Many true lovers of pinot noir have made a pilgrimage to Calera Winery in Hollister, the place that firmly established North America’s ability to produce “the heartbreak grape.”

Calera Wine Company, established in 1975 in the remote hills of San Benito County, was the beautiful and exhausting dream of Josh Jensen, born in Seattle and raised in Orinda. His father, a dentist, had a good friend, Dr. George Selleck, who was a wine collector and connoisseur. The two had met during World War Two. It was Selleck who turned Jensen on to wine.

After graduating with a liberal arts degree from Yale, Jensen headed to Oxford for a master’s in social anthropology. Along the way, he discovered for himself the true pleasures of life in France, and fell in love with Burgundy, the wine and the place.

After two summers working at premier vineyard estates—Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Domaine Dujac—he set off to the New World in search of limestone soils. Geological maps guided him to potential sites up and down the West Coast, but his search yielded naught. 

Everyone thought he was tilting at invisible windmills, until that flash of white caught his eye in the Hollister hills. Limestone. Three million tons of it. And a quarry, along with an old lime kiln.

That was 1974, the year Jensen first purchased land on Mt. Harlan, with the help of three investors: Dr. Selleck, Bill Reed (another long-time friend) and Josh’s father, all of whom would have vineyards named for them.

Those vineyards and the brand that sprang forth from them—Calera, which is Spanish for lime kiln—created a legacy that has endured for 50 years.

The five-acre Selleck Vineyard is undergoing a replant, but the Reed Vineyard, also five acres, is hanging in there, as is the 14-acre Jensen Vineyard, named for Josh’s father. While those vineyards put down roots in the limestone soils at 2,200 to 2,400 feet, Jensen, in 1977, purchased a 100-acre parcel lower down the mountain where the winery and tasting room now sit.

Convinced he had found what he was looking for, Jensen purchased an additional 300 acres of limestone land on Mt. Harlan, where he planted viognier, in 1982. He subsequently planted chardonnay, in 1984, and four more vineyards, again named for people of significance in his life.

Planted in 1984, the Mills Vineyard was named for Everett Mills, a salty Cienega resident who became a friend of Jensen’s. It, too, was recently pulled out for replanting. The 16-acre DeVilliers Vineyard is the largest, and was planted on the eastern flank of Mt. Harlan in 1997.

It lies between the two original plantings, Jensen and Mills. DeVilliers is named for Marq DeVilliers, a South African born writer who chronicled the Calera story in The Heartbreak Grape.

The last vineyard to be planted, in 1998, is named for longtime vineyard manager Jim Ryan, and is the highest of the group at 2,500 feet. It faces west, and produces wines that are a bit more accessible early in their development.

For all the vineyards, Jensen used cuttings from vines in Chalone, Napa and suitcase clones he had smuggled in from his sources in France. Over the decades, these vines have morphed to become what is called the Calera clone: highly prized for their small clusters and intense flavors. They taste different in each vineyard in which they are planted, which is the point Jensen was making by bottling vineyard designates.

Calera winemaker Mike Waller says that all the wines are made the same way: whole cluster, native yeast and barrel fermentation. He uses 30% new French oak, mostly François Frère medium toast, three-year air dried, plus some Alliers and Vosges barrels.

Jensen sold Calera to Duckhorn in 2017, later moving to San Francisco to live with his daughter and grandchildren. He passed away in 2022, but his spirit lives on in those old vines he planted 50 years ago. 

For many, the name Charlie Palmer is immediately associated with his eponymous steak houses—and his Michelin star gem Aureole—in Manhattan. But it’s also synonymous with Sonoma Wine Country and Dry Creek Kitchen in Sonoma County—as well as his long association with events like Pigs & Pinot, which benefits organizations like No Kid Hungry.

Now he’s bringing his magic to the South Bay, with a new hotel and restaurant.

It comes via his relatively new hospitality development venture, Appellation Hotels, which he runs with business partner Chris Hunsberger, a 30-year veteran of the Four Seasons.

They’re building a new hotel in Healdsburg, took over the revamp of Lodi’s Wine & Roses six months ago, and are working on a Morgan Hill hotel property with entrepreneur Frank Leal.

Palmer met Leal—whose properties include a winery, an event center and a restaurant—on frequent visits to Healdsburg. They got to talking and now have a project well in the works: Appellation Morgan Hill, slated to open toward the end of 2025.

Meanwhile, Palmer has cooked up a star-studded event that will take over the streets of downtown Morgan Hill on Sunday, Oct. 27, from 1-5pm.

The inaugural MOHI Food & Wine Festival should be a foodie’s delight, given that it features the kitchen heads from local restaurants alongside celebrity chefs.

Attendees should expect tasty dishes will be paired with mostly local wines. And the best part is that it directly benefits Morgan Hill high school culinary programs that dovetail with a range of hospitality specialty tracks at Evergreen College.

“We met with people who run the culinary and hospitality programs at the local high schools,” Palmer says. “These programs give young people at an early age the opportunity to see this as a career possibility. Out of 7k to 8k kids in the system, 170 kids are involved. A good start. When I was a junior in high school, I myself was introduced to the culinary world. It really opens up your mind. Not everyone knows what they want to do, or can say, ‘This is my dream,’ at that stage.” 

He feels this established pathway to growing hospitality talent is one key factor in framing Morgan Hill as a “culinary destination.” Palmer also points to the farms and orchards and the rapidly growing winery scene, as well as the construction partnership with Leal.

He’s made the culinary pathway program the beneficiary of this $200-ticket event for one overriding reason. “We all have to be thinking about this: How can we grow and encourage the next generation of chefs and hospitality professionals?” Palmer said. “We want to help them expand and build it into something better, and work with Evergreen College to expand their culinary program, as well. A bunch of my buddies, including Michael Mina, are all very excited to support it.”

The event will feature 12 stations, with a mix of local and star chefs, like Tyler Florence, Michael Mina and Elizabeth Faulkner, paired with wineries, including Alara Cellars, Calera and Guglielmo. He’s got some big-name sponsors, including the Big Green Egg, who are donating money to the scholarship fund, as well as the 12 eggs which the chefs will be using to prepare their dishes.

Palmer is very excited by what he’s found in the South Bay, including interesting produce and beyond.

“I didn’t know that mushroom propagation is part of this scene,” he said.

He hopes this event will highlight Morgan Hill as a place of many foodie-focused facets that people don’t know very much about, creating a desire for exploration.

When asked what gives him hope that Morgan Hill can blossom to its full potential, he says the place is a lot like Healdsburg 25 years ago.

“It started with big ideas that we were able to accomplish,” Palmer said. “From the time I decided what Dry Creek Kitchen was to be and what I wanted, it just snowballed, and everyone wants to know more about what makes the area special. Getting word out on a national level and relationship-building are key. We need to do this in Morgan Hill.” 

For details, visit mohifarm.com/store/event/2024-mohi-farm-food-wine-festival.

The wine industry is experiencing a glut of grapes and bulk wine. Vineyards are being pulled out in the Central Valley and in parts of Europe. Many vines will not even be picked this year, making a field day for the birds. Vineyards here in our area have been removed as well, including one below Camel Hill on Bear Creek Road. 

Others, including the Pichon Vineyard (formerly farmed by Burrell School Vineyards) above the Lexington Reservoir, and Heart O’ The Mountain, in Scotts Valley, have been abandoned. Incidentally, the latter used to be the home of Alfred Hitchcock.  

When I visited the Sierra Foothills last week, in a vineyard that grows prized grapes for top Napa wineries, hundreds of birds were feasting in waves on the juicy ripe primitivo, cabernet sauvignon and malbec.

The owner told me that he grows 700 tons of grapes, but has thus far sold only 30 tons this season—and that was mostly sauvignon blanc. He didn’t even make red wine last year, as he’s got such a backlog in tank. In August, the largest winery in the region, Terra D’Oro, abruptly shut its doors and announced it was for sale. Many growers all over the state bemoaned the slowdown in grape sales, while wineries complained about a serious lack of foot traffic. 

We are at the pinch point of various converging factors, among them increasingly negative press regarding alcohol, generational changes in consumption habits, and the plethora of wine alternatives that have come about in the last 10 years. 

When large wine conglomerates like Vintage Wine Estates, owner of over two dozen brands, including B.R. Cohn, Cherry Pie, Cosentino, Firesteed, Laetitia and Windsor Vineyards, implode overnight, and only two bidders step up to feast on the carrion, you know there’s trouble afoot. In the past, the major players would have swooped in and created a bidding war for the assets. But those same bloated big boys were already full from opportunistic feasting over the past couple of years. The writing on the wall is becoming clearer.

When Gallo purchased Hahn’s brand and assets last year, but did not buy the Santa Lucia Highlands (Monterey) vineyards that produced those wines, it signaled that the mega giant was already full up on grapes. Consequently, Doctors Vineyard, Lone Oak and Smith & Hook, three revered names in grapedom, sought buyers. Although Lone Oak was subsequently purchased by Jackson Family, and Doctors was picked up by Riboli Family, all three sought homes for their fruit this year. Testarossa is a long-term buyer of Doctors Vineyard fruit, and winemaker Bill Brosseau expressed concern over how it would be managed going forward. Only time, and wine, will tell. 

Bright Spots in Our Backyard

Wineries that are fairly new or have tasting rooms in high traffic areas, and who also have good social media and brand presence, are doing well. Up-and-coming wineries, like Alamitos in San Jose, find themselves running short of product. It doesn’t hurt that their wines have done extremely well at competitions. Owner Shaun Coleman told me, “Our sauvignon blanc is in demand, and our Touriga Cabernet blend, Malbec and our estate Syrah are club-only.” 

Wineries with a solid wine club, like Perrucci Family Vineyards on Kennedy Road in Los Gatos, are grateful to have a decent crop this year. They ran a bit short last season, due to yellow jacket and mold damage. Co-owner Greg Perrucci reports all his estate fruit has been sold (he grows syrah, sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon). He’s hoping the pinot noir he gets from Regan Vineyard in Corralitos will come in strong, because it’s in high demand. He just had a grower dump a bunch of chardonnay on him that he is having trouble selling.

Several other small vineyards in our area also have fruit to sell, when, in the past, buyers jostled to get hold of some. And yet, vineyards are still being put in. 

Many winemakers have cut way back on their production. Jeff Emery of Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards revealed, “This is the smallest harvest I’ve had in years. I’m sticking to Santa Cruz Mountains AVA fruit, plus getting albariño from Monterey, and chenin blanc from Handley Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I look like a genius because Chenin is suddenly a darling among wine connoisseurs.”

White Wines ‘Are Killing It’

Increasingly, winemakers report that white wines, besides chardonnay, continue to attract consumers. Ian Brand, who got his start in the Santa Cruz Mountains, runs a custom crush operation in Salinas. He’s bringing in the most acreage of albariño ever, and yet the crop is showing up light, due to strong winds at fruit set. He’ll have no trouble selling out. 

“We have become an extraordinary white wine house,” says Brand, who brought in some Sémillon for his biggest client, Birichino, along with verdelho from Pearce Ranch, Melon de Bourgogne from Chalone and sauvignon gris and pinot gris from Eden Rift in San Benito, adjacent to Calera. “Across the board whites are killing it.” 

Marty Mathis of Kathryn Kennedy and M. Mathis Winegrower, is very bullish on Godello, grown at Guichard Vineyard in Saratoga. He feels the climate matches that of Galicia, Spain, where the grape originated. Says Mathis, “That climate is very matched to Saratoga, minus the summer thunderstorm rains that they get and we never do. This is my most premium luxury white bottling.” 

He was a bit disappointed to get a smaller than usual crop of albariño from his estate vineyard on Pierce Road. “Albariño has become the #1 alternative white for California,” says Mathis. He’s also recently planted sauvignon blanc at a new vineyard near the Lexington Reservoir, by the Cal Fire station above Los Gatos. It looks splendid. 

Winemaker Dave Moulton at Burrell School Vineyards on Summit Road just brought in 5.5 tons of pinot noir for rosé and red wine. He’s still waiting for his Bordeaux varieties to ripen. He recently ripped out a big block of merlot for a parking lot. 

Just across Summit Road, Wrights Station has already harvested their chardonnay. Winemaker Dan Lokteff tells us, “Yields are back to normal after two low years. Pinot was picked ‘on schedule,’ i.e. 9/7, on my birthday! Pristine fruit. Chardonnay was ready shortly after, rather than the usual two-week lag. That August heat really pushed things along. Perfect balance of sugar and acidity on this fruit.” He’s still awaiting cabernet franc, zin and sangiovese. “That cool week gave us a needed respite,” says Lokteff. “Should finish harvest over the next two weeks.”

Jim Cargill of House Family in Saratoga said harvest got off to “a very heavy start. No warm up, just a full sprint! Yields look very good, maybe slightly less than last year.” He brought in pinot noir from a vineyard in the Saratoga Hills in late August, and has been busy since. He’s grateful that this tasting site, Izumi Point, just had its permit renewed. Even if you make the best wine, if you don’t have a place for people to taste it, all bets are off. 

So far, no seriously deleterious weather conditions have derailed Harvest 2024. Knock on wood. But it’s not over yet. And one thing’s certain: the birds are partying.

Two longtime friends who share a love of South County’s wine country are off and rolling with a new way to offer oenophiles safe transportation between downtown Morgan Hill and various local wineries—as well as insight into the history and heritage of the Santa Clara Valley American Viticultural Area.

The AVA encompasses vineyards between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range, from Menlo Park and Fremont in the north to Gilroy and part of San Benito County in the south.

The Morgan Hill Wine Trolley is also a linchpin in the region’s longtime efforts to expand tourism opportunities in the wine country that surrounds Morgan Hill—which includes vineyards almost as old as the city itself, which was incorporated in 1906.

“We are in love with the beauty and community of Morgan Hill, and we want to help more people experience it,” says Heather Gallegos, who co-founded the trolley with Christina Perez. “I lived in San Jose for most of my life and didn’t realize the abundance of friendly wineries, excellent restaurants and gorgeous countryside that are just a short drive away. We’ve tried to plan group wine tasting tours and found that planning was harder than it needed to be. We created the Morgan Hill Wine Trolley to make it easy.”

The trolley, which launched this month, will offer tours every Saturday and Sunday year-round—rain or shine. Guests on the 30-passenger cable car replica will embark on an excursion that begins with a champagne reception and appetizers at a selected downtown Morgan Hill restaurant.

From there, the trolley will visit three wineries—about an hour at each stop, one of which will include lunch for tour passengers. A local tour guide and driver will accompany each excursion. 

Perez and Gallegos say there are more than a dozen wineries in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. The trolley tours will focus on locally owned vineyards and wineries, where the winemakers tend the vines themselves, the trolley’s founders say.

Partner wineries include Besson Family Vineyards, Cottage Creek Vineyards, DeRose Winery, EmmaLily Vineyards, Fernwood Cellars, Fortino Winery, Guglielmo Winery, J Winston Winery, Kirigin Cellars, Lion Ranch Winery and Vineyards, L&M Vineyard, Miramar Vineyards, P&V Winery, Satori Cellars, Solis Winery and Tank House Winery.

Perez and Gallegos have plans for the future as well. The purchase of a second trolley—for private events only—is in process. They are also considering establishing another Wine Trolley that will be based in Gilroy, as well as smaller vehicles for more of a “hop on, hop off” service.

Tickets for the trolley cost $149 per person, which includes the wine tastings, lunch, appetizers and a champagne reception for each tour. The trolley is also available for private events. For more details, visit mhwinetrolley.com.

Denis Hoey | Kenny Likitprakong | Lindsey Otis | Brandon Brassfield | Mica Raas

WE LIVE in a youth-obsessed culture. If it’s not young, fresh and beautiful, we don’t want it. But there’s an exception to this rule: wine.

When it comes to wine, age is a virtue. Old vines and old wines are revered. So, too, are old winemakers. Winemaking isn’t immune to fads and new technology, but the ancient practice of turning grape juice into wine is wonderfully old world and low-tech. But just like the rest of the world, winemaking undergoes generational shifts. In spite of its culture of age and wisdom, it needs new blood.

In Metro‘s first wine issue, we celebrate not only Silicon Valley’s wine country—a rambling appellation that runs from Woodside to Watsonville and from Santa Cruz to Saratoga—but a new class of young winemakers who are writing the next chapter of a local winemaking story that began 130 years ago.

Saratoga’s Martin Ray, a protege of Paul Masson, proved the power and grace of Santa Cruz Mountains wines nearly 70 years ago with his pinot noir and chardonnay grown in vineyards high above what would become Silicon Valley. Mount Eden Vineyards winemaker Jeffrey Patterson carries on Ray’s tradition on the same mountaintop site where Ray once lived and made wine. Just to the north, Cupertino’s Ridge Vineyards showed the world that California wines were every bit as good as those of France in the now infamous Judgment of Paris tasting in 1976.
Do any of the five winemakers, all of them in their mid-30s or younger, have what it takes to make a wine for the ages and prove once again that California’s best wines don’t all come from Napa and Sonoma? Time will tell.

Denis Hoey | Kenny Likitprakong | Lindsey Otis | Brandon Brassfield | Mica Raas | Drink Local

Denis Hoey | Kenny Likitprakong | Lindsey Otis | Brandon Brassfield | Mica Raas

FROM THE DECK of the winery, it is easy to understand why Alfred Hitchcock would have made Heart O’ the Mountain in Scotts Valley his vacation home for 35 years. And given the ocean-facing slopes enjoying a long, warm growing season and cool, fog-kissed nights, one can also understand how the Brassfield family would have planted almost seven acres of this gorgeous landscape to pinot noir grapes.

Now boasting at least five clones of the fabled grape of Burgundy, Heart O’ the Mountain estate specializes in hand-made, small lot pinot noir. Only pinot noir. And the winemaker of record is Brandon Brassfield, whose partner/father Robert lives in the landmark estate and whose uncle and brother are both winemakers in Lake County.

Brandon Brassfield is a large-scale man in his 30s, who clearly takes pleasure in helping to fine-tune the family winemaking dreams. “I would agree that they’re big fruit-forward pinot noirs,” he says, closing his eyes to better judge the recent bottlings. “Alive in the glass—that’s what we like to say.” Indeed they are, all three new 2009 releases.

The label appears on only 500 to 600 cases of wine each year, hence cultivation of a devoted patronage is crucial. “Our wine club is an important feature of what we do,” Brassfield says, with an easy smile. “Plus art and wine festivals, and Passport Day—that’s huge for us,” he said.

Brassfield says spice characteristics in the glass of 100 percent Pommard clone—cloves and cinnamon—are uniquely characteristic of the Heart O’ the Mountain terroir. Literally embraced by tiers of bay, oak and redwood forest, the land itself seems perfumed with these exact notes.

Winemaking was a passion for the Brassfield family even before the first 2005 vintage was realized.

“My dad and uncle were investors in Felton Empire Winery back in the 1980s,” said Brassfield. “So my father asked Jim Beauregard, one of the partners in Felton Empire, to plant our vineyards.” At first, Brassfield recalls, “We thought we would just sell our grapes to other winemakers. But we got thinking about father/son winery teams, like Jim and Ryan Beauregard, and,” he beams, “a lightbulb just went on.”

Refreshingly free of ideology and ego, Brassfield freely admits that he and his dad “just kind of fell into having our own winery.” And some homework was needed.

“I worked at my uncle’s winery for a while, and then we took classes at [UC-] Davis and use those techniques to extract as much character out of the fruit as we can,” he said. “And it comes out with these big flavors.”

The winemaker of record, Brassfield has been in charge of the small winery for seven years. “Everything we make is from our property, though we use different clones, and different styles,” says the winemaker, who admits that he has “fallen in love” with the pinot noir grape.

“We only make what we grow, and we only grow pinot,” he likes to say.

Brassfield farms 6.5 acres of vines and plans on planting an additional two or three in the coming years. Originally established at the end of the 19th century, the vineyards had reverted to pasture before the present owners contacted legendary viticulturist Jim Beauregard to replant the hillside with pinot noir vines. Jeff Emery of Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards lent his expertise as well.

Small lots of artisanally produced wines help to show off the estate’s spice-laden terroir.

“We bottle fewer than 50 cases of each clone separately to capture its own unique character,” Brassfield explains. “Then we create special blends to make a more complex wine.”

One of those blends is the estate’s very limited “Roberts’ Reserve. “That’s named for my dad. It’s our most expensive wine—we only made eleven cases last year. It’s aged the longest and goes only to our club members. If they don’t buy it,” he flashes another grin, “we’ll drink it ourselves.”

Brassfield believes in the social properties of his creation. “Since the start of our club we’ve enjoyed the good company of our members, which develop into relationships and friendships. Wine brings people together and we’re enjoying every minute of it.”

Heart O’ the Mountain Pinot Noirs are truly California-style wines, robust and generous, loaded with dark cherry fruit and oak. Brassfield has created a suite of current releases destined to sustain the interest of his wine club members for many years to come.

Denis Hoey | Kenny Likitprakong | Lindsey Otis | Brandon Brassfield | Mica Raas | Drink Local

Denis Hoey | Kenny Likitprakong | Lindsey Otis | Brandon Brassfield | Mica Raas

IT WAS while enjoying a glass of wine with his then-girlfriend and future wife, Claire, that Denis Hoey had the realization that he wanted to become a winemaker. He had been helping out at Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, and one day he got the last bottle of grenache rose to come off the bottling line.

He liked the physical labor of working in a winery, but at the young age of 21 he hadn’t considered making a career of making grapes into wine. But that day the beauty of the wine, the satisfaction of a hard day’s work and the pleasure that came with enjoying wine in the company of somebody he loved sealed the deal. He was going to become a winemaker.

“It was the ‘aha’ moment. I was hooked.”

Hoey continued working for Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard’s Jeff Emery, one of the region’s elder statesmen. Early on there wasn’t also enough work for him to work full time so he took part-time jobs as a caterer, in a gym. But he was clear what he wanted, and he stuck with it. Now he’s the production manager and assistant winemaker.

“I’ve been blessed that Jeff [Emery] allowed me to be and just go for it,” he said. “He is the one reason I am where I am.”

Hoey, now 29, is an exuberant man with tight, curly hair and a cherubic, ever-smiling face. He seems to realize his good fortune and is enjoying the ride. In 2004, he decided to make his own wine and Odonata Wines was born. He started with just 65 cases of wine—three barrels. Now he’s up to 2,000 cases. But he doesn’t want to get a whole lot bigger. He likes running a one-man show. This spring he’s going to open the doors to the tasting room to his own winery. Odonata currently occupies a back corner of Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard’s densely packed winery.

He loves working within the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation, a region whose potential has yet to be fully tapped, he says.

“My aspiration is to breath new life and energy into the Santa Cruz Mountains [appellation] and showcase the energy that is here.”

He aims to make wines with less tannin and acid to make them drinkable right away.

“I’m not trying to make 30-year wines. I’m trying to make wines that people are going to latch onto day one.”

They are definitely drinkable. He focuses on Rhone varietals, syrah, grenache and mouvedre, but is working with other grapes as well. His 2009 malbec won a double gold medal at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition this month. My favorites are his 2009 syrah, a well textured wine made from Santa Cruz Mountains fruit with abundant flavors of black pepper, cocoa and raspberry and a long, drying finish; and his 2009 grenache made with grapes grown near Lodi. It’s a more floral, pretty wine that drinks like a strong-shouldered pinot noir. He’s also got a grenache blanc still in the barrel that promises to be a stunner.

Until his tasting room opens he pours his wines out of the Santa Cruz Mountain Winery space the first weekend of the month. Sometimes his dad helps out and people assume the elder Hoey is the winemaker and he’s the assistant.

“I’ve had plenty of people tell me ‘you’re too young. What are you doing?’ É but I’m starting to get gray hair,” he says. “People are starting to take me seriously.”

In spite of his youth, Hoey’s wines definitely merit attention.

Denis Hoey | Kenny Likitprakong | Lindsey Otis | Brandon Brassfield | Mica Raas | Drink Local

Denis Hoey | Kenny Likitprakong | Lindsey Otis | Brandon Brassfield | Mica Raas

THE Santa Cruz Mountains is one of California’s oldest winemaking regions, and it is making some of the country’s most exciting wines—if you know where to find them.

The mountain climate, broadly influenced by the Pacific Ocean on the western slope and the Santa Clara Valley to the east, produces a multitude of styles and flavors given the geological and topographical diversity of the sprawling appellation. It is a region that invites exploration and discovery right in Silicon Valley’s backyard.

Jim Foley opened Rootstock Wine & Beer Bar in Los Gatos with partners Joe McCarthy, Joey McCarthy and Ryan Bandera to showcase the region’s wines—”locals for locals,” he calls it. Almost 80 percent of the store’s wine comes from the Santa Cruz Mountains region.

“The fact that there is so much good wine in the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation made it an easy decision for us,” Foley says.

“We want to keep people in on the history of what’s going on; we want these winemakers to come in and sit down with people who are practically their neighbors and tell them their story,” he adds.

And they have stories to tell, not only about the winemaker’s innovation, the region’s history, experimentation and high-quality results but also about their personal commitment to winemaking. The winemakers bring the labels to life.

“The Santa Cruz Mountains appellation is the premier American mountain appellation,” explains Steve Principe, owner of Vino Cruz, a wine shop in Santa Cruz that only carries local wines. “It was the first wine-growing region to be defined by a mountain range. Some say if there weren’t prohibition it’d be the premier area over Napa or Sonoma.”

Though typically overshadowed by higher-profile Napa and Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mountains wines reward those willing to veer away from the ordinary. “These wineries are really kind of hard to get to; they’re off the beaten path,” says Debra Szecsei, co-owner of Vino Locale, a wine shop in Palo Alto that also specializes in Santa Cruz Mountains wines.

Many aren’t open to the public. While Passport Weekend gives wine lovers special access to these wineries for one weekend, locally minded wine shops and restaurants bring wines typically tucked away in the steep mountainsides right to your neighborhood with their extensive and evolving wine lists.

“It just feels like the Santa Cruz wines—there’s always a heartfelt story about them,” says Szecsei. “The people do it for the passion and the love of winemaking, not necessarily for the money. And that’s part of what makes it really special.”

Passport Day

Held the third Saturday in January, April, July and November, the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association’s Passport Day opens the doors to the depth and breadth of Santa Cruz Mountains wines. Some of these wineries are not normally open to the public and others will pour special wines or barrel samples just for the event.

At each winery you visit, a page of your “passport” will be stamped. During Passport Day there are discounts at participating restaurants, some of which offer discounted menus and waived corkage fees for Santa Cruz Mountains wines. Passports do not expire until each winery has been visited once. Prizes are offered for completing your passport, but with more than 70 wineries it’s not advisable to try and hit them all in one day.

When: Jan. 21, 11am-5pm.

Cost: $40

More information: www.scmwa.com

Denis Hoey | Kenny Likitprakong | Lindsey Otis | Brandon Brassfield | Mica Raas

KENNY Likitprakong’s celebrated 2009 Ghostwriter Pinot Noir showcases yet another vintage milestone in the young vintner’s odyssey.

Everything about Likitprakong’s story is filled with independent attitude. It’s easy to see that he considers wine an instrument of storytelling. In his mid-30s, Likitprakong has a background as exotically diverse as his branding style. Growing up in Healdsburg of Thai, Chinese and Jewish ancestry, he exercised his passions for skateboarding and snowboarding in tandem with plenty of world travel. His umbrella Hobo Wines group was named partly in homage to songwriter/vagabond Woody Guthrie and the free spirit of wandering.

“We started with Banyan for aromatic whites that would pair with foods I grew up eating,” explains the winemaker, “and Hobo for Sonoma County Reds, where I am from originally.”

The Banyan label, started with Likitprakong’s father, showcases a line of crisp white wines including varietals like riesling and viognier.

“Later, some wines came up that didn’t really fit that well into either of those categories so we added the Folk Machine [label] to have an outlet for more ‘experimental’ type wines,” wines such as a rare and feisty valdiguie. Likitprakong makes no promises as to what grapes might show up in his bottles from one year to the next, something that gives his fan base plenty to look forward to.

“I don’t think that the multiple brands really allows any more exploration than a single brand would,” Likitprakong contends, “but wine seems incomplete without a story and I have always had trouble committing to only one story.”

The winemaker admits that his “career path” has tended toward many forking paths, rather than a single, obvious goal. The story told always involves a sense of exploration. In fact, Likitprakong refuses to pin down ultimate goals, as might be expected from an experienced traveler who left arts studies at UCSC to snowboard in Tahoe, sample wines in Italy, Peru and the south of France, crush his first grapes in the Santa Cruz Mountains and surf a bit in Mexico before settling into his current oenological explorations. His avant-garde blends and unexpected varietal bottlings have already made him a cult figure in a domain well-stocked with mavericks.

The story behind the Ghostwriter label began in Santa Cruz. He made connections with Santa Cruz Mountains grape growers and winemakers when he worked at Felton’s Hallcrest Vineyards in the early 2000s. This connection led him to the Woodruff Vineyard, a hallowed patch of ground in Corralitos. The vineyard has yielded a particularly intense dose of Santa Cruz Mountains terroir in the form of the 2009 Ghostwriter Pinot Noir. Jon Bonne, wine editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, named it one of 2011’s top 100 wines. The wine is a partnership between Likitprakong and partner Brian Wilkerson.

“The Woodruff Family Vineyard is special,” Likitprakong acknowledges. “It has the right geographic orientation and natural hillside drainage. The vines are old and well taken care of. They’re dry farmed and always have been.”

But there’s more to the story. “I have walked through and worked in a lot of vineyards over the last 15 years or so and each vineyard has a certain energy or feeling somehow,” he believes. “You just know which ones are special. The Woodruff Family Vineyard carries a certain peace and tranquility where you feel like things are right and as they should be.”

Like many restless creators, the winemaker has a strong sense of place. “There is no doubt in my mind that the vines feel this too—and the resulting wines are a testament to it.” Many palates agree.

Denis Hoey | Kenny Likitprakong | Lindsey Otis | Brandon Brassfield | Mica Raas | Drink Local

Denis Hoey | Kenny Likitprakong | Lindsey Otis | Brandon Brassfield | Mica Raas

LINDSEY OTIS’ travels as a winemaker have taken her all over the world, but she finally found her place in the Santa Cruz Mountains close to home.

After graduating from UC-Davis’ prestigious oenology program, she headed to France. She then spent time working at Saratoga’s Cooper-Garrod winery and later Bonny Doon Vineyard in Santa Cruz. She moved to New Zealand. She made shiraz and riesling in Australia. Back in the States, she worked in the Napa Valley at Silver Oak Cellars, makers of one the region’s bestselling cabernet sauvignons. But Napa wasn’t for her.

“I was very clear to me I didn’t belong in Napa,” she says, chafing under a conservative winemaking culture.

From Napa she headed west to Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley to Williams Selyem Winery, maker of one of California’s most lusted-after pinot noirs. But still Otis, 30, longed for home.

Otis grew up on Santa Cruz’s Westside a short walk to the beach. Santa Cruz instilled in her a love for quirkiness, a willingness to take risks and a distaste for the button-down, textbook style of winemaking that defines many wineries. Most of all she liked having the latitude to create.

“I’ve always enjoyed using my senses,” she says.

So when Bradley Brown, winemaker and owner of Big Basin Winery near Boulder Creek, posted a job for assistant winemaker she jumped on it. So did about 100 others. But Brown picked Otis over all the rest. Her technical expertise and variety of experience was a big selling point, but Brown said he liked the fact that she knew the area well.

“She really wanted to be here,” Brown says.

The winery and estate vineyards occupy a steep hillside above Boulder Creek, but there is a more accessible tasting room in downtown Saratoga.

As a winemaker, Otis said she wanted to be here because she loves the multitude of microclimates and soils in the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation, a diversity that yields a variety of styles and flavors.

People here, she says, “aren’t afraid of making wines that taste different.”

Otis looks the Westsider part with her Haut surfshop sweatshirt, oversized sunglasses and straight blond hair. But a taste through some of the wines she’d had her hand in during her 18 months at Big Basin Winery reveals a winemaker of real talent. She oversees production of the winery’s white and rose wines while Brown handles the reds—mainly pinot noir and syrah. But in reality they collaborate on everything.

“We have a mutually respectful relationship,” says Brown, a relatively young winemaker himself at 46.

Otis was attracted to Big Basin Winery’s commitment to “natural winemaking,” a minimalist approach that involves using wild yeasts and as little intervention as possible. She calls it “guiding the grapes to the bottle” to produce wines that are “transparent” and “pure.”

Keep an eye out for the winery’s first-ever riesling. It’s still in the barrel, but already the 2010 vintage is a racy beauty with floral aromas and juicy flavors of pineapple and tropical fruit backed with well-edged acidity.

While Big Basin has made its reputation with its syrah, the winery’s pinot noirs are outstanding, particularly those from Corralitos’ Woodruff Vineyard. Otis and Brown collaborated on the 2009 and 2010 Vintages and they are flat-out gorgeous wines built with tannin and heft. They are made to last.

“As a winemaker I like that people can share in it and that you’re passing on a message of place,” says Otis.

Denis Hoey | Kenny Likitprakong | Lindsey Otis | Brandon Brassfield | Mica Raas | Drink Local