PASO ROBLES, Calif. (July 2003) - Six years ago, I started buying ranches and planting vineyards in the Paso Robles area of the Central Coast of California, motivated by my belief that this area had the potential to produce some of the finest red wines in California.   In 2001 we began construction of a new 55,000 sq.ft. winery on San Marcos Road in Paso Robles, as we had outgrown the Healdsburg facility where I founded Rabbit Ridge in 1981.

On May 1, 2003 we celebrated our official opening of the Rabbit Ridge Paso Robles winery.   Our 250 guest were offered guided tours and an evening of wine tasting.   We enjoyed media coverage from the local NBC affiliate and local newspapers.

Today all of our production has moved to the new Paso Robles location.   This new facility allows us to produce twice the amount of quality wines for future growth of Rabbit Ridge.   We've received approval to produce 400,000 cases per year at our new facility.   In addition, we received permit approval for an olive oil processing plant (frantoio), which gives us the ability to make olive oil from our 4,000 three-year old Tuscan olive varietals, currently planted on our Live Oak Vineyard property.   Our Healdsburg tasting room is still open and thriving and our business offices, warehouse, and shipping facilities will remain in Healdsburg.

Joanne and I have moved to our new home in Paso Robles among one of our newly planted vineyards.   Joanne's sisters joined Rabbit Ridge in early 2002, Kathy James as Director of Sales, and Sandy James as Operations Manager.   To complete our family orientation, my brother-in-law Stephen McKeithen has joined us as my Assistant Winemaker in Paso Robles.

In April 2003 we released four new Paso Robles wines; Zinfandel, Primitivo, Petite Sirah and Viognier.   Upcoming releases include Syrah, Cabernet, Sarah’s Syrah, Reserve Chardonnay, Reserve Pinot Noir, and OVZ.   These new wines are some of the best I’ve made in my 25 years of winemaking.

In closing, I hope you'll plan to visit our new facility soon.   We are now the largest winery ever on the Paso Robles west side.

Erich Russell