Monday, April 4, 2016

C is for Cattle in Wine Country

C is for Cattle in Wine Country
Calf and Cow Mother Grazing
by Venteux Vineyard, © B. Radisavljevic
When you think of vineyards, do you picture cattle grazing next door to them? Paso Robles Wine Country attracts thousands tourists every year. I wonder how many of them realize they will also be in cattle country?

We know there were cattle in Paso Robles as early as 1857. During World War I Ignace Jan Paderewski purchased land in Paso Robles for orchards and vineyards. (See Paso Robles History Timeline) Before that the mission fathers grew grapes for their wine, but most local vineyards are fairly recent. I'd guess the cattle ranches were here first. That's why my topic for this third day of the AtoZchallenge is C is for Cattle in Wine Country. You will often see cattle grazing right next to a vineyard or between  vineyards. 

The mama cow and her calf are part of a herd of cattle I saw grazing next to Venteux Vineyards on Las Tablas Road in Templeton, California. This is technically part of the Paso Robles Wine County, since Templeton is not incorporated and the boundaries between Templeton and Paso Robles are such that I'm in Templeton and the neighboring vineyard and tasting room across the fence from me has a Paso Robles address.

You can see more of the cattle below, as well as the context of the first photo. The tasting room is the gray building in the center in the middle of the vineyard. I had to use a zoom on these photos because there was a fence between me and the cattle. I enjoyed my photo walk Exploring Venteux Vineyards in Templeton and took lots of photos of places most tourists never see. Click the link to see some of them.


C is for Cattle in Wine Country
Cattle Grazing by Venteux Vineyard, © B. Radisavljevic


Venteux is just one winery here with cattle next door. You will see some others in the related article below. There are many more that I see when driving on 46 West between 101 and Vineyard Drive. Continue west toward Cambria and you will see more cattle and fewer vineyards. You cannot drive very far in this area without realizing this is as much cattle country as wine county.

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C is for Cattle in Wine Country

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