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98 WINES&VINES November 2015 WINEMAKING Law Estate Wines New Paso Robles winery built with the goal of keeping winemaking simple By Andrew Adams TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT KEY POINTS Modern design and equipment is used to facilitate a simple winemak- ing style. Custom fruit dump- ers provide a gentle and fast way to fill tanks. Almost all primary fermentation is conducted in concrete. Above: The main hospitality area of the new Law Estate Wines property in Paso Robles, Calif., was designed to blend into its surroundings. T he owners of Law Estate Wines made major investments in de- sign, construction and winemaking equipment to produce estate wines of high quality in an exceptionally simple manner. Located on a ridge in the Peachy Canyon area of the Paso Robles AVA on California's Central Coast, the winery is an excellent example of the modern, open style that is designed to almost blend into the land around it. Owners Don and Susie Law purchased the 55-acre property after searching throughout California for a site to produce premium Rhone- style wines with estate-grown grapes. Don Law is the founder and president of a Denver, Colo.-based oil and gas firm. The Laws' property is near Epoch Estate, which is owned by another Colorado couple that found success in the oil industry before founding a winery. John Crossland of Vineyard Professional Service and winemaker Scott Hawley designed and developed the vineyard in 2008. More than half of the property is planted with Syrah and Grenache. The rest grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Carignane, Tempranillo, Marsanne, Roussanne and Clairette Blanche. As for the winery, San Francisco, Calif.-based BAR Architects designed the 28,000-square-foot building, and San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based Spe- cialty Construction Inc. (SCI) built it. Grapes arrive at the top level, which is the first stop of a gravity-flow production process.