With the afternoon to enjoy in the valley, we decided to taste around the Santa Cruz Mountains at a few wineries to see they had to offer. What a day it became visitng Ridge, Picchetti, and Cooper-Garrod. It had been about a week since my last wine adventure. It felt like a month. All week long, I contemplated where the wind would take me next. The week was full of deadlines at work and looked as though it was to continue through the weekend. I had to head down to Sunnyvale to work on a new online project but was not about to pass up the chance to hit some more wineries while in the area. My brother, Tim, was up for the journey so we were off to taste around the Santa Cruz mountains before having to actually get down to work.
Since he'd never been through the mountains, I felt it was only fitting to drive up Montebello Dr. and begin at Ridge Winery. The drive is incredible and needs to enjoyed by all. And for starters, Ridge ain't a bad way to begin the trip.
I had just visited Ridge the weekend prior and was hoping they had changed up the wine list they were tasting. Of the seven wines on the list only three were new from last weekend and only two were completely new to me.
Since we weren't trying to wine taste all day we figured we hit a winery also on Montebello on our way out. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we visited Picchetti Winery. The grounds are part of the Picchetti Ranch which is a regional open space preserve. The land offers trails galore for hikers, and horses but beware: rattlesnakes rule these grounds.
Interestingly, that wasn't the half of things. As we walked toward the historic barns the winery operates from our path was blocked by a free roaming peacock. The trail leading up was about 8ft wide and the peacock took most of that space. Tim and I were somewhat besides ourselves. "Do they attack?" ... "Should we just walk by it?" ...
Never dealing with peacocks, we were struggling for a way around but found none. It was us versus the peacock. As we slowly approached, the giant bird slowly walk away unimpressed by our presence. As we trotted along we noticed this was one of MANY peacocks roaming freely around the lands. A family was enjoying lunch on picnic tables and a young couple lay quietly on blankets; she lay peacefully upon him as he read a book with a bottle of wine and crackers beside them both. No one seemed bothered or even intrigued by the peacocks as we were - they were just part of the atmosphere.
The Picchetti tasting room was just as impressive as the grounds. It reminded me of an old western saloon. A long elegant, handcrafted bar at one end and massive wine barrels on the other end. They had a seating area with a long table down the middle where you could purchase clever wine related trinkets and of course, peacock branded items.
They had thirteen wines from which you could choose five to taste for a $5 tasting fee (they refunded your money upon purchase of their wine). Being the red wine lovers we are, we jumped straight for them and saw they offered some unique styles. You'll see seven listed below. We got friendly with the folks behind the counter and they graciously poured more to show the breadth of thier lineup.
We had a great time at Picchetti. The servers were young like us and the visitor next to us was a friend of theirs. The four of us laughed and discussed our introduction into wine throughout our college days. The visitor worked for Gallo and we all simultaneously told him, "I'm sorry" ... the ice was broken by that point. The woman was about to take the list of wines since she had spilled a little wine on it. I had asked if I may keep it to remember all the wines. She asked if I wanted a pen to take notes. "Don't worry" she said, "I won't think you're a dork." How comforting. We spent a considerable amount of time there joking and enjoying each others company. These are visit I remember and prompt me to return.
We were close to calling it a day but were told another winery lay closely down the road and was worth a visit since we were so close. Work? What work? Let's hit hit one more winery and see what they're doing.
Cooper-Garrod was originally an apricot orchid but has since focused on Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Franc. They have riding stables next to the winery so you can image the ground already. Without a sign stating "Tasting Room", you'd never know there was wine to taste.
Their tasting room was filled with old photos from the orchard days and pictures of the owners while in the military service - impressive shots too. The bar was somewhat small. We had waited a few minutes because 2 groups were just finishing up. Six people total made the bar packed. No worries... It gave us a chance to recap our notes. By the time we began tasting, the place was to ourselves.
After Cooper-Garrod, we called it quits. We had a backseat full of wine bottles and needed to get them out of the heat. The trip was fun and gave me a chance to explore some wineries I may have never stopped at. We had enjoyed the views from Ridge, the great conversations at Picchetti, and though we weren't crazy about Cooper-Garrod's wine we did get a chance to talk to George Cooper himself (founder and winemaker) which is always a pleasant treat. I can't wait to head back down and continue the explorations.
