January 2, 2024 – The recent passing of Tom Smothers got me thinking about the brothers’ connection to the Bay Area and the Santa Cruz Mountains. It’s an unlikely trajectory, but there’s little about the Smothers Brothers that could be called routine.
Born in New York on Governor’s Island, their father—a West Point graduate and Army Major—died in WW II, after which their mother raised them in Redondo Beach. While attending college at San Jose State, they began their musical career, with their professional debut occurring at The Purple Onion in San Francisco.
An appearance on the Jack Paar show brought them national exposure and eventually led to their comedic career. After fame and fortune in the 1960s and their troubles with CBS the two decided to go their separate ways. But not totally separate, as it turns out, as they both ended up purchasing vineyards.
From a New York Times article printed November 22, 1976, I learned that Dick purchased a 40‐year‐old, 16‐acre vineyard at 2317 Jarvis Road, as an investment. Apparently, cars were not enough of a thrill or a sinkhole for his cash. He admitted to having spent a lot of money “having a good time,” and had dipped his toes into the seductive (and expensive) pool of sports car racing. At the time, he thought the wine business a suitable replacement for racing, which he said he’d gotten out of his system.
He and his wife and three kids lived down the road on a 30-acre spread, where he had a big garage. According to the article, Smothers had acquired lots of cars, among them a 1929 Ford, 1937 Ford, 1950 Ford station wagon, 1956 Cadillac and a 1963 Porsche. He had also made some other dubious investments and thought that selling grapes would be a surefire way to make money. Not knowing anything about the business, he hired someone to manage the vineyard, which was planted with Pinot Chardonnay (as Chardonnay was known at that time), Johannisberg Riesling and Sylvaner.
Due to what Smothers referred to as bad pruning decisions, the yield immediately dropped from 20 to 11 tons for harvest 1976, denting his hopes. Almost predictably in hindsight, Smothers made the next move, one that has been repeated ad infinitum: he decided to make wine.
Although he intended to called the brand Vine Hill Wine (it actually became Vine Hill Vineyards), pretty much everyone referred to it as Smothers Brothers Wine. His rationale for establishing a winery, according to the article, was this: “For instance, I got $3,800 for my grapes, and had $4,500 overhead, plus $2,000 in taxes. I was losing money as a farmer, so I decided to go in and make the wine myself.”
While we don’t know who actually made the wine, we know Smothers knew enough to hire a professional, saying, “I won’t be the winemaker; I’ll hire on enologist as a consultant, guys who get 30 bucks an hour. You need an expert.” He hoped to produce around 1,200 cases, and sell the wine between $5 and $6.50 per bottle, by mail.
At the time, most of the grapes in the region were being sold to Almaden Vineyards, San Martin Winery and Paul Masson, which all turned out wine in the sub $10 range. Some of the boutique wineries of the day, among them David Bruce, were able to sell their wines for $12 a bottle, while Mt. Eden could fetch $22.
Brother Tommy followed suit, buying vineyard property with his grandfather in Sonoma, near Glen Ellen. The grapes were sold to Arrowood. Smothers tried to sell the property in 2019 for $13 million but it was not until 2023 that it finally changed hands for $7.2 million. Goes to show once more that the wine business, like comedy, can be a lot of fun, but isn’t always funny.
For over a decade, Dick Smothers did pretty well, winning awards, among them, according to wine columnist Dan Berger, in a 1989 article, the sweepstakes award at the 1979 Los Angeles County Fair wine competition for a 1977 Gewurztraminer.
Smothers was sold on the terroir of the Vine Hill property, even though he didn’t use the term in this quote from the New York Times article: “The reason this area is so good, and better than Sonoma and Napa [wine‐growing regions north of San Francisco] is that these grapes like cold marine air; they like the fog, the drop in temperature and then they like the rise in temperature, and for some reason this is what stimulates than and makes the quality of the grapes so good.”
By 1979, Smothers was among 19 other local boutique winery owners that believed strongly enough in the unique characteristics of the region that they were on their way to establishing the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA. His winery, Vine Hill Vineyards, appears on the official 1979 roster of what was known as Santa Cruz Mountains Vintners, including brands that still exist, including Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, Ridge, Woodside Vineyards, David Bruce and Mount Eden, and those that don’t, like Congress Springs, Sherrill Cellars and Sunrise.
Notes from a vintner’s meeting that year indicate that Vine Hill Vineyards was among the local wineries doing very well at the L.A. County Fair: Ahlgren, Felton-Empire, Roudon-Smith, Sherrill Cellars and Smothers, as it was listed. Even then, the call of celebrity outweighed geography.
As for the property at 2317 Vine Hill Road that was once Vine Hill Vineyards, it is now the site of Love Apple Farms.
A good piece of dirt rules.
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.
