Following the New Grape Trail : It’s Close. It’s Inexpensive. It’s Beautiful. It’s Undiscovered. It’s the Burgeoning San Luis Obispo Wine Country.

There are aged oaks on these horizons, skittish deer by the road sides, and amber waves of grain in every direction. But look closely--there are also grapevines amid those amber waves. There’s wine in these hills, flowing in quantities and qualities that might surprise many Californians.

It can be tasted in the shade of the oaks (Paso Robles means “passage of the oak trees,” after all), or in a 19th-Century farmhouse, or in a modern corporate wine shrine of brass and blond wood. Sniffing and sipping, you may find yourself among cattlemen, or herb farmers, or gourd merchants, or forward-thinking weekenders who have made the 215-mile, four-hour journey north from Los Angeles. (They’ll be the ones gulping the clear air and marveling at the deer.)

You are excused if your mind is still fixed on the well-known wineries of the Napa Valley, or perhaps those of the closer Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County; each has it merits. But more than two dozen wineries are now doing business in San Luis Obispo County, and more than 100 vineyards. Visitors will find the tasting rooms cheerful and uncrowded, and on their walls the national awards are beginning to add up.

The county agricultural commissioner’s office reports that wine grapes cover more than 8,100 acres here--mostly in and around the city of Paso Robles--and that the industry’s annual revenues rose from $31.5 million in 1990 to $34.2 million last year. Just two months ago, a new report found that wine grapes have surpassed lettuce as the county’s No. 1 cash crop.

Even under the pall of recession, the Paso Robles wine country remains an emerging character, and that’s a big part of the place’s attraction for a visitor: It’s long on enthusiasm, short on attitude and modest in prices. After four days there in mid-October, I still cannot explain the subtleties of their wines, but I can say this about my spirits: They’re high.

Rolling northbound past Santa Barbara and then San Luis Obispo, you see civilization thinning, cows lounging and hills rolling to the horizon. A refugee from the city feels an urge to speed or howl or roll in a meadow or something. My wife and I rebelled more politely; we took the coastal route, pulled off Pacific Coast Highway at the arts-and-crafts outpost of Harmony (Pop.: 18) and started our tasting miles southwest of Paso Robles proper.

The tasting room was called Harmony Cellars, a bright, snazzy space in the old Harmony Creamery building with a gift shop and a wood-burning stove with a shapely, swooping pipe that looked more like modern art than a utility fixture. The distinguishing liquid attraction at Harmony Cellars is Zinjolais, a concoction made by using a Beaujolais process on Zinfandel grapes. I leave all judgments on the result to my esteemed neighbor on this page, Times Wine Writer Dan Berger. But I do feel entirely qualified to assess the man behind the tasting room counter: Hoarse, yet irrepressible .

His voice growing more ragged with every breath, he effused about the advances of the 4-year-old Harmony Cellars operation and the rosy future of wine-making in the area. He was quite knowledgeable, and he waived the $1 tasting fee on general principle, but we didn’t want his voicelessness on our consciences and excused ourselves. Then we pressed northward to our hotel in Cambria, where we gathered strength for the next day’s wanderings.

Paso Robles, which lies inland, beyond the coastal Santa Lucia range of hills, has charms and accommodations of its own. But if you stay in Cambria and spend a little more money, you gain two advantages.

You wake in mist, walk along the waterfront on Moonstone Beach Drive, stare up at the pines and perhaps pop out for breakfast among the eateries and gift shops of Main Street. While the nation’s economy sputters, Cambria’s main drag remains committed to, and evidently successful in the peddling of nonessentials. If it’s glass sculpture you want, or a choice among 15 flavors of potpourri, they’ll be ready for you.

The coastal atmosphere is the first advantage. Then you aim the car inland to the heat, the weather-beaten farms, the undulating vineyards--and believe it or not, Southern California, a drive can be an advantage, too.

It’s a 30- to 45-minute drive from Cambria to Paso Robles (about 25 miles east on California 46 West), and one of the most pleasurable in all of California. You climb through the fog to the sunbaked hilltops, dash along the ridgelines and gaze upon oak clusters, grazing cows and the occasional scampering deer.

This drive feels safer than most of the state’s spectacular routes, too, thanks to its broad shoulders and frequent turnout spots. And it’s not too heavily traveled. On a busy day, Caltrans estimated a couple of years ago, California 46 West between Cambria and Paso Robles carries perhaps 2,200 automobiles heading each way. The comparable figure for the Ventura Freeway at Sunset Boulevard, for those keeping score at home, was 215,000.

One more thing about California 46 West: Its westernmost stretch has been formally adopted by my all-time favorite freeway sponsor. “Loners of America,” says the roadside sign, with an organizational logo emblazoned beneath the letters. Where do I join? Is there a discount for families?

To the tasting rooms, then.

Heading east from the coast on California 46 West, the first winery you encounter, and the oldest in the county, is York Mountain. It sits beneath moss-dripping trees in a building constructed in the 1850s to hold an apple harvest. The operation switched over to wine-making in 1882, and the building has been improved and expanded more than once. But the York Mountain tasting room, with its hardwood floors and stone fireplace, carries the stamp of that time. (New Times, the area’s alternative weekly paper, this year called York Mountain’s tasting area the best in the county.) While we sniffed Pinot Noir, the man at the counter sipped Diet Coke, explained local politics and showed off Halloween decorations. (A folksy attendant, yet learned . )

Back on California 46 West and eastbound, we pulled over next at Sycamore Farms--and stayed a long time. It’s a tasting room, it’s a gift and garden shop (shiny sprinklers for $49.95, garlic bulbs for a quarter), and it’s an herb farm, with a wide selection of plants, a pair of lazy cats as mascots, a rich aroma of basil and rosemary, and a regular schedule of programs. We were a week too early for the compost workshop. If York Mountain offers a glimpse of the area’s past, Sycamore Farms may offer a hint of the future.

Owner Bruce Shomler (inconsistently hirsute, yet engaging) opened the place in July, 1991, after a year of supplying herbs to local restaurants. In May of this year, he started offering tastings of wines from the nearby Adelaida Winery, which has no public tasting room. In September, he made a similar arrangement with Wild Horse, another local winery. And late this year or early next, Shomler will add to the list Le Cuvier, a new label made by Adelaida Cellars co-owner Andree Munch from local grapes. Shomler and his wife, Sandra, hope eventually to build a house on the hill behind the retail area and convert their current home, a green, gabled cottage near the highway, into a gourmet restaurant. Like many, he is bullish on San Luis Obispo County’s future as a destination for wine and food crowds, and on Paso Robles in particular.

“You’ll see an infrastructure of restaurants begin in town,” he said. “It’s a long, slow process, but it’s happening. I remember Napa 25 years ago, and this is far more developed than Napa was then.”

Signs of new ambition are all around. At the JanKris Vineyard, where a Victorian farmhouse has stood for more than 100 years, the owners have expanded the kitchen and converted it into a tasting room. It opened to the public a year ago.

At Justin Vineyards and Winery, the owners in July started renting out a pair of antique-furnished, 600-square-foot guest suites, one done up in Tuscan style, the other Provence-inspired. They look out on vineyards, sit above the barrel aging room, and rent to the public at $195 nightly, breakfast included.

At the Mission View Estate Winery, meanwhile, the owners have leased a former restaurant space at U.S. 101 and Wellsona Road and made it into an off-site tasting room. It opened last month, the wine sellers sharing the building with an antique doll museum. The doll museum was not a big draw on the day we were there, but the winery has outfitted the tasting room in shiny new oak and brass.

From there, we took a detour from the wine path and stopped at the Mission San Miguel Archangel, where some of the area’s first wine was drunk but not made. (Local histories report that the Franciscans, who founded the mission in 1797, had trouble with their vines and resorted to importing wine from their brethren in San Luis Obispo.)

The mission, much less frequently visited than its counterparts in San Diego, Monterey and elsewhere, includes the best-preserved interior decorations of any California mission, an extensive cactus garden, and a cemetery. There lie an estimated 2,000 unidentified American Indians, along with several dozen parishioners and church officials. Nearby, in San Miguel’s district cemetery, lies William Antrim, said to be stepfather of Billy the Kid and an early settler in the area.

While we’re in footnote territory, it should be noted that Paso Robles was first brought to life with the help of yet another outlaw’s relative. The city proper got its start in the 1880s, about the time the vintners at York Mountain were pressing their first vintage and the Southern Pacific tracks were inching through the county on their way south from San Francisco. The town grew up around the Paso Robles Hotel, and the founding owners of the hotel were James Blackburn and Drury James, uncle of the infamous Frank and Jesse James. (In the 1890s, Drury James moved on to the San Francisco area.)

About 20 years later, the Polish pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski found his way to the area. Popular accounts hold that the musician, idled by arthritis in his fingers, first came to the Paso Robles Hotel to dip his hands in the nearby hot springs (most of them since capped). When the results were encouraging, Paderewski decided to stay on, and purchased a ranch property west of town, near where the Adelaida Winery now stands. He remained for years, returning between performances, until he emerged at the forefront of Polish politics in the aftermath of World War I.

In 1919, Paderewski left to become Poland’s first president. Years later, having retired from political life, he returned to Paso Robles, and died in 1941. His ranch, no longer in the family but still privately owned, continues to yield grapes. In the last year, there has been talk of starting an annual Paderewski festival.

The Paso Robles Hotel endures as well, though in amended form. Devastated by fire in 1940, the place was rebuilt and now does business as the Paso Robles Inn. It stands on Spring Street, on the perimeter of Paso Robles’ central City Park. Stroll around the park and you see the core of a working semi-rural city of 20,000, not yet prettified as Cambria has been. There’s the Paso Robles Pharmacy with its blue-and-orange Rexall sign, Marv’s Original Pizza, the Sweet Shoppe, the Maytag home appliance center, a fabric store, Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant and The Rodeo, a rough-and-tumble tavern with red and green neon highball glass tipping above its low roof. Keep walking and you find the local newspaper office, then the distinguished 1908 red brick home of the public library and then City Hall, and then you’re back at the Paso Robles Inn. Step to the rear of the property, and an unadvertised attraction awaits.

The flames of 1940 left standing an 1890s ballroom with wooden floors, mahogany detail work and towering chimneys. These days, the staff uses it for storage and laundry, but may allow a polite peek to an inquiring stranger.

“Just follow the laundry carts,” advises Cal Poly San Luis Obispo history professor Dan Krieger, “and you’ll see the real grandeur.”

But Paso Robles, for now, anyway, has more to do with grapes than grandeur. In three days, we strayed only occasionally from the wine-taster’s trail, for sightseeing at the mission, for gift-gathering at the herb farm, for pumpkin-collecting at the Pumpkin Farm and Gourd Place, a family operation at 101 Creston Road. (For most of the year, the Heer family sells gourds by appointment only, but in October the place opens daily to the public and offers all manner of Halloween paraphernalia.)

In downtown Paso Robles, we wandered through Linn’s at the Granary, which in back offers tastings from a wide selection of local wines, and in front peddles kiwi fruit preserves, olallieberry pies, cookbooks and decorative items. Nothing was particularly cheap, but the Linn family is a local institution, having made and sold preserves, pies and other goods in the area for a decade. (The Linns now operate four locations: the granary in Paso Robles, a shop in San Luis Obispo, a restaurant and gift shop on Main Street in Cambria and the family farm five country miles outside Cambria. We liked the farm best.)

East of Paso Robles, we headed for the Eberle, Arciero, Meridian and Martin Brothers wineries. At the first of those, we found the founder, Gary Eberle (full-bodied , but genial) stoking his barbecue and playing with his new poodle puppy, Chardonnay.

“When I came to Paso Robles in 1973, there were three wineries here,” Eberle said. Even with the recession holding down consumption, he said, “it’s blossoming right now.”

At Arciero, a few miles farther east on California 46 East, we drove through the elaborate front gate, noted the burbling fountain and Mediterranean architecture, inspected the fancy race cars in the massive tasting room-gift shop (the winery sponsors a racing team) and followed a free, self-guided tour of the 78,000-square-foot production and storage facility. The place felt a little sterile, but for a novice the signs on the self-guided tour are likely to offer some helpful background.

At Meridian, a few more miles east, the tasting room opened in May. We stepped beneath the stone arches and chatted with the attendants (youthful, but sincere) , and relaxed in a roomful of sun-dappled blond wood furniture and cool tile floors. Meridian is owned by a subsidiary of the international conglomerate Nestle, which Gary Eberle described, not without envy, as “the people who lend money to God.” Those resources show.

Finally, at Martin Brothers, we admired the initiative of the Irish-American owners, who found a market niche making Italian-style wines, and have also developed a summer concert series on their property. Seating audiences in a grassy bowl that holds about 2,000, the owners this year hosted Paul Revere and the Raiders, the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival and an evening of opera under the stars, among other events. On the day we looked in, Oct. 10, the staff was making ready for a show by country singer Mary-Chapin Carpenter.

We went back that night and watched concert-goers queue up alongside the vine rows. Smoke curled up from the catered barbecue operation, the moon rose over the fields and 2,000 wine glasses glinted. On stage, opening act Jim Lauderdale shouted and flailed at his guitar.

The eating, drinking and making merry, it seemed, was about to kick into high gear--and so it may be for the whole region. I just hope they don’t wake Billy the Kid’s stepdad.

GUIDEBOOK

Spirits of Central California

Getting there: The City of Paso Robles lies in San Luis Obispo County, about 215 miles north of Los Angeles on U.S. 101, about a four-hour drive. From there, a 25-mile westward drive on California 46 West takes you to Pacific Coast Highway (California 1). Cambria and the coastline lie another 2 miles up California 1. (Note: The highway between Paso Robles and Cambria is California 46 West; inland beyond Paso Robles, it is known as California 46 East.)

Where to stay: For those who elect to stay in Cambria and drive inland to wine country, the options are broad. On oceanfront Moonstone Beach Drive alone, there are about 15 hotel and bed-and-breakfast operations. Among them:

The Whitewater Inn (6790 Moonstone Beach Drive, Cambria 93428; 805-927-1066) offers two rows of neat, newish rooms with gas fireplaces and free continental breakfasts served to the rooms. Double rooms begin at $100 nightly.

The Fog Catcher Inn (6400 Moonstone Beach Drive, Cambria 93428; 800-445-6868 or 805-927-1400) opened only last spring and with 60 units is larger than most of the hotels on Moonstone Beach Drive. But even with that size, a pool and spa, it feels intimate. The rooms are furnished in country pine, each with a stone-front fireplace. Double rooms run $80-$135 nightly in summer and on weekends, slightly less on off-season weeknights, with a full breakfast.

The San Simeon Pines Seaside Resort (7200 Moonstone Beach Drive, Cambria; 805-927-4648) covers eight acres, including a children’s play area and a par-three golf course. The feel is woodsy and child-friendly, and some units have fireplaces. Double-occupancy rates run $76-$102 year-round.

In the immediate area of Paso Robles, it takes an effort to spend $100 a night on accommodations. There are a handful of bed-and-breakfast operations that will oblige you, including two suites at Justin Winery for $195 nightly, breakfast included (11680 Chimney Rock Road, Paso Robles 93446; 805-238-6932). Far more numerous, however, are the tidy, unspectacular hotels in Paso Robles proper.

Most notable of those is the Paso Robles Inn (1103 Spring St., Paso Robles 93446; 805-238-2660). It presides over the center of town with red-tile roofs, grassy grounds, a handful of towering oaks, a pool, a restaurant that specializes in steak, a coffee shop, and 70 rooms with oak furniture. No double costs more than $58.

Lake Nacimiento Resort (Star Route, Box 2770, Bradley 93426; 800-323-3839) lies 16 miles northwest of Paso Robles, a winding half-hour drive that leads to a lake crisscrossed by jet skis and speedboats. In addition to lakeside campsites, the resort rents 19 view condominiums that sleep 4-10 people (including bunk beds) and in the fall and winter fetch $95-$125 nightly, $540-$700 weekly.

Where to eat: Ian’s (2150 Center St., Cambria; 805-927-8649) has for years been talked up as the top restaurant in the area, and its success prompted a major expansion about three years ago. The food--California cuisine that relies in part on distinctive vegetables from local farms--is excellent. Entrees, which do not include soup or salad, run $12-$17.50.

In Paso Robles, the best restaurant may be Berardi & Sons (1202 Pine St., Paso Robles; 805-238-1330). The fare is Italian, the setting is brick walls, low light and lazy ceiling fans. Entrees run $8-$16, and include antipasto, soup, salad and garlic bread.

Young Finley’s Main St. Grill (416 Main St., Templeton; 805-434-0655) stands in the oldest building in Templeton, a few minutes south of Paso Robles. The 1886 structure is restored in great and colorful detail. The fare is eclectic, including large portions and spicy Cajon fried potatoes at $1.50 a basketful on the lunch menu. Dinners include soup or salad and run $8-$24.

A&W; Root Beer (2110 Spring St., Paso Robles; 805-238-0360) may not be a gourmet’s first choice, but you just don’t find that many restaurants with carhops anymore. Park at A&W; and the server will clip a tray on your windshield. Flash your lights, and she’ll return to collect the detritus. The burgers are about what you’d expect, and nothing costs more than $3.95.

Dates to consider: Most of the wineries in San Luis Obispo country will participate in the second Harvest Celebration at Talley Vineyards in Arroyo Grande, 1-5 p.m. Nov. 7. Included will be a wine tasting, wine auction, vineyard tours and food served by local purveyors. For reservations call (805) 541-5868. Tickets: $35 per person to benefit the Nipomo Community Medical Center.

The Paso Robles Wine Festival, now 10 years old, will be held May 15 in City Park, noon-5 p.m; more than two dozen local wineries set up booths last year, admission $15. Book accommodations early; last year’s festival crowd was estimated at 10,000-12,000.

For more information: Contact the Paso Robles Chamber of Commerce (548 Spring St., Paso Robles; 800-322-3471 or 805-238-0506), the Cambria Chamber of Commerce (767 Main St., Cambria; 805-927-3624), the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce (1039 Chorro St., San Luis Obispo; 805-781-2777), or the San Luis Obispo County Visitor’s and Conference Bureau (800-634-1414 or 805-541-8000).