This is history in a bottle – wine history, SLO county history, and family history.

For more than a century, the Sinton family has tended the rugged hills east of Paso Robles, raising cattle on what became known as Avenales Ranch. What began as a hardworking cattle operation in the 1870s has grown into a story of stewardship: fifth-generation ranchers who balance tradition and concern for their land and animals with innovation, producing both premium beef and wines that carry the taste of their land and reflect the values of the family.

Their Shell Creek Vineyard was planted in 1972. It lies on fossil-rich limestone soils east of Paso Robles near Pozo and Creston that give their wines a singular energy and freshness. Old-vine Chenin Blanc, Valdiguié, and Petite Sirah thrive here, dry-farmed in the arid climate, yielding fruit that is both concentrated and lifted.

Just as important as what they grow is how they care for it. Avenales Ranch is protected in perpetuity under a conservation easement with the California Rangeland Trust, ensuring that these 18,000 acres remain wild, open, and productive for generations to come. Their beef program is organically raised, grass-fed and finished, Audubon-certified, and dry-aged for remarkable depth of flavor—proof that responsible ranching and extraordinary quality go hand in hand. They’ve recently opened retail shops in Paso Robles and Templeton where, in addition to selling their own beef cuts, they do custom butchering for some 60 other ranchers in the area, all of whom adhere to the Sinton’s strict conservation and animal respect requirements.

Daniel Sinton is carrying the family legacy forward and has put Avenales wines on the map. His bottlings speak with clarity of place: clean, mineral-driven Chenin Blanc, savory old-vine reds, and limited releases that reflect the Shell Creek Vineyard’s history. In every glass and every cut of beef, you taste not only the land but the family’s enduring commitment to it.