Inspired by European winemaking traditions and fueled by California creativity, Riley Roddick is crafting distinctive wines that celebrate organic agriculture, experimentation, and the collaborative spirit of Paso Robles.

Riley Roddick wasn’t supposed to become a winemaker. At least, that’s not what she had in mind when she took a job pouring wine at a local Paso Robles winery while attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

But watching the winemakers work behind the scenes sparked a curiosity that would change the course of her career.

“I saw the boys making the wine in the back, and I thought it looked more fun than pouring it,” Riley recalls. “And so I asked if I could learn.”

The winery’s French winemaker agreed to teach her, on one condition: she had to continue working in the tasting room. Riley happily took on both roles, learning everything from operating pumps and tending vines to turning freshly harvested grapes into wine.

Today, she’s the founder and winemaker behind Hubba Wines, a small-production winery in Paso Robles’ Tin City neighborhood, where she’s putting her own creative spin on California Grown grapes.

Riley Roddick – Learning What Wine Could Be

After earning her bachelor’s degree in agricultural business, with a minor in winemaking and viticulture, Riley spent three years working in the Paso Robles wine industry. But she wanted to understand more about the science behind winemaking.

That curiosity took her overseas, where she enrolled in an international master’s program in oenology and viticulture. She spent her first year studying in southern France alongside students from 16 different countries, then moved to northeastern Italy to complete her degree, writing her thesis on organic viticulture.

The experience broadened her perspective on what wine could be.

In particular, Riley was drawn to the lighter-bodied wines and natural winemaking practices she encountered abroad. She began imagining how she could bring those influences home to California.

“I just loved Paso so much that I wanted to come back,” she explains. “I love the community here in Paso, I loved what we can do with wine, and I thought I could kind of bring that European flair back to Paso.”

After honing her skills working as assistant winemaker at Law Wines and Desperada Wines,  Riley decided to strike out on her own. In 2016, she established Hubba Wines with a vision for producing fresh, distinctive wines that reflect both her European education and the agricultural diversity of California’s Central Coast.

Breaking the Winemaking Rules, One Grape at a Time

While Paso Robles has earned a reputation for bold, full-bodied red wines,  Riley is drawn to a lighter, fresher style. Her approach is influenced by the natural wines of France and northeastern Italy, but it also embraces something she loves about California winemaking: the freedom to experiment.

Unlike many established European wine regions, where strict regulations govern which grape varieties can be grown and how wines are labeled, California offers winemakers considerable flexibility.

“What’s cool about California and the New World in general is that you can make whatever you want and be really creative and experiment,”  Riley says. “Sometimes it’ll work, sometimes it won’t, but you get to try, which is cool.”

At Hubba Wines, that philosophy translates into an adventurous assortment of wines including Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, and lesser-known varieties such as Valdiguié, Cabernet Pfeffer, and Verdelho.

She also creates unexpected blends, combining varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache, Carignan and Syrah, or Mourvèdre and Syrah.

Her inspiration often begins with a simple question: What would happen if I tried that?

“I make a lot of different, unique varieties that basically I just start by saying, ‘I’ve never tried that. I want to see what it turns out like.'”

That curiosity keeps her exploring the possibilities of California wine, one vintage at a time.

Letting California Grown Grapes Speak for Themselves

Unlike estate wineries that grow their own grapes, Hubba Wines sources fruit from small, organically farmed vineyards throughout California’s Central Coast.

For  Riley, working with independent growers isn’t simply about purchasing grapes. It’s about building relationships with farmers who share her commitment to responsible agriculture and quality fruit.

“I don’t own any vineyards. I buy fruit from all over the Central Coast,” she explains. “We work with small farmers, a lot of them who are our friends. And all organic.”

Once the grapes reach the winery, Riley takes a low-intervention approach, allowing the fruit’s natural characteristics to guide the finished wine. Her wines ferment with native wild yeasts, rather than commercially selected yeasts, and she avoids adding other ingredients during winemaking. The result, she believes, is wine that retains a distinctive connection to the vineyard where the grapes were grown.

“I think you get a real difference in each wine that we make,” she says. “They kind of take on where they’re from. You can kind of taste that.”

It’s a philosophy that puts agriculture at the center of the winemaking process and celebrates the diversity of California’s growing regions.

Sustainability Beyond the Vineyard

Although  Riley doesn’t farm the vineyards herself, sustainability remains central to the way she operates Hubba Wines.

“Sustainability isn’t just about organic and regenerative agriculture,” she says. “It comes down to everything.” Beyond sourcing organically grown grapes, she considers the environmental impact of everyday decisions at the winery.

Water conservation is especially important. Because Hubba Wines operates in Tin City, wastewater must be collected and removed, making Riley particularly mindful of how much water the winery uses.

She also chooses lighter-weight glass bottles to reduce transportation impacts and natural cork closures, which come from a renewable resource.

Her philosophy extends to the people working alongside her, too. She emphasizes creating a positive working environment and values the long-standing relationship she has with her assistant, Mikayla, who has been part of Hubba Wines since its early days.

For Riley, sustainability is about making thoughtful decisions that allow the business, its people, and its agricultural partners to thrive into the future.

Finding a Winemaking Community in Tin City

If there’s one thing Riley loves as much as making wine, it’s the people she gets to make it with.

Located in Paso Robles, Tin City is a lively community of independent wineries, tasting rooms, restaurants, and other artisan producers. For small winemakers like Riley, it provides an opportunity to create and share wines without the substantial investment required to own a vineyard and build an estate winery.

But the neighborhood offers something equally valuable: collaboration. 

“Tin City is kind of Paso Robles zoomed in,”  Riley explains. “Paso is known for its community aspect. Everyone is supporting everybody.” She describes a neighborhood where winemakers happily recommend one another’s tasting rooms, share resources, and lend a hand when someone needs help.

“My forklift wasn’t working the other day,” she recalls. “I just go next door, ‘Can I use your forklift for two hours, please?’ ‘Yeah, of course.'” It’s that easygoing, supportive atmosphere that makes Tin City such a natural home for Hubba Wines.

Visitors can experience that same spirit in Riley’s casual tasting room, where kids and dogs are welcome and guests are encouraged to explore the wines at their own pace.

A Personal Touch in Every Bottle of Wine

For all her technical training and adventurous winemaking, Hubba Wines is ultimately a deeply personal endeavor. The winery’s name comes from a family nickname, and Riley’s wines carry nicknames inspired by her loved ones. With her parents, siblings, and extended family nearby, the winery has become another expression of the relationships she values most.

“Hubba Wines is dedicated to my family,” she says. “All my wines are nicknames of family members. I love my family, and that’s what Hubba’s about, my people.”

And with each new vintage,  Riley adds another chapter to her own story.

“For me, making wine, it’s kind of like a timeline of my life,” she reflects. “When I open a bottle from 2016, I was like, ‘Oh, that was my first vintage. I really struggled with that Grenache.'”

From a curious college student watching winemakers work behind the scenes to an independent producer creating wines on her own terms, Riley’s journey is a testament to what can happen when curiosity meets opportunity. At Hubba Wines, every bottle is a little different, every vintage offers something new. The possibilities are as limitless as her imagination.

Article written by Alison Needham (@atable_defloured), images and video by James Collier, Paprika Studios.