Make no bones about it, the challenge of developing wine grapes into the best tasting wine the Paso Robles region has to offer has been no easy task. Rob and Paula Campbell-Taylor, owners and caretakers of Graveyard Vineyards, bought the beautiful hilltop property in 2003 when the vineyard was in its seventh leaf and they set their goals firmly in place to create wines that memories are made of. Paula says, “I want to know that our wine is served at memorable occasions with families and friends and enjoyed with the comfort foods of that occasion. Comfort food and comfort wine—a match made in heaven!”

Rob, born and raised in Bakersfield, California, graduated from Fresno State University as a mechanical engineer. Equipped with a 25-year engineering career and a passion for the wine and grape growing industry, Rob holds the key to the success of the grapes produced from Graveyard Vineyards.

“When my father brought me to the Central Coast for weekends of hunting and fishing in the 1960s I was fascinated by how different the climate was over such a short distance. Now years later, I have learned that those hot daytime temperatures followed by cool evenings and chilly nights give the Paso Robles appellation the most remarkable diurnal temperature variation of any wine growing region and wonderfully complex wine grapes.”

Rob lived in Bakersfield, then Santa Barbara and for years dreamed of having his own vineyards, until his wish came true when he brought his wife, Paula, to the Central Coast for the weekend and she fell in love with it.

Reminding Paula of the small-town upbringing she had in Indiana, she and Rob packed up their belongings and brought their two small boys out to the countryside. Now their boys walk to school through the rolling hills of vineyards. How romantic is that!