OUR STORY
Sustainability First
Shale Oak was built by a highly-esteemed team dedicated to sustainability, eco-friendly principles, and environmental preservation.
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From LEED Gold certified architecture to award-winning wines, Shale Oak is truly a unique place among Paso Robles wineries.
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We also think our Wine Club Members are pretty special, too.
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Curtis Hascall
Winemaker
Attracted by Shale Oaks' commitment to producing high-quality wines in a sustainable fashion, Curtis Hascall has been winemaker at Shale Oak since 2010.
Born in Watford, England, Curtis intended on becoming a master beer brewer when he grew up. He moved from the San Francisco Bay area to San Luis Obispo where he became a food-science graduate of Cal Poly State University. His focus on making beer took a turn, however, when a friend hired him to drag hoses in the cellar at Norman Vineyards in Paso Robles. After working there for a few years, he took advantage of an opportunity to work a harvest at Cumulus Winery in Orange, Australia, where he would stay for one vintage.
Curtis and the winemaking team have racked up an impressive list of awards and accolades in a relatively short amount of time. Upon your first tasting of Shale Oak, you'll know why.
Al Good
Owner
Shale Oak’s owner, Al Good, is a holistic, entrepreneurial farmer. His knowledge of the wine industry, vineyard management, and wine spans over 30 years. Born and raised in Virginia, Al began his career as an East Coast representative for a grower in the San Joaquin Valley, where he quickly became their number one salesperson. His next endeavors found him as a fruit broker in Salinas for a company he later bought. After a brief stint at growing and selling apples in the Northwest, he decided to turn his passions to the business of table grapes, where he currently has one of the largest export table grape companies in the nation.
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Al has consistently built trustworthy companies turning out the highest quality products possible. He developed a holistic understanding of the agriculture business and is considered a steward of the land. Al is passionate about farming sustainability practices. His goal was to plan, plant, and build a vineyard, winery, and tasting room with next to zero impact on the surrounding environment. The result is Shale Oak Winery, a LEED Gold, SIP certified winery he began in Paso Robles in 2008 dedicated to making the best wines along the central coast of California.
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Al and his wife Suzette, along with their two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, are excited to be part of the Paso Robles wine community and can be seen on many weekends welcoming guests into the tasting room.
Sean Walter
Assistant Winemaker
Sean was born in San Luis Obispo and raised on a ranch in Paso Robles. After attending college in Colorado, he moved back to Paso and took a job at a boutique start-up winery, Tackitt Family Vineyards. His first harvest with them was in 2012 where he fell in love with the wine industry. After a few years with Tackitt Family Vineyards learning everything from vineyard management to winemaking to tastings and sales he decided to focus more on natural winemaking.
In 2017 he was fortunate enough to join the Le Cuvier team as their Assistant Winemaker working under John Much. In 2019 Curtis offered him a job here at Shale Oak and he jumped at the opportunity to be able to pull from both his commercial and holistic styles of winemaking to create some truly special wines!
Steve Burris
Tasting Room Manager
Steve's introduction to the wine and hospitality work began in earnest in 2003 while working at Zuni Café in San Francisco and has taken him to Europe and other parts of Northern California. He's been a Sommelier with the Court of Master’s since 2008 and has tutored several others through their certifications.
In 2018 he decided to get out from table-side and dive right into the winery business here in Paso Robles. These days (when he is not holding court in the tasting room), he can often be found running his wildly energetic dog around Lake Nacimiento.
