The Udsen family had already spent thirty years making honest, affordable wine at Castoro Cellars when they decided to try their hand at something stronger. Bethel Rd. is their distillery and winery, a few minutes down the road from the Castoro tasting room, where estate-grown organic grapes become not just wine but grappa, gin, brandy, and liqueur. It is one of the most interesting stops in the Templeton Gap, a place where the line between vineyard and still disappears.

From vineyard to still

Bethel Rd. was founded by the Udsen family in 2013, the same family behind Castoro Cellars, as a passion project devoted to the craft of distilling. The idea was simple and ambitious at once: take the estate-grown, organically farmed grapes the family already knew so well, and use them to make small-batch spirits in the great traditions of the world, alongside small-lot wine.

That dual identity is what makes Bethel Rd. special. Most wineries make wine and most distilleries buy their base from elsewhere, but here the grapes are grown, fermented, and either bottled as wine or distilled into spirit all in one place. It is hands-on, experimental, and deeply rooted in the same family ethic that built Castoro, quality without pretense, and a sense of humor about the whole thing.

Bethel Rd. turns its estate-grown organic grapes into not just wine but grappa, gin, brandy, and liqueur, all on one Templeton Gap property.

Organic fruit in the Templeton Gap

Bethel Rd. sits in the Templeton Gap District on the west side of Paso Robles, where a break in the coastal range lets Pacific fog and ocean air slide inland. The warm, sunny afternoons ripen the fruit, and the cool nights that follow preserve acidity and aromatics, the same daily swing that makes the district such good ground for both expressive wine and the aromatic base a distiller wants.

The estate grapes are organically farmed on the alluvial loams and calcareous soils that define the district, the chalky, limestone-rich ground that gives Paso reds their structure. For the spirits, that clean, aromatic, organically grown fruit is the whole foundation. You cannot distill character into a spirit that was not there in the grape, so it all starts in the vineyard, with expansive views and outdoor seating that make the tasting room a destination in its own right.

The wines and spirits

The wine side of Bethel Rd. focuses on small-batch, single-varietal releases grown exclusively in the Templeton Gap, the kind of limited bottlings that let the estate fruit speak clearly. But the real adventure is the spirits. The portfolio runs from grappa, the Italian brandy distilled from grape pomace, to beautifully balanced gins, vibrant liqueurs, and complex aged brandies.

Tasting here is a genuinely different experience. You can move from a glass of estate wine to a flight of spirits made from the same vineyard, tracing how one piece of ground expresses itself in completely different forms. For anyone who loves wine country but craves something beyond another Cabernet, Bethel Rd. is a breath of fresh air, a place built on curiosity and craft.

What to pour and sip it with

The estate wines pair the way good Templeton Gap reds always do, with grilled and roasted meats whose fat and protein soften the tannins, and whose char meets the wine’s dark fruit and pepper. Pour a single-varietal red with a ribeye or lamb off the grill and you cannot go wrong.

The spirits open up a different kind of pairing. Sip a complex aged brandy after dinner alongside dark chocolate or a wedge of hard, salty cheese, where the sweetness and richness meet the spirit’s warmth. Grappa is the classic Italian digestivo, made to follow a big meal and cut through it. The gins and liqueurs shine in cocktails built for the season, bright and herbal in summer, deeper and warmer by the fire in winter. It is a place that rewards a curious palate.

Bethel Rd. Distillery & Winery: common questions