Ambyth Estate

Ambyth Estate was started by a Welshman named Philip Hart in the early 2000s with nothing but a vision to farm and to make wine from a vineyard that would last lifetimes. He settled on the name "Ambyth," which means forever in Welsh, capturing his vision as a winemaker. After purchasing two properties in 2000 and 2001, totaling 42 acres, Phillip began interplanting 16 acres of vines (head trained) with 4 acres of olive and fruit trees to create biodiversity within the vineyards. The combination of steep hillsides, clay/limestone soils, and a hot, dry climate led Phillip to choose Rhône varieties, which he felt were most suitable for the terrain. The land had never been touched by chemicals, and from the start the vines were farmed organically and without any irrigation; they received biodynamic certification in 2006. Soon after, Ambyth Estate became the only certified biodynamic winery in Paso Robles,

The yields at AmByth are extremely low. As a fully dry-farmed estate, their goal is 2 tons per acre every year. This may seem more than reasonable to most people, but in the drought years of 2012-15 they harvested significantly lower amounts than that, 2015 being the lowest at less than 2 tons of fruit for the entire crop!

In the cellar, Phillip and his son Gelert (joined in 2015) take a completely natural approach. While the debate over the exact definition of “natural wine” is constantly debated, there is no doubt that AmByth embodies the core principles of the category: natural fermentations, no fining or filtering, no SO2 added at any point, and of course, biodynamic farming. For vessels, they use a combination of tanks, old barrels and, more recently, amphorae.

Recently, Gelert also experiments with cider-making that yield some very interesting and tasty results. They also make delicious olive oil.