Found Treasure: Deer Park Wine & Spirits Tastings

Sept. 26, 2025—A portal to another dimension works best when it’s hidden in a humble spot that disguises the wonder it unlocks.

So it goes with Deer Park Wine & Spirits, tucked between Mangiamo Pizza and Jbella Nails in an Aptos strip mall/plaza.

The inventory at Deer Park Wine & Spirits would be enough to qualify it as a gem—and that’s without dipping into the selection of pale, sour, stout, IPA and other craft beers at work.

Owner-operator Cheyne Howell makes a professional and passionate habit of mapping the spirit realm with trips like his annual Whiskey Trail run in Kentucky. That relentlessness engenders opportunities.

Years ago, Howell was able to broker celebrated Bardstown Bourbon Co.’s first ever “futures barrel”—basically a private, pre-purchased and branded batch intended only for Deer Park when it matures—and then share the limited liquid with his whiskey club.

The whiskey club represents a clear indicator how seriously—and joyously—Howell and company take their sips.

Whiskey club membership would be worth it to sample the unicorn bottles he procures for monthly tastings. It also accesses house rewards program, 10 percent price breaks, new whiskey arrival alerts and entrance in drawings for tightly allocated bottles. The cost of the program is a bottle of your choice from the monthly selections.

“There’s so much variety in whiskey that some whiskey drinkers are happy to explore different flavors, while some know what they like and what they don’t,” he says. “I never wanted to make the club a situation where you’re buying something you don’t like.”

Plus Howell steers the club personally, and takes pride in learning members’ preferences, and turning them onto new whiskeys that will please their palates.

“The main reason we want people to taste what we’re able to find—especially blind—is that it can shake up your own preconceptions of what you like,” Howell adds. “It’s just the nature of a category that’s so diverse.”

Having him in your corner is a lot like having a personal trainer, minus the spendy hourly rate (and the fitness benefits).

But there’s a lot more than whiskey to sniff around here.

Staff-curated selections get prime placement at end corners amid the catacombs of the space, complete with tasting notes.

Next to small-batch Criollo de Oaxaca Maria mezcal: “A meeting of traditional mole negro and the fresh, rich flavors of Oaxacan street markets. Agave sweetness with cacao nib, chamomile, raisin, sesame and oregano…” (The passage, with the flavor essences highlighted, continues further from there.)

On a card in front of Isle of Harris Gin: “Fresh morning ocean air, vivid citrus [underlined in curvy blue highlighter], smooth fennel [fennel with more blue highlighter waves], savory, warming palate from the locally harvest sugar kelp [more highlighter on “sugar kelp”]. 4 Gold Medals on 3 continents.” (With the $49.99 sale price chased with regular price point $57.)

The handwritten testimonials evoke the scribbled insight I see with recommended titles at my favorite independent book stores.

All the tastings are free, so a greedy soul could very well juice that for all that’s worth.

Good luck with that, because even the most shameless soul will have a hard time not taking a new bottle of discovery home.

First Fridays of the month are dedicated to wine.

Caileen Brison helps lead those installments. Like Howell, she doesn’t mess around.

Her passion is palpable. And, oh, she’s a PhD biochemistry lecturer at UC Santa Cruz on top of maintaining the wine program on DPSW’s campus.

For her September tasting, she threw down 600 words of prose exploring the history, flavor profiles and pairing ideas with a Brandini 2023 “Filari Lunghi” Dolcetto di Diano d’Alba, Domaine de Gouye 2023 Gabouillon Syrah and Alegre Valgañón 2023 Rioja Blanco.

A modest slice of her thoughts on the Rioja Blanco alone reads like a sommelier sonnet:

The nose is exhilarating on the pop, with bright orange cups, lemonade powder, orange blossom water, lemongrass, and an almost malvasia-like lift of aromatics.

Structurally, the wine has moderate acidity alongside a slight tannic “crunch” despite being pressed directly to the tank.

After about an hour, the wine presents more honeyed notes that seem to soften the aforementioned aromatics with the emergence of Buddha’s hand and guava.

After several hours, the wine continues to soften with a creamy, butterscotch-like texture that feels more akin to “typical” Viura. Well into day two, the wine is still a joy to drink with a refreshing overall profile.

Parties considering a pilgrimage to her sessions can find her vino descriptions on the DPWS website under the WINE CLUB tab (not to be confused with the helpful WINE tab), and subtabs “Wine Notes,” “Enthusiast Wine Club” and “Terroir Wine Club.”

One major reason I trust Deer Park’s palate was Howell’s appreciation of my new favorite vodka—and apple brandy—from upstart family brand Corralitos Vodka (and Corralitos Apple Brandy).

That inspired “Country Strong: Family brand Corralitos Vodka draws from the orchard to give greater Santa Cruz a remarkable local spirit” in the fall 2025 print issue out now.

“Fresh ingredients in any type of production is always better,” Howell says. “When guests came into taste it, one thing I heard was, ‘I don’t like vodka, and I won’t drink it straight, but I really like this.’ And they enjoyed it straight.”

In other words, Corralitos Vodka has a memorable product on its hands, and when this Howell flags something as worthy of your tastebuds, take note.

If you made it this far in the story, you’re a true spirits enthusiast, or up too late.

And you deserve word that there’s another tasting today, and pretty much every Friday, at DPWS.

The shop’s regular newsletters plug clubmembers and normies alike into the forthcoming tastings like this Sept. 26’s tour through bitter beauties, guided by local one-word amargo authority Bradley.

His lineup (published here via DPWS’s own tasting notes) might make San Francisco’s concurrent Negroni Week blush redder than mass-produced Campari.

Sirene Canto Amaro | Orange, Gentian, Licorice, Honey

Fred Jerbis Fernet 25 | Peppermint, Saffron, Chestnut Barrels, Balanced

Bordiga Rosso | Nebiolo, Candied Cranberry, Baking Spices, Light

Nardini Rabarbaro | Smokey, Carmel, Chocolate, Velvety

“Every Friday gives us a chance to try new things,” Howell says. “People are interested in learning. Unless you go to a bar and have a bartender set up a flight, it’s hard to do.

“Any club with a group of friends is meant to taste and explore.”

Hours at Deer Park Wine & Spirits run 10am-7pm Sunday-Thursday, and until 8pm Friday-Saturday. More at deerparkwines.com.