A family visit to the Monterey Peninsula, where I grew up, afforded me the perfect opportunity to visit a blossoming wine-producing region and to taste wines that are receiving national and international attention.

From Monterey it is a pleasant two-hour drive straight south to Paso Robles. Taking some back roads that I hadn't traveled in many years, I was stunned to see that numerous gated communities and golf courses now occupied what had been ranchland or sugar beet fields not too long ago. But as I followed the Salinas River farther into the countryside through fields of lettuce, strawberries and artichokes, Steinbeck images of the old Salinas of my childhood returned. After the first hour the lettuce farms became fruit orchards and farther south, the fruit trees turned to grape vines. I was entering California's next great wine country!

Paso Robles once was cattle country but today it is the fastest growing wine appellation in the state. Ten years ago there were 30 wineries in the region. Today there are more than 170. The appellation covers 24 square miles with 26,000 vineyard acres planted with more than 40 grape varieties. Day-to-night temperature swings that are the greatest in the state create distinct micro climates and a diversity of soils that work for different grape varieties and wine styles, further boosting a thriving wine industry. Although cattle and walnuts historically dominated the local agricultural economy, commercial winemaking was introduced in 1882 when the region started gaining a reputation for fine, powerful zinfandel wines. Today, cabernet is the leading variety in the appellation with 38 percent of the total vineyard acreage. Cabs from there generally are highly regarded by the critics. When Pittsburgh's own Gary Eberle pioneered syrah planting in the area in the late 1970s, he prompted an explosion of plantings of this Rhone varietal among his neighbors. By 2006 the total acres devoted to Rhone grapes had reached 2,200 and 27 wineries had banded together to form a group they call the "Rhone Rangers." The calcareous, limestone-rich soils seem particularly well-suited to the traditional Rhone grape varieties.

When French vintners start planting vines in a region, it's a sure sign that the region's wines are attracting international attention.

In 1989, the Perrin family, who own Chateau de Beaucastel in France's Chateauneuf du Pape region of the Rhone Valley, and their American partner brought that distinction to Paso Robles. They purchased 120 acres of rolling hills dotted with walnut orchards and live oak trees to create Tablas Creek Winery in 1989. Because they felt it important to plant authentic French clones of the Rhone varietals, they imported cuttings from the Beaucastel vines in Chateauneuf and developed a nursery on the property to propagate the vines. This caused a seven-year delay in bottling the first vintage of Tablas Creek. Currently they produce 15,000 cases of red and white Rhone blends and some single varietal bottlings of mourvedre, syrah, grenache blanc and vermentino. The wines are certified organic.

Cabernet sauvignon and Bordeaux blends still are popular with Paso Robles vintners. In 1981 Justin and Deborah Baldwin founded Justin Vineyards and Winery on a 160-acre property planted with 72 acres of major Bordeaux varietals.

With low yields and a state-of-the-art winery, winemaker Fred Holloway and his team are making the highest-scoring Bordeaux blends in Paso Robles. Isosceles is the name of their signature red. It is a blend of cabernet sauvignon (80 percent), cabernet franc (10 percent) and merlot (10 percent), handpicked and matured for 18 months in French oak barrels. The second wine is Justification, a blend of cabernet franc (64 percent) and merlot (36 percent), also handpicked and matured in French oak for 18 months.

Justin is the only winery in the area to have both a bed and breakfast (the Just Inn!) and a restaurant on the grounds.

For anyone planning to visit California wine country, Paso Robles is an attractive alternative or complement to Napa or Sonoma. The town is lively and offers a variety of hotels and restaurants. The old feed stores have been replaced with attractive boutiques.

There are even hot sulfur baths to soothe aching muscles after a long day of tasting rooms and vineyard walks.

The winding roads of the western side of Highway 101, which bisects the region, pass under arches of live oaks draped with Spanish moss and open to dramatic views of the Santa Lucia mountains (Paso Robles means Pass of the Oaks.)

Tasting rooms are relatively uncrowded and some are even free.