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The Fabulous Story of Hoffman Mountain Ranch

© Alan Boehmer

Long before it became fashionable for successful businessmen to seek second careers in viticulture, Dr. Stanley Hoffman purchased acreage in the rocky, limestone outcroppings of the Santa Lucia range, west of Paso Robles. Dr. Hoffman, a successful physician in San Luis Obispo, dreamed of the good life of growing premium grapes in a scenic place and operating a winery.

It was the 1960s, and the "founding fathers" of the California wine industry were still alive and active. Dr. Hoffman would bring his dream to fruition correctly. He began by preparing a large vineyard in a remote location whose soil and climate promised to be near ideal. He called his property the Hoffman Mountain Ranch. Then he engaged California's most respected enologist and winemaker, André Tschelistchef, to advise and make the wine.

Tschelistchef advised planting Pinot Noir, a grape heretofore unheard of in San Luis Obispo County, and recalcitrant everywhere else in the State. Tschelistchef had already made what was widely regarded as California's finest Cabernet Sauvignon, BV Private Reserve. Now he would attempt to do the same with the awkward and difficult Pinot Noir grape, bottling it under the HMR label.

The venture was entirely successful and winemaking duties were turned over to Dr. Hoffman's son, Michael. Sadly, sales failed to support the effort, due to difficulties in marketing an unpopular wine from an undeveloped region, under an unknown label. By the 1980s, the HMR Vineyard was selling is splendid fruit to other local wineries. And in 1988, Dr. Hoffman's son, Michael, left the wine business entirely to start a brewery in San Luis Obispo.

The HMR Vineyard was left to the deleterious effects of nature. But due to the deeply rooted vines, the vineyard remained alive through a decade of neglect. Eventually it was sold. Adelaida Cellars, its neighbor over the hill, purchased 1,200 acres, planted largely to Pinot Noir. The remaining 115 acres, planted to Chardonnay, was bought by a private individual.

Adelaida Cellars, under the direction of winemaker John Munsch, revitalized the HMR Vineyard and began releasing Pinot Noir under the Adelaida label. This wine, now in its fourth release, is considered one of San Luis Obispo County's finest Pinot Noirs. It retails for around $25, but is hard to obtain outside the Central Coast region. It's different from the Santa Barbara County Pinot Noirs in its rich, minerally dimension. After all, the Santa Barbara Pinot Noir vineyards are upstarts compared to the venerable HMR, whose grizzled vines bear strong resemblance to California's century old Zinfandel vineyards.

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