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🍇 Where Wine Takes You, Episode Highlights 🍷

Harvest is moving quickly in Paso Robles, after two brutally hot days, calendars are becoming suggestions, and this week we’re making room for two very different conversations about what happens when you finally get the chance to shape something for yourself.

First up is Oliver Mikkelsen, owner and winemaker of Landsby Wines, the small family project he created with his wife, Natalie. “Landsby” means “village” in Danish, and that idea runs straight through the brand. Oliver talks about building a label of his own while working as winemaker and ranch manager for Villa Creek and MAHA Estate, the farmers and mentors who make a tiny wine project possible, and why his approach starts in the vineyard. We also get into organic and dry-farmed fruit, Bailey Vineyard, Chenin Blanc, native fermentation, and what happens when Adam once again declares somebody’s Chenin the best Chenin Blanc.

Then Roxan Kragten, General Manager of Villa San Juliette, joins Adam for a very different Paso story. Roxan spent about a decade working with the property before leaving, then returned under new ownership with a new title and, as she puts it, roughly ten years’ worth of ideas she finally gets to put into motion. They talk about preserving what longtime club members already love, growing the hospitality, lodging and event side of the estate, and keeping wine at the center of it all. There is also unfinished business involving Adam, the Villa San Juliette pool, and the discovery that he was apparently not even the worst offender.

For this week’s Travel Paso Spotlight, we head downtown to The Ava Hotel, where the attraction isn’t only where you sleep. The hotel has three distinct food and drink destinations under one roof: Pine Street Bistro, EMRE, and Esperanza on the Rooftop. Coffee and breakfast downstairs, Mediterranean-inspired dinner, then Baja and Latin-inspired flavors with agave-driven cocktails above downtown Paso. You don’t even need a room key to make a day of it.

🍷 GUEST + TRAVEL PASO LINKS

Landsby Wines
Website: https://landsbywines.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/landsbywines/
@landsbywines

Villa San Juliette
Website: https://villasanjuliette.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/villasanjuliette/
@villasanjuliette

The Ava Hotel
Website: https://www.theavahotel.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theavahotel/
@theavahotel

Travel Paso
https://www.travelpaso.com

🌐 PASO WINE WIRE

1. PASO ROBLES WINE COUNTRY VIRTUAL AUCTION

The sixth annual Paso Robles Wine Country Virtual Auction runs September 14–23, 2026, with more than 40 curated packages featuring rare and allocated wines, private tastings, vineyard experiences, dining, lodging and wine-country getaways. Proceeds benefit the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance Foundation, which has awarded 67 scholarships totaling $148,000 to North San Luis Obispo County high school seniors over the last five years.

https://pasowine.com/events/virtual-auction/

2. NEW JEB DUNNUCK PASO SCORES

New Jeb Dunnuck scores have Paso talking, including the first 100 point wine for Epoch Estate Wines and the team of winemaker Jordan Fiorentini. Adam has been calling his shot on Block B for years, but this is great news, and long overdue! Congrats to other 100s announced for La Venture, Booker, Turtle Rock, Alban, and 2 for Saxum!

3. PASO GETTING NATIONAL PRESS

With Paso Wine pics in the latest edition of Wine Enthusiast, mentions in a recent RobbReport, also linked here is Wine Spectator taking a deeper look at Epoch Estate Wines and Paso Robles site expression in “Paso by Paso: Two Ways Toward Site Expression,” exploring winemaker Jordan Fiorentini’s approach to blending, vineyard identity and expressing two different estate sites.

https://www.winespectator.com/articles/epoch-paso-robles-site-expression

🎯 Plan your next Paso Robles getaway at travelpaso.com

📲 Where Wine Takes You now has its own Instagram. Follow us at @wherewinetakesyou for new episodes, behind-the-scenes pours, guest highlights, and more from Paso wine country.

🎙️ RECORDED AT SLO CAL STUDIOS

Recorded at SLO CAL Studios, San Luis Obispo County, California.

SLO CAL — where the wine is world-class, the people are real, and life is too beautiful to rush.

For turns well taken:
https://slocal.com

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🎙️ Credits
Executive Producer: Joel Peterson + Paso Wine
Associate Producer: Krista Smith
Recorded, edited, hosted by Adam Montiel
Follow Adam: @AdamOnTheAir
Explore all things Adam: AdamMontiel.com
Listen to Adam’s other shows: Up + Adam (daily) and The Pour (wine & more, travel, culture)
Learn more, connect, or say hey at AdamMontiel.com/connect

🎵 Original music by Moonshiner Collective
📱 Download the Paso Wine App
🍷 Plan your trip at PasoWine.com and follow @PasoWine

🎯 Plan your next Paso Robles getaway at travelpaso.com

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