SLO LIFE Magazine AugSep 2020

Ignace Paderewski
Norm Goss with instructor
grape varieties in the 1880s making award-winning wines, including
Champagne and Sparkling Tokay. Their son, Will Ernst, loved music
so much he practiced his violin while he ran the plow team, standing
on the harrow with the horse’s reins around his shoulders. At age
twelve, he organized the Creston Band featuring a dozen brass
instruments. They played events all over the county. Ernst was later
appointed City Band Director in Paso Robles. He went on to become
a composer in New York City where he opened The Saxophone
Conservatory and trained hundreds of musicians and performed at
Carnegie Hall.
Famous Polish composer and pianist Ignace Paderewski came to
Paso Robles in 1914 for the healing waters of the local hot springs.
His doctor convinced him to purchase Rancho San Ignacio, where
he planted 35,000 Zinfandel cuttings in the 1920s. His grapes were
crushed and fermented at the famous York Brothers Winery in
Templeton. Paderewski’s wines were the first to win a gold medal
after Prohibition at the 1934 California State Fair.
The York family vineyards and winery, established in 1882, hold a
special place in local wine history as the oldest family-owned wine
business, operating for 88 years. The third-generation owner, Wilfrid
“Bill” York, was an accomplished winemaker and musician. After
graduating from UC Berkeley, York moved to San Francisco, joined
the Wells Fargo Orchestra as a violinist, and taught at the San
Francisco Conservatory. When his father’s health failed in the 1940s,
he returned to York Mountain but never abandoned his music. He
continued playing the piano and the violin as he made his awardwinning
Zinfandel.
When York decided to retire and sell the winery on the Central
Coast, he shared his plans with Max Goldman, renowned winemaker
and classical pianist. Goldman and his wife had just retired in Malibu
after almost forty years in the wine industry. York shared three
generations of his family’s history, including the relationship with
Paderewski and his 1934 Gold Medal Zinfandel. Goldman told Bill
that he played classical piano from childhood, and his signature piece
was Menuet a L’Antique by Ignacio J. Paderewski. It was fate—the
winery changed hands.
The entire Goldman family worked together to make York Mountain
Winery a resounding success. They restored the historic buildings
and replanted the vineyards with new varieties. Their tasting room
won the first awards in the county. The Goldman family combined
winemaking with musical philanthropy supporting KCBX, the
Mozart Festival, and The Paderewski Festival.
Stanley Hoffman, the first to plant Pinot Noir in the county and win
an International Gold Medal for his wines, is remembered for two
other historic events. He built the first modern winery (1972-1975) in
the Post Prohibition Era, and hosted the first philanthropic fundraiser
at a winery in support of the Mozart Festival (now Festival Mozaic),
currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Dave Caparone, a trombonist, and his son Marc, a trumpeter, are
well-known jazz musicians, often playing at the annual Jubilee by the
Sea Festival in Pismo Beach. Dave made wine history planting and
producing their noble Italian varietals: Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, and
Aglianico in the 1980s and was the first to produce all three varietals
successfully in the United States. Both father and son continue to
make music and wine at their winery in Paso Robles.
Niels Udsen decided to pair his Castoro Cellars wines with
music by hosting a monthly concert series at his Tasting Room
in Templeton. He started the tradition in 1995 with the help
of SLOFolks, a local folk music society. Twenty-five years later,
all genres of music are still enjoyed. County residents enjoy the
Lazy Local series, while other fans come from hundreds of miles
around to attend the annual Whale Rock Music and Arts Festival.
Bimmer Udsen plays the piano and son Luke sings while playing
guitar and harmonica.
Norman Goss was the first to plant vineyards in the Edna Valley. He
was a famed cellist, who played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
He also became a restaurateur, providing gourmet food and wines at
The Stuffed Shirt in Orange County.
Winemaker duo Jean Pierre Wolff, a harmonicist, and son Clint
Wolff, a guitarist, have been making wine and music in the Edna
Valley for over four decades. Besides performing at the Wolff
Vineyards tasting room during event weekends, they have been
known to jam with a band of winemakers called The Crush Tones,
along with winemaker Steve Autry from Autry Cellars, whose bass
treble adorns the labels of his wines. You can catch Autry jamming
with his band, the Local Vocals.
So, this all begs the question: What music are you pairing with your
favorite wine tonight? SLO LIFE
78 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE | AUG/SEP 2020