2014 July PASO Magazine

The gold nugget of California joined
the union of the United States in 1850.
It beckoned young Andrew York, born in
Indiana in 1835, and he rode west when
he attained manhood in the early 1850s.
Andrew Jackson York settled in Napa,
marrying and establishing a farm and
a family with his wife, Elizabeth. They
grew into a family with five children,
then moved back to the Midwest.
In Missouri, Andrew lost Elizabeth
in a tragic house fire. He took his family
and again turned westward — looking
first at Napa, then at San Luis Obispo
County. He found a partner in Huldah
Priest, a widow and mother of two.
They married in September 1876 and
had two children together.
Andrew found a place to begin 12
miles west of Templeton: a 120-acre
homestead granted by President
Ulysses S. Grant to Jacob B. Grandstaff
for his service in the Civil War. Grandstaff
had planted a small vineyard and
built a winemaking facility of stone.
Andrew York bought it in March
1882, expanded the vineyard, and
built a substantial winery of bricks
handmade on the property. Andrew
named his new establishment the
Ascension Winery.
Soon, a spacious new farmhouse
overlooked the winery across the road.
Andrew saw a new century begin as
he welcomed his sons Walter and Silas
into the business, incorporated in
1900 as A. York and Sons. After his
death in 1913, Walter and Silas
continued the family business under
the name York Brothers.
A tragic ending
drove Andrew York
west to the end of
the continent,
to these hills, where
he saw the
future and found
a beginning.
At the York winery a century ago, the town’s Virtuoso of Piano and Maestro
of Vino made gold-medal wine. This century re-creates that historic blend of
Ignacy Paderewski and Andrew Jackson York, under the direction of Epoch
Estate Wines. Salute the Paderewski Vineyard on Peachy Canyon Road
and the tasting room at 7505 York Mountain Rd.
Photo courtesy Epoch Estate Wines
Andrew York’s winery lived for
almost a century, tended by generations
of Yorks. When the last York
proprietor sold it in 1970, the new
York Mountain Winery was named
for a road, not a family.
But Andrew York’s legacy lives on.
His pioneer winery — the first of its
kind in this territory — still serves a
vintner on York Mountain Road.
Jenna Rovenstine
30 Paso Robles Magazine, July 2014