Paso Robles is perhaps the fastest-growing wine producing region in California.

In the mid-1990s, there were only 35 wineries in the area. Today, there are more than 200, and some locals say the number approaches 250. In the same period of time, the number of planted acres has doubled.

In many ways, Paso Robles resembles Napa Valley, not just in the growth of vintners and acreage, but as a destination for wine — and food — lovers. While Paso Robles has not yet achieved the status of Napa Valley for food lovers, the area has attracted some top chefs who are preparing food in a number of styles not previously found in the area, such as French, Indian and Thai, as well as innovative fusion cuisine.

There’s another similarity. Heretofore, the entire region, encompassing 614,000 acres, 26,000 of which are planted to wine grapes, has been known simply as the Paso Robles Appellation. A petition to split it into two, creating a Westside appellation (roughly the area west of Highway 101), had been submitted, but the U.S. Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Trade and Trade Bureau threw the idea out. Instead, another idea is being floated splitting the appellation into 11 sub-appellations, similar to the way Napa Valley is divided.

Like Napa Valley, you’ll find all types of tasting rooms, ranging from the ostentatious Taj Mahals to the simple, homey-like types. And, like Napa Valley, as well as most of the rest of California wine producing regions, most wineries charge for tasting. Fees are around $5, and most wineries apply the tasting charge to a wine purchase.

Downtown tasting rooms

Just as tasting rooms have sprung up all around downtown Napa, so have they blossomed in downtown Paso Robles — 12 of them were highlighted on a map picked up at a hotel. Most are congregated around or within two blocks of City Park in the heart of downtown. Restaurants abound in the area, too — two dozen of them.

While Napa Valley is the king of cabernet sauvignon, Paso Robles can  lay claim to being the prince. It’s the most widely planted varietal, with 38 percent of acreage devoted to it, followed by merlot at 15 percent and syrah at 10 percent. More than 30 other varietals are planted, including small amounts of less popular varietals, such as tempranillo, roussanne, barbera, semillon and mourvedre. There are even a few vintners who produce nebbiolo.

The Paso Robles Wine Festival in May is a major event, a weekend happening that showcases about 90 of the area’s wineries and cuisine of many restaurants, along with the works of local artisans.

The event is sponsored by the Paso Robles Wine Alliance, one of several groups in the area. Another is Back Roads Wineries of Paso Robles, which appears to represent only wineries on the east side of Highway 101. Maps are available at participating tasting rooms and also can be downloaded from the organizations’ Web sites. But many wineries are not affiliated with any group, and the only way you’ll find them is by driving past them.

Checking it out

We recently took a quick trip to the area to check it out. The drive covers 200-plus miles, depending on your starting point, and you can plan about four hours. We stopped along the way and visited two wineries in the Santa Lucia Highlands in the Monterey area: Paraiso Springs and Hahn Estates/Smith & Hook. They’re both a little way off Highway 101, but they’re very close to each other, and it was a good way to break up the trip.

The first two wineries we visited were Robert Hall and Vina Robles, both of which feature interesting architecture and large tasting rooms. Vina Robles’ tasting room is one of the largest I’ve ever seen — it has all kinds of merchandise, food items and food-related utensils and books for sale, lots of room to move around, and yet the winery makes just 30,000 cases a year. A friend who accompanied us works for a Napa Valley winery that makes about 180,000 cases annually, yet has a tasting room that’s probably not larger than a small bedroom, and it’s nestled among some tanks.

One of the bright spots of the trip was a stop at Tobin James Cellars. Although we were there in mid-week, it was quite crowded, compared to others we visited, and we received a quick and thorough history lesson about the winery from Doug and Scott, who served us. “We are the way we are,” Doug said. “Not stuffy. We’ve been voted the best tasting room in Paso many times.”

The place is decorated with odd objects, like an old-style gas pump, some old winery equipment and an old cash register, which, Doug said, is for show only — sales are rung up electronically. There’s a big neon sign that says “Blue Moon,” which is the name of a featured wine that is “made only once in a blue moon.” Another featured wine is Chateau Cacheflo. For the full effect, say it out loud.

One thing that struck us was the size of Tobin James’ wine club, the James Gang. It has 18,000 members. They receive eight bottles twice a year, and total wine club shipments account for more than 40 percent of the winery’s production.

Falcon Nest Vineyard

Another unexpected pleasure was a visit to Falcon Nest Vineyard & Winery. The tasting room, a small free-standing building, opened at 10 a.m. We arrived a few minutes after 10, and as we drove up, a man came running from a nearby house and yelled, “We’re open.” He unlocked the door, and as we were getting out of the car, a sign in a window went on, lights blinking “Open.”

The winemaker and owner is Francesco Grande, whose background is in restaurants — at one time he owned three of them. He then started buying wine for hotels, and when he and his wife retired 20 years ago, they moved to Paso Robles. In the back of the tasting room is a bright airy area that was set up with tables, silverware and glassware. He explained that he also has a restaurant with a prix fixe menu, serving  lunch, dinner and catered banquets.

He poured four wines — a zinfandel, syrah, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, all 2003 — and talked briefly about each. Then he said, “I’ll show you my blends.” The bottles all had a half-ounce measured pourer, so he picked up the zin and syrah in each hand and poured a half-ounce of each into the glass, had us swirl, then taste. He repeated with the syrah and cab, then the cab and merlot.

Clautiere Vineyard was described in the guidebook as “A tasting room like no other — think of Edward Scissorhands meets the Mad Hatter at the Moulin Rouge.” Maybe it was because we were the only ones in the place, or maybe we were expecting too much, but we were a tad disappointed. As you entered the room, a box filled with wild colored wigs of all styles sat next to the door, and in a nearby fireplace was a box of hats of all kinds. The place was brightly decorated, and perhaps if other people had been there, or the tasting room attendant had encouraged us to put on wigs and hats, it might have been a totally different experience.

One disappointment

We intended our last stop to be Turley Wine Cellars, one of the most famous zinfandel producers in the state, so we could leave on a high note. Instead, it was the biggest disappointment of the trip. We were looking forward to tasting, and buying, some of the famed single vineyard zins that are so highly sought. Instead, we tasted four wines, only one of which was a zin and that wasn’t a vineyard-designated wine.

We couldn’t leave on a downer like that, so we found another place just up the road — Rotta Winery. It’s a small, friendly place that’s one of the three oldest wineries in Paso Robles. In addition to tasting some excellent wines, we enjoyed seeing some of the old artifacts on display, including some bottles and jugs that were brought in by customers making what winemaker Mike Giubbini called a “Rotta Run” to have them filled.

If you haven’t been to Paso Robles lately, try it. The wines are good, the people are friendly, and there’s good food nearby.