Saison Cellar & Wine Bar To Open in Scotts Valley

October 10, 2023 – With an already stellar career in the world of food and wine, sommelier Mark Bright wants to bring a taste of Europe to the Santa Cruz Mountains. You might know his name from Saison, the 2-Michelin starred restaurant he opened in San Francisco in 2009, which quickly appeared on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list and has been awarded a Wine Spectator “Grand Award” every year since 2014. 

Later, Bright formed Saison Hospitality Group to expand in the world of food, beverage and hospitality. After opening the successful Saison Cellar wine tasting room in downtown Los Gatos last fall, Bright—a Ben Lomond resident and winegrower (Partage Wines)—is about to open a novel wine tasting concept in Scotts Valley. 

The new spot, Saison Cellar & Wine Bar, aims to open October 27 and is located in the Kings Village Shopping center behind Nob Hill and adjacent to Erik’s Deli Cafe. 

The concept, the first of its kind, according to Bright, will feature two areas in which to learn more about wine, as well as simply enjoy it. The front room will be a wine bar, with couches, dining tables, bar seating and an outdoor area, offering tastings by the flight or glass.

The back-room cellar area will provide a comfy lounge for people to linger; much like a private club, but without the stuffiness or the membership fees. Lined with 30 temperature-controlled lockers for collectors to store their treasures, the cellar will be a unique spot for like-minded individuals to gather, and will create an ideal place for wine education, events and themed tastings.

Visitors will also find a collection of Bright’s favorite bottles assembled over the years, along with a wine-themed art portfolio he personally curated. He has more than 300 bottles of wine in the collection—mostly French (Loire), but also featuring German, Italian and Spanish selections. 

“I love Scotts Valley, and it really deserves some place like this dedicated to education and international wines,” says Bright, a dedicated Francophile, who owns a home in Beaune, France, as well as one on Alba Road. 

“There is nothing like this anywhere in the area, other than Soif in Santa Cruz. We want to cater to the wine lovers of Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo Valley. The pent-up demand here is obvious. People are constantly dropping in to see what we are doing here, and they are so excited to have us open up,” he adds.

Bright is quick to credit the owner of the shopping center, Benjamin Ow, with providing an ideal environment for incubating this new business model in Scotts Valley. He looks forward to offering the wine curious, wine connoisseurs and collectors a place to meet and share their passion for wine with one another. 

A Chicago native, Bright fell in love with Burgundy on a trip to France as a teen, and became a sommelier at the age of 21. He spends much of his time in France sourcing wine for Saison and Angler restaurants in San Francisco.

Francophile that he is, Bright’s love of Santa Cruz runs very deep. He and his wife Ting Ting have embraced the mountain lifestyle, having purchased a French-inspired chateau in Ben Lomond, where they planted a vineyard. 

“It’s a little bit of a reverse on the old French tradition,” says Bright. “I’m replanting some of the Aligoté vines that didn’t take with Chardonnay, which will make it about 92% Aligoté and 8% Chardonnay.”  

This, he says, is a flip on the French tradition of planting a few vines of Aligoté along with Chardonnay. The only other producing Aligoté vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains is Ascona, although there are more plantings of the grape under way. Calera Winery in Hollister also grows and produces Aligoté. 

Bright’s ambitions are remarkable in scope. Not only is he opening a hotel in Beaune, but he also is opening a new wine bar on Townsend Street in San Francisco’s SOMA district in the first part of next year. “It is just two doors down from Les Clos, my first wine bar, which I sold in 2017,” says Bright. He’s in the middle of renovations on that property. He sold Les Clos in part to devote more time to making wine under his Partage label. 

Partage wines debuted to a rousing reception at the 2016 Silicon Valley Winegrowers Auction at Levi’s Stadium. Of particular note to this wine journalist was the 2014 Partage Coast Grade Pinot Noir, described then as “a riot of wild strawberry, roasted red plum, cedar, basil, fern and fennel, in which you can taste the tension between sunlight and fog in every sensational sip. A winemaker to watch, for sure.”  

Nine years later, Bright is growing his own estate fruit on Alba Road, and still making Coast Grade Pinot Noir as well as Chardonnay from Bald Mountain, both in the tiny Ben Lomond Mountain AVA. He has also sourced Syrah from Coast View in the Gabilan Mountains, Pinot Noir from Lester Family in Pleasant Valley, and both Chardonnay and Merlot from Regan Vineyard in Corralitos. 

Bright plans to feature some of his favorite local wine producers, including Beauregard, Regan, Kathryn Kennedy and Vokel, with Mount Eden and Saison wines by the glass, including a Saison Riesling from Wirz Vineyard. 

“My original thought was to pour and expose people to the wines that I make and the wines that inspire me from France,” says Bright. “I want this place to feel like you are in a traditional Parisian wine bar.” 

Tony Pappa, an avid tennis player and longtime Scotts Valley local, will be heading up service at the new Wine Bar and Cellar space as manager, while Jane McElrone, another longtime Scotts Valley wine, food and music lover, will be director of operations. 

Saison Cellar & Wine Bar is located at 222 Mt. Hermon Rd, Suite I, in the King’s Village Shopping Center and will be open from Wednesday to Sunday, 12 to 9 pm, starting Friday, October 27th. Reservations are available, but not required.

To learn more about Saison Hospitality, please visit www.saisonhospitality.com as well as its concepts www.saisonsf.com, www.anglersf.com , www.saisonwinery.com, and www.saisoncellar.com, or by phone at 831.200.8312.