ORIGIN STORY

In the mid 1990s, Rick and David were friends, neighbors and home winemakers living in Camarillo, California.

Rick’s home winemaking group acquired grapes each year from the storied Perata Vineyard in Paso Robles. But when there was a crop shortfall one year, Rick and his wife were left with no Merlot grapes to go along with their Cabernet Sauvignon. “Trying to find 1,000 pounds of Merlot on the spot was like trying to buy one egg,” Rick says. His remedy, as someone in the real estate business, was to acquire his own property to ensure a steady supply of fruit. “For 1,000 pounds of fruit, I could have just purchased a half acre—but I ended up buying 70 acres.” This property would ultimately become the main Opolo estate in the Willow Creek District.

As a fellow winemaker, David was also intrigued with Paso Robles. Rick helped him acquire an existing vineyard in the Estrella District in 1997, after which Rick bought his own contiguous site.

The home winemakers were now Paso Robles winegrowers, but they soon discovered that the balance sheet looked a lot better when you turned your own fruit into wine instead of selling it all off to others each year. The next step was logical: start their own winery!

THE EARLY YEARS | 1999 to 2003

Rick and David called their winery Opolo, a nod to Rick’s Serbian heritage. They made their first wines from the 1999 vintage, including the inaugural Mountain Zinfandel. Here’s how they tell it:

Rick: “There was an oversupply of fruit on the horizon, so we made 1,000 cases in 1999 to show off the quality of our fruit to other wineries…We didn’t have a tasting room or employees, but if we were there, we’d just open the gate and spend an hour or three with people. We sold out of those 1,000 cases in three months. Soon we were making 5,000 cases, then 8,000 cases—it just got away from us.”

David: “To put this in perspective, I was getting my MBA in 1999, and I did a business plan for the winery, with worst case and best case scenarios. My best case scenario was 5,000 cases, and we passed that within three years. It became much more than we ever expected.”

Rick: “We took classes in enology and viticulture at UC Davis, and also hired top consultants to help us along…We opened our tasting room in May of 2001. It was just 12-foot-long redwood boards perched on barrels.”

Rick: “When we poured at our first Paso Robles Wine Festival, there was a guy there with a t-shirt that said, ‘Will Work for Wine.’ We hired him as our first employee.”

David: “Once we understood that people were going to keep coming, we had to grow our capabilities to handle the traffic. We paved the driveway, poured more patio space and expanded our production and tasting areas. It was an exciting time.”

GROWTH, MOMENTUM & HOSPITALITY | 2004 – 2010

By the end of 2004, Rick and David had been making Opolo wines for five years. They were now entering a period of growth and momentum, and tasting room patrons couldn’t get enough. It was time to take the hospitality operation to the next level—a mission that came naturally to Rick and David.

Rick: “We were lucky enough to come to Paso Robles at a great time. There were only a handful of fine dining establishments, and there was no major hotel at that time. There was a lot of runway. I think the growth of Opolo mirrored the fact that Paso Robles was on the rise and becoming known.”

David: “We started our wine club in 2003, and within a few years it was really successful. Neither Rick nor I was familiar with wine clubs when we started, but we knew that we wanted different levels that enabled people to experience a range of wines, not just Zinfandel or Cabernet Sauvignon.”

Rick: ““I would say that hospitality is something I got from my Balkan heritage—being a host comes naturally. We passed this on to our members and customers, and they became extended family, and it just grew from there…We started our annual Harvest Festival Parties. We bring in dancers and musicians and make traditional Balkan cuisine to share our heritage with our guests. Events and traditions like these have helped us create lasting connections.”

David: “The club gave us a platform for making a variety of different wines, to feel our way and to find out what people liked. In the process, we also learned about customer loyalty. People had a great time when they visited and it became a big family. A lot of wineries make good wine—but our objective is to make sure our guests have a good time and have fond memories of being at Opolo.”

Rick: “We’ve always looked at this business as agritourism. We believed in creating a welcoming experience where people can spend hours enjoying themselves. We wanted to offer things that would attract people to Opolo and help them fall in love with great Paso Robles wines, and for us, this included providing food and tours and special events.”

QUALITY, SUSTAINABILITY, & CRAFTSMANSHIP | 2011 – 2019

After a dozen years of producing estate-grown wines in Paso Robles, Opolo was entering a new era of quality, sustainability and craftsmanship. The lessons learned over the prior decade were applied as Rick and David took the caliber of our wines and vineyard operations to the next level. We also elevated our hospitality efforts by creating the Inn at Opolo and we established our companion Willow Creek Distillery on the Opolo estate, helping set the pace for the California craft spirits movement. 

Rick: “It was important for us to achieve SIP (Sustainability in Practice) Certification for our estate vineyards. This is one of the most stringent sustainability programs of its kind. It looks out for the farm and its people. It ensures that our natural resources are managed responsibly, and it also makes a better and more wholesome wine.”

David: “We acquired an adjacent 64-acre property here in the Willow Creek District around 10 years ago. We have since planted 42 acres to vines—we call it To The Moon Vineyard for its whitish limestone soils and elevated slopes. The terroir is amazing—it’s excellent for Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Zinfandel. It is becoming an increasingly powerful factor in our wines.”

Rick: “The distillery was a natural addition to our endeavors. In Europe, a lot of wineries make brandy from the leftover grapes and other fruits. Wine and spirits just go hand in hand. Sometimes we get visitors where the wives like wine and the husbands like bourbon—or vice versa. It just gives us another attraction and the opportunity to offer something for everyone.”

David: “We opened the Inn at Opolo in 2015. It was a logical extension of our hospitality mindset. It turns a winery visit into a getaway. It lets people experience the farm and country atmosphere. There’s not a lot of light here at night, so the stars really come out.”

Rick: “We created the Opolo Reserve Collection to represent the best of the best from our winery. It’s a platform for small-batch wines aged in the best oak barrels, made from our finest estate vineyard blocks as well as other coveted sites, such as Remo Belli Vineyard Zinfandel in the Adelaida District. Our members really appreciate having access to these special wines.”