Calcareous Vineyard, founded in 2000, is about place—a dramatic, limestone hilltop off Peachy Canyon Road in Paso Robles. And love of that place has resulted in award-winning wines and renowned reputations for both its owner, Dana Brown, and winemaker, Jason Joyce.
Dana and her late father, Lloyd “Moose” Messer, both of Iowa, sold their respective self-named beverage distribution companies to create real estate firm Messer Brown Properties and develop the 442-acre dream property.
Its 35 acres of vineyards were planted in 2002, followed by a 10,000-square-foot production facility and cellar in 2006. Joyce joined the team in 2007, rising to winemaker in 2010.
“My dad unfortunately passed away in 2006, so he … wasn’t able to see our tasting room and brand come full circle,” Dana said. The glass-walled, 3,000-square-foot, 1,800-foot-elevation tasting room, named “Lloyd’s Lookout,” was built in 2008.
“We refer to my dad as our visionary because he was the one that had the original idea, and, since then, we’ve grown and received numerous [industry accolades].”
Calcareous’ 2018 Devil’s Canyon Syrah was named No. 16 on Wine Spectator magazine’s Top 100 Wines of 2021 list, and many of its wines have achieved 90-plus point Wine Spectator scores, with the 2022 Très Violet, a grenache-syrah-mourvèdre blend, reaching 95 points.
“It’s been a long road,” said Dana, who currently splits her time between Paso Robles and Des Moines, Iowa. “But it’s been a good one, and I’m so pleased to say that my daughter Frannie has joined the company. So, now, we have a third generation and a woman-owned company and we’re excited about the future.”
Frances Violet Brown, who goes by Frannie and is the inspiration for the winery’s Très Violet blend, joined the company in late 2024 as operations coordinator.
She brings with her a degree in enterprise leadership from the University of Iowa, and splits her time between Paso Robles and Chicago. Since joining the team, Frannie has immersed herself “into all aspects of the business to understand it as a whole,” she said.
“In the five months that I’ve been at Calcareous, I have worked in several different roles and quickly gained a lot of respect for everyone who works in the industry,” she explained.
“We provide so many different services to our customer, and everyone has to collaborate,” Frannie continued, noting that such collaboration involves harvest, production, marketing, finance, wine club, customer service, wine tasting, and events, plus a full-service kitchen on the premises.
“I think my mother and grandfather’s legacy is an impressive testament to their work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit. Knowing that they were able to have such an amazing relationship as father and daughter as well as work together to build something as special as Calcareous is inspirational.”
Frannie added that she is especially impressed that her mother was able to realize her father’s vision after “he passed suddenly at such an early stage in the building process.”
“I grew up watching her fight relentlessly in an industry that is difficult to find success in,” she said. “It was extremely formative to learn, firsthand, the value in persevering when people tell you ‘no,’ if you really believe in something.”
Dana also firmly believes in her winemaker, who has full rein to work his magic with the property’s grapes, ranging from Rhone and Bordeaux varieties to chardonnay.
Joyce, a San Luis Obispo transplant originally from Detroit, will soon be planting an additional 7.5 acres of white Rhone grapes, as well as petit verdot and more grenache and syrah.
Joyce majored in organic chemistry at Cal Poly and worked in the pharmaceutical industry in San Francisco afterward, but he didn’t find his mojo until taking a three-month sabbatical to intern as a harvest cellar hand at Calcareous. He never left.
“They picked the most beautiful spot,” Joyce said. “It’s the vineyard, the soil, the layout, slope. … It’s just a miracle place to grow wine grapes, and I get to take the credit.”
Joyce cringes when asked if his scientific background comes in handy at the vineyard.
“It’s not chemistry,” he said with a laugh. “You can nerd out as hardcore as you want. I’ve seen Ph.D. papers analyze the phenolics in wine and show all the compounds, but that has nothing to do with how you make wine.
“At the end of the day, we’re making a human product for humans, and the only way to do that is with your senses—your sense of smell, touch, taste. And that’s how you express yourself. You can’t use instruments to make good wine, especially at a small place. It’s got to be personality driven.”
Joyce will be pouring at Paso Wine Fest’s Grand Tasting on May 17 at the Paso Robles Event Center. The event features more than 100 wineries, with a select 20, including Calcareous, offering signature experiences.
Calcareous produces between 10,000 and 12,000 cases of wine annually, with most sold direct to consumer, including a club-member base of more than 3,000. Most fruit is estate, but some is sourced from nearby Carver and Glenrose vineyards.
Dana’s long-term goals are to stay the course, stressing quality over quantity and offering an “overall ambience of casual elegance.”
However, she stresses, the team welcomes all and appreciates their business, “especially in today’s economy.”
Joyce concurs that the attitude at Calcareous is far from “hoity-toity.”
“The vibe here is … we don’t care if you’re a bachelorette party from Fresno or a master sommelier,” he said. “We will meet you where you’re at and let you have the experience that you want to have here.”
Similarly, he added, “I’m a winemaker because I like making wine, not because I like being a winemaker.”
It’s not a refined job, he explained.
“It’s all day, it’s wet, it’s cold, it’s super hot, it’s nasty, it’s very physically demanding,” he continued, “and I love all of it.”
He added that he never wanted to go anywhere else or do anything else because he firmly believes that what they’re selling at Calcareous is a “sense of place.”
“You have to walk the land and know it better than anyone else, because that’s how wine works. It’s the interaction between you and the land,” Joyce said. “And if you don’t have that, then you don’t have something special. You don’t have a sense of place that people are seeking. You don’t have this story that is honest.” Δ
Flavor Writer Cherish Whyte thinks Calcareous’ sips and scenery are among Paso’s finest. Reach her at cwhyte@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Best of SLO County 2025.