♦ About Us ♦


Bailey’s Branciforte Ridge Vineyard

Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard has been making European-style, food-friendly, cellar-worthy wines since 1975. We are well-known for making Pinot Noir that can age beautifully for three decades.

Our basic philosophy is that wine should dance with food and make the food/wine experience more than a sum of the ingredients. This means making wines with moderate alcohol and oak so that the true characteristics of the grape varieties are expressed. You won’t find any high-alcohol, jammy, oaky wines here.

In 2008 we launched a second brand, Quinta Cruz, which features only varieties that originated on the Iberian Peninsula but are now grown here in California. These Portuguese and Spanish varieties include Tempranillo, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Souzao, Graciano, and Tinto Cão.

After more-or-less hiding away in the mountains for 32 years, the winery moved into the city of Santa Cruz in 2008 and opened the first tasting room in our long history. We are located in an area where you can walk to many other tasting rooms nearby and are only a few blocks from the beach and Natural Bridges State Park.

For the full listing of our neighbor wineries you can go to www.surfcityvintners.com

Santa Cruz Mountain History

Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Photo Gallery

Staff

Jeff Emery is the proprietor, winemaker, truck driver, mechanic, wine sales dude, and basically anything else he needs to be to make this small business work. He first came to Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard in July of 1979 and ended up working with Ken Burnap, the winery’s founder, in what can best be described as an old-fashioned apprenticeship. Jeff took over the business in 2002 when Ken retired. See the History section of this website for more details.

jeff@santacruzmountainvineyard.com

Denis Hoey wears all kinds of hats at Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard. He came to Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard in 2004, when the winery was moving from the Jarvis Road location. He’s the Assistant Winemaker & Production Manager working in collaboration with Jeff on all the wine blends and cellar practices. He also oversees the viticultural practices of our contract vineyards. He has his own label which is produced under our roof as well, Odonata. www.odonatawines.com

denis@santacruzmountainvineyard.com