Grape Escape: Discoveries Old and New at The SCMWA Grand Tasting 

April 4, 2025 – Mother Nature showed us all who was boss as she put on a full force demo of her gale-ability at the Santa Cruz Mountains Grand Tasting. 

Winds up to 50mph buffeted my Jeep as I traversed the steep road through the vineyards up to Mountain Winery last Sunday. Trees bent over and the newly unfurled grape leaves waved like a mosh pit at a rave. 

With spitting rain and winds rocking my car, I was grateful the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers had decided to hold the event indoors. When I opened the car door, it flew forward with such a force I wondered if we would become airborne. It illustrated the power of the mountain climate, where winds are always magnified and rain intensity more furious. 

Fortunately, the storm was largely over by the time the Grand Tasting began and by 1:15 there were patches of blue through the casement windows of the old Paul Masson-built winery where the event was held. 

The vast majority of the Grand Tasting is spent visiting with old friends, as it’s a giant class reunion for the wine industry in the Santa Cruz Mountains. For that reason alone, it’s a must if you want to meet the winemakers, because most of them are there wanting to see one another. 

I caught up with John Benedetti of Sante Arcangeli while waiting for the pre-event seminar to get underway, and he told me he had a massive bottling coming up before he headed out to enjoy skiing on the newly fallen snow. Among the items being bottled is a 2024 Chardonnay from Split Rail Vineyard, picked early to preserve freshness, aged in used Damy barrels with battonage. Can’t wait to try that!

Aside from all the fun socializing and catching up, the task at hand was to discover and share wines that most captivated my attention and which represent the winemakers and vineyardists who are bringing their best game to the table right now. 

Current Wine Standouts

2022 Lester Estate “Francisco” Pinot Noir, Corralitos – An absolute knockout for textural perfection and that ethereal red fruit character of the Vosne-Romanée clone they recently installed in the vineyard, this wine was made by John Benedetti to honor his friend and Lester Family friend, Frank Cates, who passed in 2021. Steve Johnson told me that this wine contained about 80% of this clone, for which he has developed such a fondness that they are grafting some clone 115 PN over to Vosne-Romanée. 

2022 Sandar & Hem Deerheart Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains – First brought to my attention by Scott Sisemore of Waxwing, this vineyard off Alpine Road produces wines of graceful intensity. This is mouthfilling and dark-fruited, with nice accents of lavender and savory spice. I was also quite taken by the linear and lovely 2021 Bozzo Gulch Chardonnay, with its saline and lemon-melon core, and the succulent and rich 2024 Bates Ranch Grenache Rosé. 

2023 Samuel Louis Montañita de Oro Pinot Noir, Monterey County – From three amazing mountain sites—hence the name, Mountains of Gold—including the Michaud Vineyard in Chalone, and Double L and Escolle in the Santa Lucia Highlands, comes this intensely flavored, poised, elegant and structured wine, generous with wild strawberry, cranberry and rose petals. It exudes a sense of confidence that comes from a pro like Sam Smith, who spent 8 years making wine at Morgan Winery before going solo with his own brand. His wines exhibit such precision, you’d think he was Swiss. 

2021 Storrs Zayante Vineyard Zinfandel – If you miss that old style of Zin that trades rustic for elegant, this is it. One sip and I was thankful for the late Greg Nolten’s vision in planting Zinfandel—and Merlot—at this remarkable amphitheater-like vineyard in the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains off Zayante Road. Steve Storrs was also grateful to Prudy Foxx for connecting him with the Zayante fruit and also with the grapes for the excellent 2021 Bates Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon he was pouring. The Storrs 2023 Rosé was refreshing and vibrant: a totally swiggable strawberry lemonade for adults.  

2017 House Family Estate Cabernet Sauvignon – The sunny hilltop vineyard that graces the front and back yards of Dave House’s personal home overlooking Silicon Valley, is a wonderful spot for Bordeaux varieties. Cabernet and Merlot especially thrive, and there is plenty of the latter to deliver the core of cherry that adds brightness to the cedar, tobacco and chocolate of this easy drinking wine. 

2023 Common Thread Pinot Noir, Pelio Vineyard, Monterey County – Boldy laced with whole cluster, this wine does a double punch to the palate, first with the intense floral and pleasantly herbal component, followed by a freight train of juicy red fruit that comes chugga-chugga chugging down the tracks, building momentum as it glides towards your throat. Winemaker David Baird made his debut in front of the Santa Cruz Mountains audience here with a compelling lineup that included the highly textural 2023 Chenin Blanc from Massa Vineyard and the sensational 2023 skin contact Pinot Gris from Regan Vineyard. This is modern winemaking with grounded sensibility. 

2024 Kings Mountain Vineyards “Boathouse” Rosé of Pinot Noir, Woodside – I’m definitely biased, but this Martini Clone Pinot Noir made by Nate Kandler (Fogarty Winery and Precedent), kicks ass, but with such class. Succulent cara cara orange and strawberry creamsicle flavors, along with a creamy texture, make it a day-drinking dream.

Library Wines

The depth of the library wine collection not only proved over and over again the age-worthiness of wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains, but it cemented the reputation of these mountains as exemplary terroir for Cabernet Sauvignon that has more energy than the Energizer Bunny—who must be solar-powered by now. 

I tasted through a number of the entries with a cadre of young ladies who had never been to the Santa Cruz Mountains, and were having a great time. They truly loved trying the older vintages and were amazed at their freshness and vibrancy. 

2002 La Questa Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Woodside – Superbly old school, with cigar box, horse barn and leather, impressive tannins and softening blueberry fruit. Like a gorgeous old barn, it’s distinctive and built to last. I also loved the 2010 La Questa Cabernet poured at the seminar, which was utterly amazing, and again very much showing that old leather, licorice, baker’s chocolate and a hint of amaro. The tannins in this one were downright lovely. 

Cooper-Garrod Estate Vineyards 2014 George’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – Presented at the seminar, as well as at the Library Tasting, this is dusty and plummy, with gravel, asphalt and cigar in the nose, followed by chewy plum and dried cherry, with delightful cracked pepper, tobacco and very approachable tannins. It’s got another two decades at least. 

Kathryn Kennedy 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon – The class of the field, this wine showed exactly what Marty Mathis intended: how a 30-year-old Cabernet from these parts can evolve and stay as timeless as a Cary Grant movie. Like a vintage automobile that’s been kept in fine tune, this one hums like a V8, right from the turn of the key, and delivers a majestic thrill ride as smooth as midnight blue velvet. 

Kings Mountain Vineyards Estate 2005 Meritage – One whiff and you swear you’re in Bordeaux, with aromatics of well-worn tack and saddle leather, sweet tobacco, and strong cedar incense. A significant percentage of Cab Franc (28%) and Merlot (14%) keep this stately steed of a wine coming back to the barn with nary a bead of sweat.

Auction Items of Note

Brittany Archer and Keiki McKay of the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers reported that some of the auction items with the most enthusiastic bidding were the Ridge Vineyards 2021 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon magnum, the Woodside Vineyards 2018 La Questa Cabernet Sauvignon 2-pack, the Sante Arcangeli Family Wines 2022 “Ananda” Pinot Noir double magnum and the Silver Mountain 2014 Bates Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon magnum. There were so many great auction lots to choose from, including The Ultimate Local Santa Cruz Experience: O’Neill Yacht Charters Gift Certificate for 2, Shadowbrook Restaurant $50 Gift Certificate and Big Basin Vineyards Tasting for 4 at the downtown Santa Cruz tasting room; The Perfect Day Out with Friends in Los Gatos: Gali Vineyards Gift Certificate for 4 and a $100 Gift Card for Oak & Rye; and Date Night in the Romantic Los Gatos Village, which included Gali Vineyards tasting for 4, plus a $250 Gift Card from The Tasting House.  

They also had a merch station with official Santa Cruz Mountains swag, so you can show off your mountain pride. The zipped hoodies were the most popular followed by the t-shirts and racerback tank tops. They’re currently in the process of restocking, and the items will be available at the local wine walks and on the website store by this summer. 

This next SCMWA event is the Culinary Showcase at Cabrillo College on April 26, followed by a Terroir Series dinner at David Bruce Winery on May 17, and a Terroir Series dinner at Beauregard Vineyards on June 14. Summer Passport Day is June 21.