Enduring Power of Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet and Vineyards for Sale 

November 4, 2025 – The Cabernet was flowing and the sun was shining at the luxurious Lexington House Vineyard & Winery Estate on the shores of the ever-shrinking Lexington Reservoir. Premier Cruz last weekend drew a crowd of Cab enthusiasts to indulge in the often well-aged offerings from the cellars of 10 of the top producers of the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

The wine tasted great, especially as the air cooled, taming the warmth of the 2014 Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, as its dark blue and black fruits wrapped around the buttery tannins. It also elevated the sassy red cheery, ginger, pepperoncini and tobacco notes of the Lexington Wine Company’s Gist Ranch 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon: a contrast in wine from two vastly different, yet very proximal, mountain tops. Ridge has the higher elevation, and gets the heat of the Valley, while Gist, on Skyline, gets cool air off the ocean and the reservoir below. 

Among the most memorable wines of the day were the 2013 Martin Ranch “Soulmate” blend, comprised by mostly Cab Sauv and Merlot, which presented like the humps of a dromedary camel, exhibiting nearly equal presence. The 2014 Silver Mountain Alloy, marrying cherry and cocoa with fragrant herbs, coasted to a smooth finish, still alive with possibility. The Wrights Station 2018 and 2021 Cabernet Francs from Lago Lomita Vineyard (see below) were both standouts for their harmonic meld of date-like sweetness with pine spice, while the 2008 Kathryn Kennedy Estate Cabernet opened with old world earthy mushroom umami, and then pulled out its inner plum tart and left smooth chocolate ganache as its calling card. Fascinating!! 

All seemed well. And then the sun slipped behind the mountain and the shadows fell.

It seemed a metaphor for the current state of the wine business. My inbox is filled more than ever with desperate marketing attempts to sell overpriced wine for artificially created holidays, along with more events than ever, mostly in Napa. Not a single pitch offers the plethora of overpriced wines out there on discount, except for the flash sale sites, which are busier than ever. 

We hear constantly about the downturn in consumption and how buyers are tightening their purse strings. With lots of inventory in warehouses, you’d think those overproducing wineries would be re-reading A Christmas Carol and taking off their scrooge costumes.

Closer to home, I’ve had some enlightening conversations with winegrowers and viticulturists, all of whom are guarded on sharing who among them did not harvest much this year. Mountain Winery still had their Pinot Noir hanging at the end of October, and it wasn’t to get it ripe. They’d picked for sparkling only, to feed a recently revived program to re-introduce sparkling to the venerable estate, which Paul Masson built on the back of his sparkling wine that won him international acclaim. 

Kings Mountain Vineyards in Woodside brought in their Pinot Noir grapes on October 26. There is still Cabernet Sauvignon hanging on many vineyards in the region. Syrah, too. Ken Swegles just finished picking some Cab Sauv, Cab Franc, and Sangiovese for Brad Friedman, by the dawn’s early light. 

Marty Mathis tells us that in a rare twist, he ended his 2025 crush with some white grapes from a very cool coastal site in Watsonville. All the Cabernet Sauvignon had been finished a few days ago under ideal Indian summer conditions, as his vineyards are all on the eastern side of the AVA. 

“2025 will be remembered as an extremely cool summer,” says Mathis. “Probably not since 1980 has there been so much fog and cool daytime temperatures. Typically, the coolest vintages are the best vintages in the location of Kathryn Kennedy Estate in Saratoga.”  We shall see. 

While most Santa Cruz Mountains vineyards will be harvested, there will be plenty on the Central Coast that will be bird food. 

Wanna Buy a Vineyard? 

There are more vineyards and winery properties for sale at this point in time in the area than at any point in the 25 years that I’ve been writing about wine on the Central Coast. 

In the good news category, Bernardus sold its Cachagua vineyard, planted to Bordeaux varieties, to a long-time friend of the winery. The company has shifted its focus to SLH Chardonnay and Monterey Pinot Noir. 

Although it’s not listed for sale (yet), Talbott has shuttered the former winemaking facility on River Road in the Sleepy Hollow Vineyard. 

Boekenoogen Vineyard in Soledad on Fairview Road, that stunning 333-acre property that has been in the family for 5 generations, is finally under contract. Nobody seems to know the identity of the buyer. The listing price was $7.75M, and includes 90 +/- acres planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, plus a coveted 5-acre dry-farmed block of Pinot Noir. We hope its new owner will keep the vineyard at a high standard in keeping with its reputation. The McIntyre family purchased the Boekenoogen tasting room and inventory in Carmel Valley Village last year. 

While that one is hopefully going to a good home, more vineyards are going on the block around here at a record pace. Queen of those still available is the stunning Lago Lomita Vineyard estate, just past Wrights Station off Summit Road. Listed at $11.7M, the 44-acre estate includes a stone-faced home with impressive multi-ridgeline and Monterey Bay views to the south, two successful VRBO units, including a 40-foot treehouse featured in National Geographic and a Lotus Belle Yurt that have welcomed travelers, couples, and artists from all over the world. Several proposals have been successfully pitched from said treehouse, and the yurt has made a nice post-wedding escape. The property is home to some darn good Cabernet Franc, made by Dan Lokteff of Wrights Station, and Nebbiolo, made by Soquel Vineyards. 

There’s also the turn-key operation of Verde Vineyards in Santa Clara Valley, set up nicely for events as well, with over 8k square feet of enclosed and covered winery and tasting room areas, listed for $3.95M. 

In Soquel, a 5.1-acre property on Chardonnay Lane, with one of the oldest vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains, planted in 1982, is listed at $3.45M. Apparently, the owner passed away. Dreams often die before their keepers do. 

Looking for a coastal paradise? San Gregorio Creekside Farm, just 5 miles from the Pacific Ocean on La Honda Road, tempts with 43 acres, including a vineyard, and two dwellings for $2.89M. 

On the westside of Santa Cruz, that very busy tasting room with a beach vibe and the smell of Kona coffee that occupies part of the former Bonny Doon production facility has been quietly for sale for some time. If you’ve got $1.5M, you can take possession of the inventory and take over an already smoothly operating tasting room. 

There are plenty more where those came from. It’s time for a drink. 

Some Sips Around The Monterey Bay

2023 Bernardus Monterey County Pinot Noir – Winemaker Jim McCabe is continuing the long-held tradition of making accessible, medium-bodied Pinot Noir that can be easily enjoyed with every type of cuisine. Complex aromas embrace the herbal side of Pinot Noir, with basil, oregano and thyme, along with medicinal notes like horehound and sassafras tea. On the palate, red plum, cranberry-raspberry, broiled ruby red grapefruit with brown sugar and macerated strawberries take center stage, framed by hints of thyme and rosemary. 

2023 Sarah’s Tondre Grapefields Pinot Noir, SLH – This vineyard produces wines immediately recognizable for their earthy, dark-fruited aromas and depth and intensity of fruit. No other SLH spot seems to produce such concentration. This one is no exception, with forest floor, nice herbaceousness and aromas of barley and wheat fields. The palate shows warm earth, fig bars with brown sugar and a nice finish of cardamom and cinnamon. Every sip of Tondre warms your soul. 

2023 Sarah’s Muns Vineyard Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains – Several labels make wine from Muns, including Sonnet Cellars and Calera. This example shows that the vineyard, which produces some really great Syrah, can also put forth some darned good Pinot Noir as well. This one shows cran-raspberry flavors with a bit of fig, rum cola and cinnamon, with a nice chocolate meltiness to the palate. 

2023 Sarah’s Estate Nebbiolo, Santa Clara Valley – I’m a sucker for Nebbiolo. So is my wine writer colleague, Dan Berger. He was so thrilled with this wine, he took the rest of it to his friend Clark Smith, the noted chemist, who was also besotted by its austerity combined with the nicest amalgam of inviting red fruited elegance and delicate floral notes. Leaning to cranberry and spiced cherry, it is delightfully multi-layered, wrapped in savory chestnut and nutmeg for a most intriguing wine. What a glorious food companion this bottle turned out to be. We had it with lamb burgers and a wicked good cheesy mushroom, broccoli and crispy rice dish at Fern Bar in Sebastopol. 

Other Sips of Note

If you’re looking for affordable Italian varietals, alongside old vine Zinfandel, I recommend Seghesio. Their 2023 Vermentino is a good execution of the varietal at a respectable 13% alcohol, and we absolutely loved their 2023 Chianti Hill Sangiovese, just 13.5%, that absolutely sang with all the notes we love about Chianti, from basil, smoked paprika and field roasted red chiles on the nose, to the tart red plum, pomegranate and cherry flavors on the palate. I especially loved the roasted Chile d’Arbol on the finish. Excellent food wine. 

For sparkling, the 2019 Iron Horse Ocean’s Reserve, a blanc de blanc, leads with bubbles exuding lemon, acacia, honeysuckle and lime blossom. Fairylike, it drops delicately onto the airy and fanciful palate with limoncello mousse, delicate lacy sugar cookies and a sense of evanescence. A great accompaniment to biscotti and a good antidote to the “whatever could possibly go wrong next?” mood of the moment.