April 29, 2025 – Sadly, we just lost local legend Ken Burnap, founder of Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, on April 25. Larger than life, and with a zest for travel, adventure, awesome food and cool climate Pinot Noir, he filled his 94 years with stories that have made him legend.
Vintner Jeff Emery tells us that not only was this famously mustachioed man a builder and restauranteur, he and Dave Bennion of Ridge helped to officially establish the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA in 1981. Burnap wrote out the petition to the TTB in longhand on a yellow legal pad. In a role that exposed him to more than he had ever bargained for, he was also the official photographer for the H-bomb tests in Nevada and the South Pacific, hired by the Atomic Energy Commission.
To Jeff Emery, proprietor of Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, Burnap was a mentor, boss, second father figure and one of his very best friends, “He gave me the lifestyle and career I’ve had for 46 years.”
How did they first meet? Emery, who was then a student at UC Santa Cruz, tells us, “I first met Ken in July of 1979, when I was sent by chance at the last minute to stand in for a friend who was supposed to go work that day, but couldn’t. After two days of bottling together, Ken indicated he was needing some help at the winery, so I started working part-time while finishing my degree at UCSC. What ensued was an old-fashioned apprenticeship without either one of us ever defining it that way.”
Together, the two of them built Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard into a legend that lives on in the annals of history and the cellars of many. Along the way, Emery was the beneficiary of Ken’s generosity, with copious wine and advice. Hours of storytelling revealed amazing details of Ken’s past careers, including the fact that the photo of the mushroom cloud on the cover of Time magazine from April, 1954, was a photo that he took, but could never claim credit for. Emery says there’s rumored to be an old chest at Burnap’s house with negatives from that time period, which he was absolutely forbidden to have in his possession.
One of his more well-known possessions he was his old diesel Mercedes with the license plate, P NOIR. The plate frame suggested, “Things Go Better With…” He famously drove it through the steep vinerows of Bates Vineyard to fetch grapes one year.
Burnap’s winery was on Jarvis Road, where grapes had first been planted in 1863. After Burnap purchased the vineyard from David Bruce, he built a gravity-fed winery to craft his wares. His first vintage, 1975, made a splash.
“It received fantastic reviews and was voted one of the top five or six California Pinot Noirs in the late 1970s, in blind tasting after blind tasting. Some of these other 1975 Pinot Noirs were from Joseph Swan, Chalone, ZD, and Mount Eden. Believe it or not, that inaugural 1975 vintage is still drinking beautifully 50 years later!” says Emery.
When Burnap officially retired and sold the property on Jarvis Road, in 2003, Emery took over the brand and moved it to the Westside of Santa Cruz. Emery has carried on Ken’s tradition of hiring young people out of college internship programs, and even mentoring a few of them into having their own wineries. “In spite of me trying to talk them out of it!” he adds. “I continue the tradition of learning about wine through blind tastings of mystery wines with my employees. We do this every week and they are on the payroll as they do this—it’s part of the job!”
Emery says that Burnap could not abide all the snobbery and ritual surrounding wine. His philosophy was, drink it your way. His way was every day.
Read Ken and Jeff’s story, “Founding Fathers,” published in 2020 in Edible Monterey Bay magazine, here: ediblemontereybay.com/online-magazine/spring-2020/founding-fathers/
Corral Wine’s New Home
Corral Wines has now opened in their new spot in Carmel Valley, which happens to be the former outpost of Albatross Ridge, and before that, Annette Hoff’s Cima Collina. Larry Bell says they’re settling in and are happy to welcome you for tasting. Hours: open every day from noon until 5pm, and 6pm-ish on the weekends.
Doon Out: Beer In
Curious what was happening in downtown Aptos, I stopped by the former tasting room location of Ser. Windows now covered with paper, I reflected on how beautifully the place had been refurbished by winemaker Nicole Walsh, only to have it invaded by aliens (aka Bonny Doon), and then suddenly shut down. It is now set to house Other Brother Beer once the license approval process concludes. That’s the second wine tasting room that has gone to hops in recent months, the first being the former Equinox space on Santa Cruz’s West End.
Speaking of Aptos, the folks at Aptos Vineyard are throwing a 90th birthday party, May 1 through May 4, for owner and woodworker, Jim Baker, who revived the old Aptos Vineyard label in honor of his good friend, the honorable Judge John Marlo, who first established the winery in 1974. Jim’s favorite wine will be on sale: 2020 Aptos Vineyard “Alternate Juror” Saveria Pinot Noir, and his wife Nancy’s favorite, the ’21 De Novo Chardonnay from Lester Family Vineyard.
SCMWA “Midsummer Nights” Taste Of Terroir Series
Get tickets now to enjoy the summer series of wine tastings and dinners in some of the most spectacular vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
June 14th at Beauregard Vineyards at Beauregard Ranch with Brad Briske of HOME.
August 16th at Ferrari Ranch in Corralitos with Nick Sherman of Trestles.
September 14 at Neely Wines in Portola Valley with Ross Hansen of Oak & Rye.
All tickets are $175pp inclusive of tax/gratuity. Midsummernights
About the author
Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist, columnist and judge who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, WineOh.Tv, Los Gatos Magazine and Wine Industry Network, and a variety of consumer publications. Her passion is telling stories about the intriguing characters who inhabit the fascinating world of wine and food.
