The story of Margarita Vineyard’s climate begins with the surrounding peaks of the Santa Lucia mountain range, which control the vineyard’s remarkable interplay of cool marine breezes and inland warmth.

Margarita Vineyard is situated along the top of the Cuesta Grade, approximately 22 miles south of the city of Paso Robles, eight miles northeast of the city of San Luis Obispo, and just 14 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Here, the peaks act as a gateway between the ocean-cooled environs below the grade and the warmer climes above the grade, allowing measured yet substantial temperature transitions on a daily basis.

When the days heat up in the areas north and east of Margarita Vineyard, the air rises to create a vacuum that pulls marine breezes and fogs inland and over the peaks—and right through the vineyard.

The coolest area of Margarita Vineyard is Trout Creek drainage, which runs westward along the middle of the vineyard in the form of a notch, or saddle, in the bordering mountain range. As cool air billows over the Santa Lucia Mountain Range, it first announces itself in the hollows of Trout Creek. The microclimates diversify as the terrain unfolds along the vineyard’s other two main sections, Moore Ridge and Oyster Ridge.

As the only vineyard in its vicinity, Margarita Vineyard is alone in benefiting from the climatic attributes of this particular location. These attributes combine to create a viticultural “sweet spot,” a place where Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah and many other varietals can achieve full ripeness, but only after a long growing, marine-moderated growing season that creates uncommon balance, flavor and structure in the grapes and resulting wines.