. Each brand is targeted to a specific audience and a specific price in order to make wine less intimidating and more available to everyone.

“I think we’ve helped change society and how they look at wines,” Hope says. “I think we’ve made it more accessible, less pretentious. It should be on everyone’s table with dinner “

Hope’s approach to wine led him to introduce Candor earlier this year.

The concept grew from Hope’s frustration over how merlot and zinfandel were being made in California, and his desire to create “straightforward wines which bring out the true varietal characteristic of each grape.”

To this end, he mixes two vintages together in one bottle, creating a wine that has the freshness of a young vintage but also the aged component of an older wine.

Rather than having vintage years on the label, they are identified by lots. The Lot 1 Merlot was named best red wine of the recent competition.

Hope isn’t the only one in his family to be recognized by the Wine Industry awards.

His father was honored as “Wine Industry Person of the Year” two years ago.

Asked about his father’s reaction to the announcement, Hope says “He’s obviously very proud and says we deserve it.” He also noted, “It’s pretty neat to follow in his shoes.”

Austin Hope

Winemaker of the Year

Brands: Liberty School, Treana, Westside, Candor, Austin Hope.

Age: 36

Family: Married, two children

Education: Fruit-science degree from Cal Poly

Tasting room: 1585 Live Oak Road, Paso Robles, 238-4112

Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Saturday

www.hopefamilywines.com

Janis Switzer can be reached at 434-5394 or via e-mail at janisswitzer@yahoo.com.