What's the smallest commercial winery in the world? It's not a quiz as I don't know the answer, but with an annual production of just 44 cases Equinox must be a leading candidate.

Winemaker Barry Jackson began making a couple of barrels of premium sparkling wine in 1989. He uses only Chardonnay grapes and styles the wine Blanc de Blancs. The bottles must be riddled by hand. The wine was released in 1992 and quickly sold out, mostly to other local vintners.

Barry continued to make the wine, but with very little in the way of promotion it became a local secret. It was on sale in some Bay Area restaurants - I first discovered it in Emile's in San Jose - and occasionally showed up in The Wine Club or K&L. The wine was made at Storrs in Santa Cruz.

Equinox recently moved into new premises down in Santa Cruz alongside several other local winemakers. He's launched a second label called Bartolo, made mainly with fruit from Mike Mann's vineyard in Gilroy. The wines carry the Central Coast designation, though I believe the vineyard is in the Santa Clara Valley AVA.

1997 Equinox Blanc de Blancs This wine spent nine years on the lees - three times the length required for vintage Champagne. The result is a powerfully intense wine - lots of toast and richness while still showing some of the characteristics of the Trout Gulch vineyard from which the fruit was sourced. At $50 a bottle it's not cheap, but it's arguably the best sparkling wine in California and can certainly hold its own against more expensive offerings from France.

Bartolo Rose I neglected to make a proper note of exactly what this was; it was a light, off-dry rose. Pleasant enough, but not my thing. $12

2006 Bartolo Cioppino Rosso This is a blend of small lots; although it's a red wine it contains Chardonnay and Riesling among others. It's an inexpensive, fruity "spaghetti red" that was proving very popular with the other customers - at least 3 cases were sold while I was tasting. $14

2005 Bartolo Syrah A smooth, medium weight Syrah that's intended for drinking now. $16

2005 Bartolo Merlot A rich, heavy Merlot. Very drinkable indeed. $25

Also pouring in the Equinox facility was Trout Gulch. As well as their current releases (which I've covered in the past) they had two interesting library wines - 1992 and 1999 Pinot Noirs. Both were very good; the 99 had more of the primary cherry fruit while the 92 had more complexity and secondary flavours. Of the two we gave the nod just to the 99; it still has plenty of tannin and could continue to improve a little while longer.

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If you've been following this blog recently you'll know that I'm impressed with the wine selection at Whole Foods. You'll also have noted that I enjoyed the Trout Gulch Chardonnay and was disappointed that it is no more.

I heard that Beauregard had taken over management (possibly ownership) of the vineyard, but was told that it had been renamed Pinto Valley. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a 2005 Beauregard Chardonnay from the Trout Gulch Vineyard for $25 at the Los Altos branch of Whole Foods recently. I'd gone in looking for the latest Varner releases (and found most of them - the 2006 Bee block Chardonnay is $34, the 2006 Ampitheatre is $31. No 2006 Home block, but they do have the 2005 Hidden Block Pinot at $38).

I opened it tonight, and have to say that it's a delicious wine. It's similar in both style and flavout to - and better than - the Trout Gulch version. It certainly tastes more concentrated; maybe some of that is down to vintage variation.

The initial nose shows oak and green apples which follow on to the palate; at times over the evening I also got butterscotch and apricot among other flavours. There's a subtle chalky/wet stone component to the finish, and of course there's plenty of acidity to balance it out - this is by no means a flabby butterball Chardonnay. Tremendous value, particularly given the 10% off for a mixed half case. For some reason it's not listed on the Beauregard website and I can't find it in wine-searcher, but it certainly exists.

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Bernie Turgeon was one of the founders of Turgeon and Lohr winery in San Jose. When he sold his share, his partner Jerry Lohr renamed the company J.Lohr and the rest as they say is history.

Bernie then ran a brewpub in Santa Cruz for a few years before purchasing a 25 acre ranch above Aptos. He planted Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and Trout Gulch Vineyards was formed with his son Gerry. The label reads "Turgeon, Pere et Fils".

Unfortunately Bernie has now retired and Gerry has a full time job. He continues to run the label but the vineyard has been sold and is now known as "Pinto Valley", with fruit being sold to various local winemakers including Burrell School. Trout Gulch now sources most of their fruit from Bargetto's Regan Vineyard, and from what I've tasted the difference is evident.

2002 was the last vintage made from the Trout Gulch vineyard. Recently Gerry cleared out much of the remaining library stocks through Whole Foods and I was fortunate enough to snag a few.

The last bottle I had was in early February, and was slightly oxidised. Not unpleasantly so, but it certainly seemed much more mature than I expected from a 2002. This one is not oxidised at all, and is delicious. The colour is very pale. The nose is faint and slightly floral, possibly honeysuckle. There's also a kind of salty, seaside note. On the palate there's honey, lemon and baked apples, which I noticed last time. But there's a bit more acidity than I remember and an ever so slightly salty/chalky taste on the finish. It still has a slightly mature Chardonnay nte to the finish, though not so pronounced as before. A very good deal at $17.

Edit A couple of hours later and I'm on the last sips. It's now less honey and baked apples, and more lemon, vanilla and cream soda. Very enjoyable.

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A few odds and ends picked up in conversation.

Ahlgren: The winery is still up for sale, but no buyers are in sight. The big problem is that people with the kind of money that the property/business is worth ($2-$3 million) want something that's shiny and new.

Trout Gulch: Bernie Turgeon is now in his 80s and has retired. Son Gerry is continuing the winery, but it's not his day job and has been scaled back significantly. The recent appearance of the 2002 vintage at Whole Foods was as a result of clearing out the back inventory to make space. The old estate vineyard was sold some time ago and is now the Pinto Valley Vineyard, managed by Beauregard.

Several wineries are about to move into new tasting rooms in the industrial complex on Ingalls Street in Santa Cruz, previously occupied by Bonny Doon. New tenants include Sones and Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard. There's an article about it on winesandvines.com

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I've been doing more and more wine shopping at Whole Foods recently. On a recent trip I noticed a few bargains and on closer inspection was surprised to find that for many local wines, the prices at Whole Foods are actually cheaper than most other retailers, particularly if you take advantage of the 10% discount for buying any six bottles.

They also have a very good selection from top quality local wineries such as Burrell School, Mount Eden, Storrs, Martin Ranch and Ridge; in fact the selection of SCM/SCV wines is at least as good if not better than K&L, BevMo or The Wine Club.

Here are a few bargains I've picked up recently - prices are before discount and tax, so the net price will be a few cents lower.

Earlier this year I was fortunate to grab some bin-ends of the Cooper Garrod 2001 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon at $20 and 2003 Gravel Ridge Chardonnay at $15. These are now sold out, but the 2003 Lone Oak Cabernet Sauvignon and 2005 Gravel Ridge Chardonnay have now arrived, along with 2004 Cabernet Franc at $22.

Trout Gulch is a small father and son company owned by Bernie Turgeon, co-founder the Turgeon & Lohr winery. Never heard of it? Well, back in 1984 he sold his stake to his partner, Jerry Lohr who renamed the company J. Lohr. Trout Gulch produces tiny quantities of estate Pinot Noir ($20) and Chardonnay ($17), both of which I've only ever found at Whole Foods.

Kathryn Kennedy produces what is probably the single most expensive wine in the mountains - their top Estate Cabernet Sauvignon goes for a whacking $145. But at a more realistic level, Kathryn Kennedy also makes a "California" designated bordeaux blend called Lateral ($32) that would give any of the $50 to $100 Napa blends a run for their money. The 2004 is particularly fruit forward and enjoyable today, but would benefit from cellaring. There's also a Syrah ($24) that I'm looking forward to trying and a Sauvignon Blanc ($16), but to be honest I'm of the view that the best Sauvignon Blanc comes from New Zealand (and is cheaper too), with France a respectable second.

Finally there's a couple more wines that also carry the "California" appellation: Thomas Fogarty Skyline ($15) and Roudon Smith Claret ($14). Both are smooth, fruity blend with a decent amount of oak. Easy drinking midweek wines - nothing earth shaking, but reasonable value.

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