This feature is part of our 2024 Next Wave Awards.

Each of Outward Wines’ scenic labels provides a small window into the lives of its founders, Ryan Pace and Natalie Siddique: A distant mountain range on the Shell Creek Chenin Blanc, an arid desert on the Massa Vineyard Cabernet Franc, or even a glimpse into the depths of the Pacific Ocean on the winery’s new Bassi Vineyard Pinot Noir. These illustrations showcase the many microclimates of California’s Central Coast, where Pace and Siddique live, explore, and, of course, make wine.

Pace grew up in California in a winemaking family — his father was the longtime general manager of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars — and fell in love with the lifestyle and culture of wine. He knew he wanted to be involved in the industry from the start, working harvests in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France, and across California, and studied viticulture at Cal Poly. Siddique had a less conventional path to wine, growing up in Cincinnati as a daughter of two first-generation immigrants from Russia and Bangladesh. She started her career in international relations, and found herself living in Bangladesh after graduation. A change of heart bought her a one-way ticket to California where she set out to start a rock climbing business. Pace and Siddique met while climbing, bonded over their mutual sense of adventure, and started Outward Wines together in 2016.

As the winery’s name and the nature-inspired labels suggest, Pace and Siddique are avid outdoor enthusiasts. When they aren’t working in the vineyards or at their winery on the San Luis Obispo (SLO) Coast, they can be found traversing rocky terrains, scaling mountain faces, and summiting peaks. So it’s no surprise that the couple’s winemaking style reflects their dedication to the environment.

Since its founding, Outward has been committed to using organically farmed grapes. (This takes meticulous sourcing, as only 3 percent of California’s vineyard land is certified organic.) And their goal has always been to showcase the often-overlooked Central Coast region through single-varietal, site-specific wines.

The Central Coast, which extends along the coastline from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, is known for its diverse topography, influenced by both the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Santa Lucia Mountains to the east. To fit the range of climates and soils across the expansive region, Outward works with a broad set of varieties, from classics like Cabernet Sauvignon to more off-the-beaten-path grapes like Vaccarèse, a rare red found in some blends from the Southern Rhône known for its spicy, herbaceous characteristics.

The result is a lineup of elegant wines with each expressing a clear sense of place. The cool, coastal Presqu’ile Vineyard, planted on ancient sand dunes in the Santa Maria Valley AVA, lends itself to a spicy and structured Gamay; SLO Coast’s revered Bassi Vineyard, which lies on a sandstone hillside overlooking the Pacific, produces a salty, flinty Chardonnay; and the hot, sunny days and cool nights of the Santa Ynez Valley lead to a floral and peppery Syrah.

“We have a beautiful canvas here on the Central Coast. It’s hard to think of a more diverse landscape,” Siddique says. “We largely live in a land of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but so many varieties can thrive in this area because of this diversity. Plus we’re curious people, which definitely stems from who we are as climbers.”

When it comes to winemaking, Outward’s ethos is to minimize inputs — fermenting with native yeast, aging primarily in neutral oak barrels, and bottling wines unfined and unfiltered. “Our goal isn’t to make a cookie-cutter, ultra-polished wine,” Siddique says. “They should have character and an edge on them.”

Outward’s mission-driven approach to winemaking has clearly resonated with wine lovers, as the brand continues to gain steam and expand its reach across the country. The project started with just 50 cases in 2016 and reached 300 by 2020. Production ramped up when Pace and Siddique started to focus on Outward full time after 2020, and the winery is slated to produce about 3,000 cases of the 2024 vintage. Plus, Pace and Siddique recently completed construction on Outward’s first tasting room, where guests can book by-appointment visits.

The winery’s clear and concise messaging fits exactly what so many drinkers are looking for right now. The focus on organic farming and low-intervention winemaking can easily appeal to the natural wine lover, but the same wines can also draw in those who prefer more classic styles, with clean and pure expressions of varieties like Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc. What’s more, the eye-catching bottles with clearly labeled grape varieties and regions make them wonderfully accessible to beginners.

In a way, these well-made, approachable wines are exactly what the state’s wine industry needed. “For a long time California has been looked at as pumping out a lot of generic wine,” Siddique says. “People look to Europe for terroir and real expression and character.” But Siddique urges drinkers to look to California for compelling wines that can tell a story of place, time, and grape variety as well.

“There’s a big distinction between wine as a beverage and wine as wine,” Siddique says. “With new generations that are more selective or thoughtful of what and if they want to consume, there has to be more to it than just some beverage with a package on it.”

The article Next Wave Awards Winery of the Year: Outward Wines appeared first on VinePair.