Push through the doors at Tobin James and you land in another century: a grand 1860s Brunswick mahogany bar hauled out of Blue Eye, Missouri, gold-rush swagger, and a tasting room built on the site of the old ten-mile stagecoach stop east of Paso Robles. It is a saloon in the best sense, loud and friendly and a little wild, and the Zinfandel pours to match.

Cellar rat to saloon keeper

Tobin James grew up in Cincinnati, spending summers working his family’s vineyard across the river in Indiana. At nineteen he bought a one-way ticket to California and went to work as a cellar rat, the lowest job in the winery, and clawed his way up to winemaker at several of the region’s notable houses. His break came from leftovers. Six tons of grapes a winery could not process needed a home, so Toby asked to take them and make wine of his own. Eighteen months later the gold medals started arriving for his first Zinfandel, the 1987 Blue Moon.

In 1993 he bought forty-one acres at the end of Union Road, and a year later the winery and its saloon-style tasting room opened. The site was the old ten-mile stagecoach stop, and Toby leaned all the way into the frontier history, building a room around an antique Brunswick bar and the rough, friendly spirit of early Paso. Three decades on, it is one of the most-visited tasting rooms in town, and the welcome has not cooled.

Toby James bought a one-way ticket to California at nineteen, started as a cellar rat, and made his first gold-medal Zinfandel from grapes a winery could not use.

The Geneseo District ground

Tobin James sits among oak-dotted hills and vineyard at the east end of Union Road, in the Geneseo District about eight miles east of downtown Paso Robles. This is warm, upfaulted east-side ground, gravelly Paso Robles Formation soils with decomposed granite, a Region III to IV climate that loves heat-seeking grapes like Zinfandel.

Zinfandel needs warmth to ripen its uneven clusters fully, and the east side delivers it, long sunny afternoons that push the sugar high. What keeps the wine from turning to syrup is the night. Cool air sliding in after dark drops the temperature sharply and locks in acidity, so the Zinfandels come out bold and high-toned at once, ripe but still lively. The oak hills around the estate are part of the picture too, the classic Paso landscape of vines and old trees.

The wines

Zinfandel is the headliner, and Tobin James makes it in the big, bold, fruit-forward style that built the brand: ripe brambly berry, black pepper and baking spice, a generous mouthful that wears its alcohol with a grin. The lineup runs wide, from user-friendly everyday bottlings to richer reserve Zins, plus Cabernet, Syrah, and Rhone-style reds, and a late-harvest Zinfandel dessert wine that is smooth, spicy, and a tasting-room legend.

These are unapologetically crowd-pleasing wines, made to be opened and enjoyed rather than studied. That is the Tobin James ethos in a glass, generous and fun, the liquid version of the saloon they are poured in.

What to pour it with

Bold Zinfandel and barbecue is one of the great American pairings, and it is built on a couple of simple truths. Zin’s ripe, almost sweet fruit echoes the sweetness in a tomato or molasses barbecue sauce, a congruent match, while its pepper and spice stand up to the smoke and char. Pull a rack of ribs or a pulled-pork sandwich, pour the Zinfandel cool rather than cold, and the afternoon takes care of itself.

The same wine loves a burger off the grill, sausages, and anything with a little spice and fat. Watch the heat, though, since Zinfandel runs high in alcohol, and alcohol amplifies chile burn, so go easy if the sauce is fiery or reach for the off-dry styles. Save the late-harvest Zin for the end of the meal with dark chocolate or a berry cobbler, matching the sweetness of the wine to the plate so neither falls flat.

Tobin James Cellars: common questions