Tin City Paso Robles – the next Wine Ghetto?
Here is an interesting development in the wine country scene of Paso Robles. It is the emergence of Tin City Paso Robles. Tin City is a recent development of wineries using a business complex called Marquita Crossing, just off Ramada Road in Paso Robles. These are new steel buildings built quickly and inexpensively, thus the label Tin City. Tin City is somewhat similar to the successful Lompoc Wine Ghetto that we wrote about last week. Tin City began two years ago with the Barrelhouse Brewing Company. They were first to establish a successful business at Marquita Crossing and others are now taking advantage of the visitor flow to the popular brewhouse. We stopped by on a Wednesday afternoon and not much was going except at the brewery and a few other businesses. We counted five wineries and none were open for visitors. It appears, for now, that the wineries are open by appointment only. These wineries are small artisan wineries that want to make wine without the expense of wineries out in the Paso Robles countryside. We spotted Tin City digs with the names Giornata, Field Recordings, Clos Solene, Caliza, Stanger and MCV. It will certainly take a few years to establish a “wine ghetto” like the one in Lompoc. That one took about ten years to become a wine country travel spot. We come to Paso Robles once a year, and we’ll expect at least a few more wineries next year at Tin City with scheduled tasting room hours. What will make Tin City evolve faster would be an upscale and industrial-style restaurant like Industrial Eats in Buellton. Or least a couple of food trucks on the Tin City scene.
