St. Hilaire Winery

St. Hilaire Winery
1950 El Pomar Drive
Templeton, California
USA 93465
Phone: (805) 434-1620
http://www.sthilairevineyard.com/page.php?5

Contact: John Anderson
Email: [email protected]

John and Laural Anderson have lived on the central coast for over 30 years. With basic knowledge John began making wine in 1994. A friend’s garage served as a “winery” and classroom with grapes being purchased from various locations in the Paso Robles/Templeton area. Over the next few years John came to realize that the quality of his homemade wines was limited to the quality of the grapes. He set his sights on not just purchasing quality grapes but on growing them. In 1998 John and Laural found the perfect piece of property for doing just that. They moved onto an undeveloped 20 acre parcel previously owned by Clarence Hawkins. They took 5 of the twenty acres and began developing St. Hilaire Vineyard. Without much practical experience in farming John designed and developed the vineyard starting from scratch. A well, trellising and drip system were the first additions. Plants were added – 3600 vines, 4 varietals. It didn’t take long before he was discing and weeding like a pro and the vines were growing up the stakes like serpents. A quadrilateral trellis system is used to control vegetative growth and enhance quality. Between 2001 and 2003 most of St. Hilaire’s crop was sold to commercial wineries or home wine makers with John holding back enough to continue producing his privately made wines. In 2004 a small amount of Merlot was made commercially as John was still practicing full time as an Orthodontist.

In 2005 the production was doubled to 107 cases when the first Meritage was made receiving a silver medal at the Orange County Commercial Wine Competition. Starting in 2006 the production was increased to 175 cases per year and has stayed at that level since then. The commercial winery is located offsite so there is no tasting room at the vineyard. Wines can be purchased from John or Laural by contacting them directly.

Winemaker: John Anderson

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