Wine Trip

santa cruz mountains california

Travel the santa cruz mountains of california with us!

Here is a short itinerary of our recent wine trip to the Santa Cruz Mountains wine region.. If you can’t make the trip soon pop a bottle of the Pinot Noir or Chardonnay wine and follow along with us!

Here’s a short condensed itinerary of our wine trip from Seattle to the Santa Cruz Mountains.

  • Flew from Seattle to San Jose.

  • For the first part of the the trip we utilized ride share to get to closer wineries to the city like Ridge and Testarossa.

  • For longer trips to the more southern/western parts we rented a car and stayed near the town of Santa Cruz.

 

Ridge Winery, Montebello Vineyard

The Montebello Vineyard, producing what may be the best Cabernet Blend made in the US. This higher elevation vineyard is shown here above the fog line.

Mount Eden Winery

Another beautiful vineyard above the fog line, Mount Eden makes some of the best versions of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir you will find anywhere.

Santa Cruz

The vibrant and laid back beach town of Santa Cruz. A perfect headquarters/destination for a wine trip to this region.

 

The wines of Arnot-Roberts

Though they’re based up in Sonoma, the source many of their best wines from this area. One of my favorite winemakers in the US, I’m always excited to try their Santa Cruz bottlings.

Monterrey Bay

One of the prettiest spots on the Calfornia Coast, this bay is teaming with all kinds of life. Many great seafoods dot the shore as well. Cool air from the Bay cools the vineyards to help producer perfectly balanced wines.

Randall Graham, former Bonny Doon winemaker

One of the original “Rhone Rangers” who changed the way people thought about Rhone varietals in Calfornia, such as Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre etc.. In semi-retirement now but he’s made permanent impact on the American wine culture.