Steve and Jackie Gleason walked away from corporate America in 2013 and bought the old Sycamore Farms property on Highway 46 West, betting their next chapter on dirt and patience. They named the winery for their four daughters, four lanterns, four lights to steer by. Jackie took the tasting room, Steve took the cellar, and together they set out to coax honest wine from two very different sites. Step into the tasting barn today and the family thread is everywhere, right down to the name over the door and the organic ground the estate now farms.

Four daughters, four lights

The Gleasons’ story is a second-act story. After corporate careers, Steve and Jackie Gleason left that world behind in 2013 and took over the former Sycamore Farms property on the Paso Robles west side. The name Four Lanterns is a direct nod to their four daughters, the four lights the family steers by, and that family-first ethos runs through everything from the labels to the welcome you get at the door.

The division of labor is refreshingly clear. Jackie runs the tasting room, the public face and the warmth of the place, while Steve works the vineyards and the cellar, focused on pulling the natural strengths out of two distinct estate sites. Their stated philosophy, wine they like for people they like, is exactly as unpretentious as it sounds, and it shows in how the wines are made and shared.

In 2024 the estate Glass Hawk Vineyard earned CCOF Organic certification, a hard-won stamp on the Gleasons’ commitment to the soil.

Two sites, two grape families

Four Lanterns farms two estate vineyards that tell two different stories. Glass Hawk Vineyard sits on the west side in the Willow Creek District, high, calcareous bedrock country in the Santa Lucia Range where slopes climb through limestone-rich Monterey Formation soils. That cool, rocky ground is planted to Rhone varieties, Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre and Viognier among them, the grapes that thrive on the limestone-driven west side. This is the vineyard that earned CCOF Organic certification in 2024.

Jackie’s Vineyard sits just east, tucked into the Templeton Gap District, and it is planted to Bordeaux varieties led by Cabernet Sauvignon. The Templeton Gap is the cooling engine for the whole area, drawing marine air and fog off the coast so afternoons stay warm enough to ripen fruit while nights drop sharply, preserving acidity. Two soils, two grape families, one estate, which is what lets the Gleasons make both a serious Cabernet and a savory Rhone red from their own ground.

Honest wines from honest dirt

On the Rhone side from Glass Hawk, the Syrah is the heart of the lineup, dark and savory with smoked-meat and black-pepper notes that read as pure west-side limestone. Grenache-driven blends bring a brighter, red-fruited lift, plummy and perfumed, while the whites, Viognier and the like, offer stone fruit and florals with enough acidity to stay lively. These are wines with a savory backbone rather than sweetness, built to sit at the table.

From Jackie’s Vineyard in the Templeton Gap, the estate Cabernet Sauvignon shows rich black fruit framed by firm but balanced tannins, the structure you want from a serious Paso Cab without the heaviness. Across both vineyards the through-line is honesty, fruit grown by the family, farmed with real care, and made to taste like the place it came from rather than like a recipe.

What to pour Four Lanterns with

Reach for the Jackie’s Vineyard Cabernet when there is red meat on the grill, classic red-oak tri-tip, a ribeye, or braised short ribs. The Cabernet’s firm tannin latches onto the protein and rendered fat, softening on the palate while the richness of the beef rounds off the grip, the textbook reason steak and Cabernet are a pair. Keep the seasoning savory rather than sweet so the fruit stays in balance.

The Glass Hawk Syrah loves char and spice, grilled lamb, merguez sausage, or anything off a wood fire, where its smoked-meat and pepper notes meet the grill head-on. Pour the Grenache blend with herb-roasted chicken or a mushroom dish, and the Viognier with grilled stone fruit, roast pork or a curry kept moderate in heat, since chili spice amplifies the perception of alcohol. To pressure-test a specific menu, run it through our wine pairing generator.

Visiting Four Lanterns Winery

Visits center on the tasting barn on Highway 46 West, where Jackie’s hospitality sets the tone, and the experience often extends to vineyard views and barrel-room sampling depending on the day. It is a family-run, unhurried place, the kind of stop where you settle in rather than rush through a flight, and the organic estate farming is a real talking point if you care about how your wine is grown. Because tasting rooms in the area adjust hours and reservation policies through the year, confirm current times before you arrive. If you are stringing together a west-side itinerary along the 46 West corridor, our Paso Robles guide can help you plan the route.

Four Lanterns Winery: common questions