Scaling Cliffs and Cases with Outward Wines

When compared to waking up at 3 a.m. to hike a half-dozen miles, climb 10 pitches up a sheer cliff face, and scramble back to your tent after the sun sets, even a winemaker’s notoriously nonstop harvest schedule doesn’t seem so tough. 

“Climbing makes the rest of life easier,” explains Natalie Siddique, who owns and operates Outward Wines with her husband, Ryan Pace. “It makes problems in normal life seem a lot less daunting.”

Rock climbing, not wine, is also what brought the two together, as they come from very distinct backgrounds. 

The son of Randy Pace, who ran the famous Stag’s Leap Winery for two decades, Ryan grew up in wine, moving from Napa to the Santa Ynez Valley at age of 10 when his dad took a job at Bridlewood. Randy went on to run Buellton’s Terravant Wine Company for a decade, and now is in charge of booze buying for the company that owns El Rancho Market. Ryan studied guitar at a music school in Los Angeles, but came back to wine in 2008. He worked harvests all over the world (New Zealand, Napa, Margaret River, South Africa, Chile, Northern Rhône), got a degree from Cal Poly, and then worked at Byron Winery in the Santa Maria Valley for six years. 

Siddique, on the other hand, did not grow up anywhere near wine. A first-generation American, her parents — mom from the Ural Mountains of Russia, dad from Bangladesh — met during college in Moscow and then worked for Procter & Gamble in Ohio, where Natalie grew up. By 2nd grade, Siddique wanted to be a foreign service agent, so she studied Russian, international relations, and Eastern Europe at Boston University before moving to work for the State Department in Dhaka.

“But Bangladesh was below sea level,” said Siddique, already an avid climber with no mountains in sight. “It was challenging for my psyche.”

At the end of 2013, she bought a one-way ticket to California to scale peaks, got a job with an online climbing community startup, and settled in San Luis Obispo, where she met Pace. He invited her to his wine-tasting group — which included Mikey Giugni of Scar of the Sea and Tyler Eck of Dunites and Fess Parker Winery — and Siddique showed immediate talent. 

“She got a fast-track palate, but she also has a natural ability,” said Pace. “Even the first wine I showed her, she came up with the descriptor of ‘briny.’ It clicked with her.”

Siddique was excited to discover that the world of wine was unfathomably deep, soaked in history, geography, culture, science, and so much more. “I get bored when I’m done learning, which is why wine was a draw,” she said. “It’s endless.”

Outward Wines began quietly seven years ago with a couple of barrels from the Pace family’s backyard Santa Ynez vineyard, and stayed a secondary concern for the couple until 2021, after Pace had left Byron and Siddique left her latest job at a yogurt company. They’ve steadily expanded their sourcing to sites all across the Central Coast, from the family vineyard to many S.L.O. Coast hotspots like Bassi Ranch all the way north to Carmel Valley. They recently developed their own winery in Grover Beach and just signed a 25-year lease on a two-acre vineyard near Avila Beach, which they are replanting to trousseau and savagnin.

“The story we’re interested in telling is the Central Coast and how diverse it is,” said Siddique, explaining that they intentionally don’t make pinot noir in order to showcase everything else. “It’s our outward expression of who we are and the places that inspire us in the context of wine.”

See outwardwines.com. 

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Outward Wines’ Natalie Siddique on Winemaking & Rock Climbing

Is there a connection between these passions?  There are so many parallels! Like wine, there are endless styles of climbing, destinations to explore, and a very strong and passionate community surrounding it. Both endeavors are long-term investments of time and energy that are driven by passion and hard work. Real character-building stuff!

What would you recommend for people who want to try rock climbing?  Nowadays, there are climbing gyms everywhere. Starting with bouldering or top rope climbing at a gym is a great start to see if you enjoy it. If you have ambitions of climbing outside (what it’s really all about, in our opinion!), you can hire a guide in most climbing destinations these days, but for the long term, find a mentor. The role of mentorship in outdoor rock climbing is incredibly important! At the end of the day, rock climbing is an inherently dangerous activity, so it’s crucial to fully understand the mechanics of your gear and exactly what you’re doing when you’re off the ground. These skills come with mentorship, time, and practice.

Where are some of your favorite spots to climb on the Central Coast?  To be honest, we rarely climb locally and mostly travel to climb! With that said, there is some decent climbing on the Central Coast. Lizard’s Mouth has some fun bouldering and beautiful views, Pine Mountain is another incredibly beautiful bouldering area, and Wheeler Gorge in Ojai, Bishop’s Peak in S.L.O., and the Pinnacles all have some fun climbing, albeit sometimes on rock of questionable quality.

Any global spots on your bucket lists?  We’re really intrigued by some of the big wall adventures to be had in Wadi Rum in Jordan, the Cordillera Blanca in Peru, the Bugaboos in the Purcell Mountains of B.C., also Norway…. The list goes on forever.