HISTORY

Rancho Tierra Rejada, Spanish for “land of worked earth,” is the original name of the 2,500 acre Paso Robles ranch that is now Shimmin Canyon. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, grain and cattle were the primary commodities here. It was a land of pioneer families, vaqueros, banditos, and cattle barons such as the Miller & Lux Cattle Company. Paso Robles defined the real and true west before 1900. That pioneer spirit lives on today at Shimmin Canyon Vineyards.

Visionary Herman Schwartz purchased the property in 1973 and planted 520 acres to grapevines. Schwartz was an innovative grower with a keen interest in sustaining the environment and promoting Paso Robles as a high-quality winegrape growing region. He and his Vineyard Manager, Ric Fuller, embraced sustainable farming techniques as they were first coming on to the scene in the early 1980s.

With the same eye toward the future, they eventually realized the need to upgrade the vineyard. Together they replanted the vineyard between 1995 and 1998, carefully choosing plant material appropriate to each site in the vineyard. The ranch was sold to the current owners in 2006, who, along with Ric Fuller himself, remain committed to sustaining the environment by implementing technologically advanced farming methods.