Some places come with their name already attached. When Tim and Leigh Stevens bought the Misty Oaks estate in 2011, the land had carried that name for more than forty years under the family before them, and they kept it. A decade later they began turning a small share of their Cabernet into wine, and a grower quietly became a winery on the slopes above Huerhuero Creek.

A grower becomes a winery

The Misty Oaks story began in 2011, when Tim Stevens bought an estate that a previous family had owned and named for more than forty years. For the first decade the focus was farming the land well, with Cabernet Sauvignon at the heart of the seven-acre vineyard. In 2021 the Stevens family took the next step, holding back a small amount of their own grapes to make wine under the Misty Oaks label rather than selling all the fruit.

It is a small, personal operation, run by Tim and Leigh Stevens, the kind of estate where the scale keeps everything hands-on. Cabernet remains the centerpiece, but they have planted Petit Verdot and Merlot to round out the Bordeaux side, and added an unusual one-acre block of head-trained Sangiovese, the vines spaced a wide twelve by twelve feet, a style you almost never see in Paso Robles. Where the estate cannot supply enough, they source thoughtfully from select local vineyards.

The Misty Oaks name predates the winery by decades; the family kept it when they bought the land in 2011.

A hillside above Huerhuero Creek

Misty Oaks sits on moderately sloping ground near Huerhuero Creek, in the Geneseo District on the east side of Paso Robles. The creek matters here as it does for its neighbors, drawing fog and funneling cooling air through the vines, tempering a district that is otherwise warm, a Region III to IV. The soils are the gravelly, granite-laced terraces typical of the east side, free-draining and well suited to Cabernet and its Bordeaux relatives.

That mix of warmth and creek-fed cooling is what lets a small site like this ripen Cabernet fully while holding onto freshness. The slope helps too, encouraging drainage and even sun exposure. On just seven acres, every row gets attention, and the wines reflect that closeness, tasting of a specific hillside rather than a broad region.

The wines

Cabernet Sauvignon is the heart of Misty Oaks, planted across about four and a half of the estate’s seven acres, supported by Petit Verdot and Merlot for blending in the Bordeaux tradition. The most distinctive planting is the small block of head-trained Sangiovese, an old-world training method and a grape more associated with Tuscany than Paso, which speaks to a grower willing to experiment.

The wines are made in tiny quantities from estate and select sourced fruit, which keeps them personal and hands-on. Expect ripe, warm-climate Cabernet with the structure Petit Verdot adds, and a Sangiovese that brings brighter acidity and cherry fruit to the lineup. This is small-scale, estate-minded winemaking, the work of a family that came to the land first and the wine second.

What to pour it with

A Misty Oaks Cabernet, especially with Petit Verdot in the blend, is a red built for the grill. Its firm tannins bind to the protein and fat in a ribeye or a rack of lamb, softening the wine while the meat tastes cleaner and less rich, the dependable exchange that makes Cabernet and red meat such a natural pair. A peppercorn crust only sharpens the match.

The Sangiovese is the table wine of the bunch, and like all Sangiovese it was made for tomato. Its high acidity cuts through a Sunday ragu, a margherita pizza, or anything red-sauced, resetting the palate between bites, a complementary pairing Tuscany perfected centuries ago. Save the big Cabernet for the hearty plates and let the Sangiovese handle the brighter, more acidic end of the table. Keep the tannic reds off delicate white fish, where they find no fat to soften.

Misty Oaks Vineyards: common questions