July 1, 2022 – You may be familiar with Partage Cellars, a somewhat nomadic brand that has been made in a number of places, including at Beauregard Vineyards in Bonny Doon, where winemaker/owner Mark Bright, made some dynamite Pinot Noir from Coast Grade as well as Chardonnay from Bald Mountain. The winery then moved to an awesome chateau in Ben Lomond that Bright and his wife, Tingting, purchased, and where they occasionally held tastings until the pandemic hit.
Bright is also a partner in Michelin-starred Saison restaurant in San Francisco, where he is the sommelier. No stranger to wine, he spends a good deal of time on airplanes, buying wine for the restaurants. He’s a Burgundy lover through and through, so most trips take him to France: fitting, since his first trip to Europe was at age 15 to France, where he was smitten by wine in its entirety.
Bright and his partners at Saison restaurant decided to create Saison Winery to showcase the wines they love to drink from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Under the Saison label, these wines are available at the restaurant and through the recently established online wine shop.
Now, you can also taste and purchase them at the newly opened Saison Cellar tasting room in Los Gatos. Located in the former home of Left Bend Cellars, Saison Cellar just opened their doors, joining Gali Vineyards and Testarossa as the town’s official single brand wine tasting rooms.
“One of the things we wanted to accomplish with the tasting room design was to bring the feeling of Saison to Los Gatos,” says Bright, the Chicago-born somm who learned his craft from Rajit Parr.
His fondness for Old World wines is especially evident when you taste the 2016 Pinot Noir from Hunter Hill and the 2017 Chardonnay from Regan Vineyard. That has to be one of the last vintages made from Hunter Hill Vineyard. Christine Slatter says the last vintage they made under the Hunter Hill label was 2014. The property is now known as The Vineyard at Rock Ridge Ranch, a wedding venue.
Bright explains that Saison wines were created to pair with the tasting menus at Saison and are now available to share with everyone. Dining at Saison may be out of reach for many, but the wines can still be enjoyed with whatever menu you decide to prepare at home.
Partage wines will not be poured at the Saison Cellar tasting room, but will be available to purchase off the retail to go list. The tasting room manager is the affable Kelly McPherson, whose enthusiasm for wine is infectious. She worked at Dio Deka for years and developed a keen appreciation of wines from around the world. She’s delighted to be working for a winery and is a big fan of the big reds under the Saison Winery label, including Merlot, Syrah and the righteous Cabernet-Merlot blend called “The Hearth.” Saison’s food is mostly hearth grilled, with lots of wood influence.
Several wine flights are available, ranging in price from $15 to $25, including three wines each.
White Flight includes the brilliantly fragrant and varietally perfect 2018 Enz Vineyard Riesling, the definitely showing its age 2017 Regan Vineyard Chardonnay, and a skin contact Chardonnay.
The Pinot Noir Flight includes the brooding Hunter Hill Pinot Noir, a pithy, soaringly complex Coastview Pinot Noir, and the riper Regan Vineyard designate Pinot Noir.
Other flights vary from $20 to $25, including a Rhone Red Flight featuring Coastview Grenache, Coastview Syrah and Zayante Syrah. A Cabernet Flight including a Regan Vineyard Merlot, Day Ranch Cabernet and the Hearth Blend, 50-50 Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
Among my favorites are the 2018 Wirz Vineyard Riesling, filled with orange peel, lychee, shortbread and warm toast. Just an amazing texture, and showing its age nicely.
The 2017 Coastview Grenache is super fun, with aromas and flavors of baking spice rich gingerbread and yummy strawberry jam: so good!
The 2017 Coastview Syrah is a paragon of pepper in the nose, with flavors of cured meat and salami, along with dark pomegranate, soy and plum. Just a joy to serve to anyone who likes a complex Syrah that keeps changing in the glass.
The 2017 Merlot from Regan Vineyards will make Merlot lovers extremely happy with its dense flavors of cherry pie, mint and tarragon. It’s grippy with fine-grained tannin, excellent acid and a wonderful flow. It’s a keeper.
They plan to source cheese and charcuterie plates from The Tasting House, and hopefully bread from Manresa, both of which are right around the corner. Hard to beat those kinds of neighbors.
The Saison Cellar tasting room is at 346 N. Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, and open Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 7pm. And for those of you heading to Denver, look for a new Saison Cellar tasting room there in November as well.
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.
