Dave DeSimone has written a great article about Gary Eberle for Fanfare Magazine, entitled, “For the Love of the Grape.” Excerpts follow with a link for the full story at the bottom.

“Gary Eberle, Pittsburgh native and founding winemaker of Eberle Winery in Paso Robles, California, loves making big appearances.

As a Penn State Nittany Lion football player in the late 1960s, he regularly rumbled onto Beaver Stadium field before large crowds. Today the ruggedly built Eberle makes dramatic entrances by piloting his own small aircraft on regular cross-country trips to drop in on old friends and customers.

"Flying gives me a competitive advantage in selling wine, making friends and having fun," Eberle says. In Pittsburgh, his local distributor, Dreadnought Wines' Mike Gonze, always receives a visit as does Eberle's old pal, Chef Toni Pais.

"Gary loves making big red cabernets that go well with food," said Gonze, whose firm has distributed the wines in Pennsylvania since the early 1980s. "But he also makes extremely food-friendly white wines."

Eberle did not set out early to start the winery. But after graduating from Penn State, he headed south to Louisiana to pursue a graduate degree in biology. While frequently enjoying the "Big Easy" pleasures in nearby New Orleans, Eberle's abiding passion for good food and wine came to life.

He switched gears, obtaining a winemaking graduate degree at the prestigious University of California-Davis before setting out to start his own winery. Relying on Pennsylvania investors, Eberle started modestly. Today, the winery produces approximately 30,000 cases annually, still modest compared to large wine conglomerates. But Eberle prefers focusing on quality, rather than quantity.

An avid experimenter, Eberle indulged his passion for the famous, food friendly Rhone varietals by being California's leader in planting Roussanne, Viognier and Syrah. He even dabbles with traditional Portuguese grapes, such as Touriga Nacional, to make fortified port wines.

Eberle attributes the success of his wines to the quality of grapes grown in Paso Robles' unique microclimate. Cold nights and warm days created by the area's proximity to the Pacific Ocean allow grapes to hang longer on the vines, developing complex aromas and flavors while retaining acidity and balance.

Access to consistently high quality-fruit creates a key advantage "We don't have to press the beegeebers out of our grapes, so we also have soft tannins," Eberle says. Soft tannins enable Eberle's red wines to highlight opulent fruitiness balanced with light oak, fine acidity and silky tannins. This enhances compatibility with food.

Full story here.