Open Daily: Barterra, Domenico, La Nebbia, Thomas Fogarty
Open by appointment: Chaine d'Or/Stefania, Great Blue Heron, La Honda, Varner
Not Open: Clos de la Tech, King's Mountain, Martella, Orchard Hills, Rhys/Alesia, Waxwing, Woodside

The northern end of the Santa Cruz Mountains is known for Emmet Rixford's winery and La Questa vineyard. It's the coolest part of the AVA and is the source of some excellent Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

If you happen to be in Half Moon Bay there are two tasting rooms close by. Barterra is located in the town centre and La Nebbia is on Highway 92 to the east. But if you aren't in the city anyway it's difficult to justify making a special trip.

On the eastern side of the mountains Domenico in Redwood City is open from 12-5PM daily.
Thomas Fogarty on Skyline (Highway 35) is open Wed-Sat 11AM-5PM and Sunday 1-5PM.
La Honda Winery is located in Redwood City and is open by appointment. They are SCMWA members and often host other wineries on passport or Vintners' Festival weekends.
Varner are open midweek, by appointment only. The Spring Ridge Vineyard is located in Portola Valley.
Great Blue Heron is a tiny winery producing a few barrels of estate Pinot Noir from the owner's garage. Tasting is by appointment at weekends.
Chaine d'Or is located close to the junction of Highways 84 and 35. It's now managed by Paul and Stef Romero of Stefania Wine and takes visitors by appointment.

Varner, GBH, Chaine d'Or and Fogarty are all located within a half hour drive of each other. My recommendation would be to try to start at Varner or GBH, then go to Chaine d'Or and Fogarty. From Fogarty you can then go to La Honda and (if there's time) Domenico's. To get from Fogarty to La Honda the quickest way is via the 84, which takes you through Woodside. You can stop off at Roberts Market - they generally have an excellent selection of local wines. Alternatively you can head south on Skyline to Page Mill Road - that drive is around 20-30 minutes longer, but it's more scenic and fun.

Other wineries in the area:
Woodside Vineyards recently moved from their home of almost 50 years to a new facility in Menlo Park. Though one of the founders of SCMWA they don't pour on passport weekends and traditionally only open for events a few times a year, but the new premises may make appointments possible. Watch this space.
Kings Mountain are located in Woodside. Though the vineyards are visible from the road, the wine is made elsewhere. They are members of SCMWA and typically pour on passport weekends at other local wineries, such as La Honda or Domenico.
Rhys are based out of an industrial unit close to Domenico. They open a couple of times a year to allow mailing list members to pick up their wines, and they also organise a few vineyard tours in the summertime which get booked up well in advance. They are building a new facility off Skyline which is expected to open later in 2010.
Clos de la Tech are also building a facility off Skyline; the opening date hasn't been announced. In the meantime the wines are made at Domenico's facility; any tastings are by personal invitation from the owners. Domenico is also home to a number of other small producers, including Waxwing who have been known to pour on rare occasions.
Michael Martella is the winemaker at Thomas Fogarty. Occasionally one or more of his wines will be available in the tasting room. Martella is a SCMWA member and normally pours for their events at an alternate location, not at Fogarty.
Orchard Hills is based out of Atherton, though the wines are actually made in Paso Robles. The vineyards are visible from the road, but the city's rules prohibit any visitors or sales. If you want to taste the wines your best bet is Vino Locale in Palo Alto.

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When Paul and Robin Smith built their home in Woodside about 10 years ago they approached Bob Mullen of Woodside Vineyards for suggestions on what to do with their estate. Bob recommended planting Pinot Noir; he oversaw the first phase of planting and took the fruit from the early vintages.
Later vintages were custom-crushed at Thomas Fogarty by Michael Martella, but Fogarty needed the capacity for their own use so Paul set up a winery in his three-car garage under Martella's supervision.

A group of us met at the vineyard last weekend. Wes had arranged a tour calling at Ridge for their "Taste of Monte Bello" event and at Woodside for their open house, but I had other commitments and was only able to make this event. I was accompanied by my one-year-old son which made taking notes impractical, so this is from memory.

The vines are now fully mature and produce enough fruit for 100 cases of Pinot Noir. Paul would like to increase production, but as ever it's a question of sourcing suitable fruit. The wine is sold at Roberts of Woodside for around $21 and is also at a few local restaurants, as well as being available directly from the winery. Unusually for Pinot the wines are bottled in Bordeaux-style bottles. This was done to give more space for the bottle label; the plan is to have a different label every year with artwork from local artists. The name Great Blue Heron comes from one of the resident wildlife who apparently helped keep the area clear of gophers when the vineyard was planted.

The first vintage was 2005, and was scored 86 by Wine Spectator. We tasted the 2006 and the newly bottled 2007. The painting that graces the 2006 label was the first to be commissioned by the winery and depicts a heron sitting on a lake. The wine had a reddish-brown colour reminiscent of an older wine; on the palate there was some candied fruit and a character I couldn't immediately pinpoint. On the way home I wondered if the wine was slightly madeirized.

The 2007 on the other hand had a more vibrant purple colour and really nice, rich cherry and chocolate flavours. I purchased a couple of bottles and plan to let them stand for a few weeks before sampling again; I'll probably end up going back for more. The label has a photograph of two herons in flight.

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I've spent the evening recompiling a whole bunch of code and cleaning up the errors. At the same time I decided to go through and review the winery database.

I'd heard of a couple of new wineries recently and wanted to ensure my lists were up-to-date. Sure enough, several wineries that were marked as simply "Registered" last time I checked (way too long ago I admit) now have web sites and in most cases are selling wines. I'll try to dig out more information on them and hopefully get hold of some bottles to taste. But here's a few new names to look for.

GBH Vineyard is a tiny producer based in Woodside. The winery makes about 100 cases of estate Pinot which retails for around $21. GBH apparently stands for Great Blue Heron, though I suspect that part of the name is fellow British ex-pat Paul Smith's private joke. The 2006 vintage is available now; the 2007 will be released some time soon.

Regale Vineyards is another Pinot producer. Based in Los Gatos they also claim to produce a range of unspecified wines from other appellations. Their waiting list is currently open, but no indication of when the first release will be.

Big Dog Vineyards is based in Milpitas and is producing estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, together with a sweet wine based on Cabernet Sauvignon. They are also sourcing Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah from Napa Valley. All are priced around $32 except the sweet wine which is $22 for a 375. The current releases are all from the 2005 vintage.

Satori Cellars from Gilroy has two 2006 Estate Zinfandels carrying the Santa Clara Valley appellation priced at $25 and $28 as well as a 2006 Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon at $30. Total production appears to be around 400-500 cases.

Monte Verde Vineyards are producing estate Merlot in Morgan Hill carrying the Central Coast appellation. There's also a second Merlot and a Syrah, as well as a red blend called Tres Amigos. All of these are 2006 vintage, but the web site is "under construction" and there's no prices or release date posted.

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