My Long and Sideways Road

Chapter One: Cliff's historical retrospective

Mama Rotta, Dressed in Black. Hope You Brought Your Wine Jug Back.

Paso Robles Wine Country? People used to laugh at the mere mention.
Of course, back then you had a choice of Psenti or Rotta. And if you went to Rotta you didn’t need to have ID but you do you need to bring your own jug for Mama Rotta to fill with her fine Zinfandel.

Yes, friends, that was a wine tour afternoon in San Luis Obispo County back in the day (somewhere in the mid-70’s). Then the Hoffman family came to town and built Hoffman Mountain Ranch Winery back in the Paso hills and a young Mike Hoffman (the youngest winemaker in the state at the time) began making what turned out to be award winning (internationally) wines.

People within the industry were still talking about their legendary “1976 Doctor’s
Reserve Cabernet,” when I first attended wine events back in ‘87 with Mike Hoffman, who had, with his wife Becky, just opened the SLO Brewing Co.