We met at the climbing gym in San Luis Obispo sometime around 2014, and soon became outdoor climbing partners with many of our early adventures taking place on classic routes in the High Sierra and Yosemite Valley. At that time, Natalie was running a company in the climbing industry and Ryan was the associate winemaker at Byron winery in Santa Maria Valley.

Natalie: Our first harvest with Outward was in 2016. It coincided with my 2nd harvest ever but we had a unique opportunity to make a small amount of wine on the side, so we went for it. It has been a learn-by-doing decade of winemaking for me!

Ryan: I grew up around wine, but my first full time harvest was in 2008. With a mix of northern and southern hemisphere harvests over the years, 2025 marks my 22nd harvest!

N: This is definitely not what I ever thought I’d be doing! I was on a very different career path before moving to California, so I credit Ryan to much of my early exposure to intentionally made wine. Since he was already well into his winemaking path when we met, I was lucky to be surrounded by constant learning opportunities—including helping with harvest activities, visiting wine regions around the world amidst our climbing trips, and participating in regular blind tasting groups with winemaking friends. Those early experiences of standing in a vineyard, smelling, tasting, and truly connecting to a place, grape, and moment in time was and remains so magical to me. As an entrepreneur already, I couldn’t help but want to explore what our expression of wine would look like. Before we knew it, we were making wine together. For the first handful of years it was just a side project, but that time allowed us to really understand our vision and intentions for the version of Outward that exists today.

R: My dad was the GM of Stag Leap Wine Cellars in the 80s and 90s and later worked for a few wineries in Santa Barbara County in the 2000s, so I grew up around wine my whole life. I went to music school in LA right after high school for a couple years before moving back home to the Santa Ynez Valley where I worked my first harvest when I was 19. I fell in love with the work, lifestyle, and culture and once I realized I could travel and work international harvests I was totally hooked. I went on to work in Australia, New Zealand, France, Chile, Napa, South Africa, and a few other wineries on the central coast. I also studied viticulture and Enology at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and spent about 7 years as a winemaker for Byron winery in Santa Maria.

N: I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and went to college in Boston—not the most enjoyable places for someone who can’t live without the sunshine. I visited San Luis Obispo while studying and fell in love with the area, specifically with a coastal state park called Montaña de Oro (which we now have a cuvée named after!). At the time, I was pursuing a career in international relations, which was very much an east coast centric destiny. I told myself I would figure out a way to live here someday, and in 2013, life opportunities finally brought me to the central coast. This is definitely home forever.

R: The central coast has been home for me since I was 10 years old and I still absolutely love it! Having traveled and made wine in many different regions over the years, there’s something special about the central coast. There is so much diversity of soils, climate, and all of the unique ways that the ocean influences our vineyards. In addition to great terroir, the central coast is home to beautiful landscapes and a vibrant winemaking community.   

So many people! A wide range of adventurers, innovators, passionate, hardworking, and genuinely kind humans. A few at the top of the list include Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, legendary female climber Lynn Hill, our central coast winemaking community, and every single farmer we know. 

We are both big fans of France when it comes to wine, food, lifestyle, and culture. France is where we first really understood and experienced the concept of terroir, which has guided our focus in winemaking since the beginning. When we started Outward, we were particularly inspired by the wines of Northern Rhône and exclusively made cool climate, site-specific Syrah for the first couple of years. So yes, there is certainly some French influence in Outward, but we enjoy and are inspired by wines from all over the world. We are very proud to be California winemakers! Our goal is not to emulate any region but rather tell our own story of wine from the central coast.

The challenges are many but are a huge part of what makes this journey rewarding. We tend to do a lot of things the hard way because we really believe that all of our effort, energy, and emotions transcend into the bottle. We make wine in an urban, industrial building that we converted into a winery space on our own. There’s nothing fancy or state-of-the-art in our humble cellar and our winemaking is quite simple. Now that we’ve been making wine there for a few years it’s really empowering to know that you don’t need all the bells and whistles to produce a delicious bottle of wine. 

N: We both love music and listen to a wide range of genres! As of late, it’s whatever the fermentations seem to beckon … recently that’s been a mix of jazz, deep house, nu-disco, soul, hip-hop, and the occasional blast of Andrea Bocelli to keep us inspired.

We’ve been farming a handful of small vineyards on the central coast for the last couple of years, and all of the incremental improvements are rewarding to see. Similarly, this is our third harvest in our humble DIY winery building and we have finally mostly worked out the kinks … really just quite exciting to us that everything works as it should!

Oh man, they’re all special in their own ways! We make a lot of different wines and truly believe that they all have a place depending on your mood, the weather, what food you’re eating etc … but if we have to answer it would probably be the Shell Creek Valdiguie. It’s such a fun, friendly wine!

Ideally in a tent somewhere deep in the backcountry at the base of a tall alpine rock climb. More often though, simply cooking dinner at home with a good bottle or two of wine.