On the northern edge of Paso Robles, where the vineyards roll up toward San Miguel, two boyhood friends from Liverpool built a Tuscan dream. Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick made their names producing American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, but on 164 acres above Cross Canyons Road they made wine, raising a hilltop villa that looks lifted out of the Italian countryside and set down in California.

From American Idol to a Tuscan hilltop

Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick grew up together on the backstreets of Liverpool, and their friendship carried them all the way to Hollywood, where as executive producers they helped make American Idol one of the biggest shows on television. In 2005 the pair bought a 164-acre farm on the northern edge of the Paso Robles region, tore down the old farmhouse, and spent the next several years building Villa San-Juliette, a Tuscan-inspired estate that doubles as a winery and an event venue.

The first estate-grown vintage was bottled in 2008, and the wines drew real attention, with Bordeaux and Rhone bottlings scoring into the low 90s. The villa, with its courtyards and long views over the vines, became a destination for tastings, weddings, and events, the kind of place built to gather people, which suits its showman founders perfectly.

The producers behind American Idol spent years turning a Paso Robles farmhouse into a Tuscan winery and event estate.

The San Miguel District

Villa San-Juliette sits in the San Miguel District, the northernmost reach of the Paso Robles AVA, on hills above Cross Canyons Road. This is river-terrace country shaped by the Salinas and Estrella drainages, deep alluvial sandy loams running from roughly 580 to 1,600 feet, a warm Region III climate with strong day-to-night temperature swings.

That swing is the secret of the place. Hot, bright afternoons ripen Cabernet and Rhone grapes fully, while cool nights pull the temperature down and hand the acid back to the fruit, so the wines come in ripe but balanced. The deep sandy loams drain well and let the vines root deep, and the relative remoteness of this northern corner means quiet, uncrowded vineyard land with big open views.

The wines

Villa San-Juliette grows a dozen varietals across its estate, working in both Bordeaux and Rhone directions. On the Bordeaux side that means Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and the blends built around them, while the Rhone side brings Syrah, Grenache, and aromatic whites. The estate-grown program has earned scores as high as the low 90s for its reds.

The style leans toward ripe, polished, food-friendly wines that show the warmth of the San Miguel hills without tipping into heaviness. With estate fruit and the capacity to make wine at real scale, the range is broad, but the heart of it is the Bordeaux and Rhone reds that built the early reputation.

What to pour it with

A Bordeaux-style red from Villa San-Juliette, a Cabernet or a Cabernet-Merlot blend, is a steak wine first and foremost. Its tannins bind to the protein and fat in a grilled ribeye or a rack of lamb, softening the wine while the meat tastes cleaner, the classic tannin-and-protein exchange that makes red wine and red meat such a reliable match. Add a peppercorn crust and the wine only gets rounder.

For the Rhone reds, lean savory. A Syrah loves grilled, herb-rubbed lamb, its peppery edge echoing the char in a congruent match. The aromatic whites are your aperitif and patio pour, bright enough for a goat cheese or a citrusy salad on a warm afternoon. As always, keep the tannic reds off delicate white fish, where there is no fat to soften the grip and the wine turns sharp.

Villa San-Juliette: common questions