Saturday, March 21, 2009

Surf City Vintners

Surf City Vintners (http://www.surfcityvintners.com) of Santa Cruz is group of wineries in close proximity to each other on the west side of the city of Santa Cruz. This association of wineries has sprung up within several warehouses that have been converted into a stylish food and shopping area. Along with an art studio, clothing shops, restaurants, bakery and a few other odds and ends, a visit to taste wine can turn into a day of fun. Some of the more notable stops include:

Pelican Ranch Winery (pinot noir and others including a tasty raspberry dessert wine)
Bonny Doon Tasting Room and cafe (stylish new diggs to the world's most eclectic winery)
Sones Cellars (featuring Santa Cruz's finest Zinfandel)
Vino Tabi (winery and micro-crush pad)
Dragonfly Cellars (small winery selling Durif and Malbec under Odonata label)
Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard (home of wonderful Durif)
Trout Gulch Vineyards (Aptos' finest pinot noir has operations here)
Equinox Champagne Cellar (high end sparkling wine from Santa Cruz mountains)
Sarticious Gin / Alexander Cellars

Also, not to be missed is the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery (http://www.santacruzmountainbrewing.com) which features excellent organic beers with friendly, hip staff. Beers include pale ale, india pale, amber, brown, stout and porter (erp...) When I was there, the scruffy guy behind the bar was blasting AC/DC, and offered me a friendly smile and a pint. Good stuff even to a wine-guy.

And, just in case you were confused, Surf City Vintners is not located in Huntington Beach.

Best, Joe Plonk

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