Santa Cruz’s mountain highs

Northern California’s most underrated wine region is full of history and charms

The Santa Cruz Mountains are much bigger than just Santa Cruz proper. As a wine region, the geographic boundaries of the Santa Cruz Mountains American Viticultural Area span San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, stretching from suburbia to farmland, from Silicon Valley at its northern end to strawberry country at its south. The region’s forested terrain, pierced by the San Andreas Fault and the peaks that formed around it, is sparsely developed: Of the AVA’s 480,000 acres, only about 1,500 are planted to grapevines.

Those acreage numbers may explain why Santa Cruz Mountains wines fly under the radar, but they deserve more attention. This amorphous region produces some of California’s most exciting wines, and if you’re coming from San Francisco, many of its wineries are easier to reach than their Napa and Sonoma counterparts — not to mention more laid-back, and more affordable.

It’s also one of California’s most historic regions for wine growing. The Santa Cruz Mountains had a thriving wine industry before Prohibition, garnering awards for its wines at several World’s Fairs. Burgundy-born Paul Masson, the founding father of California sparkling wine, planted roots here in 1901; his production facility above Saratoga is today known as the Mountain Winery, and remains a popular concert venue.

Many traces of that early era endure in the region’s wineries. Taste the wines from Vine Hill, famous in the nineteenth century under the Jarvis brothers’ stewardship, at Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard today. Walk around Testarossa Winery and notice the infrastructure left behind from the Novitiate Winery that occupied those grounds beginning in 1888. Visit Burrell School and learn about the grapevines that Lyman Burrell planted there in 1854.

Or just enjoy the wines. This is a region whose diverse microclimates allow its producers to grow a range of grape varieties — from structured, taut mountain Cabernet Sauvignon to earthy, delicate coastal Pinot Noir, to brawny, muscular Syrah. We’ve mapped out routes that will help acquaint you with this land, its history and its heroes: Get to know the Santa Cruz Mountains’ modern pioneers; the innovators who are ushering in a new style of Pinot Noir; the upstart urban winemakers at the Surf City Vintners Collective and more.

Once you’ve discovered the Santa Cruz Mountains’ back roads, you may never think about California wine in the same way again.