Gary Eberle’s comeback: How he rebuilt his namesake winery in Paso Robles

After a difficult couple years in which Gary Eberle lost then regained control of his namesake winery, the Paso Robles pioneer said the business is back on track and he’s looking forward to moving on from the ordeal.

Eberle Winery is profitable again, he said, even with larger business and personal mortgages he took out to buy the shares, he and wife Marcy needed to regain ownership.

“We are free and clear finally, and I don’t have to think about it anymore,” said Eberle, 72, who also had to tap into his pension plan to finance the purchase.

The saga began in January 2014. With Eberle’s half-brother Jim Giacobine in an Alzheimer’s care facility, his sister-in-law Jeanne assumed voting rights of her husband’s 39 percent stake in the winery and joined with Rob and Charles “Abe’’ Flory, who owned 13 percent, to oust Eberle as general partner.

It was a complete shock to Eberle, who had owned 35.5 percent of the winery.

“It was a really rough time. It devastated us,” said Marcy Eberle, saying she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result.

The Eberles offered to buy out the new owners just weeks after the move but were rebuffed, said Gary Eberle, who stayed on as a manager. The owners first looked into ramping up production from 28,000 cases, then initiated a sale of the winery, but kept running into hurdles, Eberle said.

That gave the Eberles time to work with partners and attorneys on a bid to regain control, and in June 2015, they prevailed. The Eberles now own 83 percent of the winery, with the rest owned by Dick and Claudia Woodland, Howie and Bev Steinbeck, Marvin and Judith Zeidler and Craig and Kathy Bonelli.

But the hard work continued over the next 15 months as the Eberles worked to bring everything back in line.

“A lot of things were changed around, and every week something came forward we needed to address,” Gary Eberle said, much of it related to the bonds the winery needs for each state in which it operates.

They also worked to bring back a number of longtime employees let go by the previous owners, and cull some others brought on by those owners.

One of Eberle’s first moves was to bring on a new winemaker last August. Chris Eberle (no relation to the owners) had worked as an assistant winemaker at Eberle for four years, then spent six years working at wineries around the world.

“I tracked him down in Australia in July last year and convinced him to come back,” said Eberle. The winemaker made his mark quickly, Eberle added, winning best white and best dessert wine for his viognier and muscat canelli at this year’s Central Coast Wine Competition. “Just wait till you see the wines we’ll have this year,” Gary Eberle said.

Eberle, often referred to as the “godfather” of the Paso wine region, is now intent on focusing on the future of the winery he founded 36 years ago. He’s toying with plans to add to the 16,000 square feet of underground caves and use the dirt to expand the parking lot as well as building a member lounge above the current, often crowded, tasting room.

But mostly, he’s happy he can again focus on his favorite part of the job — sitting out front of the tasting room, talking to people and telling jokes,

“I’m making friends every day,” he said. “As long as I can come to this winery, I’ll be here.”

This story was originally published October 20, 2016 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Gary Eberle’s comeback: How he rebuilt his namesake winery in Paso Robles."