Vina Robles Grows In
Wine Country

A new winery venue is going up on the Central California coast, with two veteran hands at the booking helm.

Vina Robles Amphitheatre is under construction in the region’s wine country, just outside of Paso Robles, Calif., and its owners have tapped Prescient Entertainment in partnership with AEG Live and Goldenvoice to exclusively book and promote it.

The pairing of industry vets Lee Smith and Rick Mueller may sound familiar, as they make up the backbone of the team booking the Mountain Winery, up Highway 101 in Saratoga, Calif. 

The addition of a new winery venue is another link in a chain of boutique venues running along the West Coast, from Humphrey’s in San Diego to Marymoor Park near Seattle. Vina Robles creates a new routing stop in the middle of the Golden State, within easy drives of several cities between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Assuming no hitches in construction time, Smith and Mueller expect Vina Robles to open “with a splash” around July 1, with a 3,300 capacity including 1,000 lawn seats. Prescient is now entertaining booking inquiries.

Smith and Mueller tell Pollstar that some features of the new venue make it more conducive to larger and therefore more diverse productions.

“There’s nothing that’s off the table,” Smith said of Vina Robles’ programming potential. “We would like it to be diverse, and obviously to sell tickets. I know that’s pretty vague but that’s basically our approach going in. I’ve never put shows in the wrong venues, I can tell you that.

“But the uniqueness of this venue is that it has unbelievable production capability. I would put the stage house in the category of Shoreline Amphitheatre  There are going to be artists that we would love to play Vina Robles that would never be able to play the Mountain Winery just from a production standpoint,” he added. “This venue will be able to handle much more production-oriented artists. Rock is something we would definitely look at.”

Among the back-of-house amenities at Vina Robles are a five-bay loading dock, center-stage hanging capacity of 240,000 pounds, a wing-hanging capacity of 20,000 pounds each, full stage house roof, four dressing rooms and ample production and catering areas.

“You wouldn’t want to rule out acts like Sublime With Rome or Slightly Stoopid,” Mueller told Pollstar.  “The venue would work for jam band shows. It’s a state-of-the-art facility, where the Mountain Winery caters to a little more of a high-end experience, and I think this is going to be a little bit more accessible to different genres.”

Even so, as part of the Vina Robles winery grounds, it will likely be a hit with those seeking a VIP experience right out of “Sideways.” The winery itself boasts tasting rooms, retail areas and is close to the wine tourism center of Paso Robles. 

It’s also close to the university environs of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, so the college market is also within easy grasp.

As for Smith and Mueller, the successful partnership forged at Mountain Winery –  but begun at Live Nation/BGP – was a no-brainer in choosing to pursue Vina Robles.

“Rick and I were very close at Live Nation; we worked on many great projects as well as the humdrum, day-to-day,” Smith said of the reunion. “We drifted off there, so to speak, and it’s no coincidence that we found each other in terms of what works for us.

“I have the good fortune of being able to land the Mountain Winery account and that’s a good account to have. AEG was excited about the possibility of working on that project and they bring all the obvious things to the table that are great for me.
“It’s worked well in 2012 and, given that and how we’re set up to work on the winery together, it made perfect sense to go into the Vina Robles situation together as well. It’s pretty seamless and parallel.”