Santa Cruz Mountains

The Ridge Vineyards tasting room at Monte Bello is home to one of America’s most iconic wines. Photo courtesy of Ridge Vineyards

Guides   Santa Cruz Mountains   San Francisco

How to Spend a Sublime 72 Hours in the Santa Cruz Mountains

By , a Bay Area-based freelance journalist who covers food, wine, travel, and culture. A former editor at Hemispheres, he has written for Condé Nast Traveler, Wine Enthusiast, Eater, Afar, and the Los Angeles Times.

The Santa Cruz Mountains might not be as famous as Napa, but you could argue that no better encapsulates the feeling of California than this one. The rugged mountain range runs from the San Francisco Peninsula to the top of the Salinas Valley on the Central Coast, dividing the beaches of Santa Cruz County from Silicon Valley and the broader Bay Area. There’s fog from the Pacific Ocean, forests dense with soaring redwoods, soil that has been upheaved and rearranged for millennia by the instability of the San Andreas Fault.

The richness of this environment results in an extraordinary range of terroirs. On the warmer east side, where the drier, scragglier oak and manzanita woods house wineries looking down on the Santa Clara Valley, vintners can produce stunningly complex cabernet and its ilk, including the highly sought-after Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello bottling. Cross over the summit to the west slope, and suddenly you (and the vines) are bathed in fog, in the shade of redwoods. These cooler sites are ideal for pinot noir and chardonnay, both of which have a legacy here that extends back more than a century.

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Indeed, these mountains have a long history to draw upon—one that long predates the appellation’s 1981 creation. A physician named Osea Perrone planted the Cupertino property that would become Ridge Monte Bello all the way back in 1885; not long after, Paul Masson brought pinot noir and chardonnay cuttings from his native Burgundy, believing that this was the place to make the finest sparkling wine in America. Masson founded the La Cresta estate, establishing the mountains as prime territory for cool-climate winegrowing, a legacy that a former stockbroker named Martin Ray would carry on at what would become Mount Eden Vineyards. The iconoclastic nature of the area, where the hippies ruled (Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters held their acid tests in the mountain town of La Honda) and the information age was born (back when tech pioneers worked in garages, not billion-dollar compounds), drew experimental, do-it-yourself types like Randall Grahm, who came to fame producing Rhône-style wines at Bonny Doon Vineyard.

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Wineries and Restaurants Around Santa Cruz

A down-to-earth, go-your-own-way ethos still pervades the place, with the tasting rooms at even the most acclaimed wineries laid-back and uncrowded. This is surely in part because of the isolated nature of the mountain properties. Ridge and Mount Eden are maybe two miles from each other as the crow flies, but navigating the winding mountain roads from one to the other takes a good 45 minutes. (And, after you’ve maneuvered through a couple of switchbacks, using those spit buckets will feel even more sensible.) Some tasting rooms are only open during the week, others only on the weekend, so plan ahead.

The good news: While the Santa Cruz Mountains feel worlds away, they’re actually quite close to civilization. Los Gatos, a restaurant-filled San Jose suburb in the eastern foothills, is only about an hour’s drive from San Francisco or Oakland, and downtown Santa Cruz is just half an hour further (if you avoid weekend beach traffic). You can hit a couple of wineries on a day trip from the city, or book yourself a beachside stay and enjoy the best of California: relaxed decks and patios, paroramic views and idyllic forests, modest tasting fees and chill vibes, and, of course, exceptional wines.

Day 3: Beachside and Beyond

Copal West Side

Photo courtesy of Copal

Farm-to-Table Brunch

Before you head out of town, this bright Mexican restaurant is along Mission Street just west of downtown. Chef Ana Fabian Mendoza is from a small town in Oaxaca, and she focuses largely on the cuisine of her home state, serving a wide variety of moles, as well as molotes (masa frittters), tlayudas, and chapulines. Should you happen to be back later in the day, Copal’s bar has an impressive selection of agave spirits, and an inventive cocktail program.

Other options: To get a solid base for an afternoon of tasting, zip down Highway 1 to Seascape Village in Aptos, where you can enjoy an early Mexican lunch on a patio with an ocean view at Dos Pescados. The winners here are the seafood dishes — tuna tostadas, ceviche, and grilled prawns in guajillo chile sauce.

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Photo courtesy of Copal

Windy Oaks Estate Corralitos

An Estate Deep in the Hills

The vineyards on the south side of Santa Cruz County tend to be tucked back in the hills around the tiny farming town of Corralitos, and none is deeper than Windy Oaks Estate, which Jim and Judy Schultze founded in 1996. The drive into the dark woods may have you wondering if you’re wandering into “Deliverance” territory, but when you reach Windy Oaks you’ll find a sunny, family- and dog-friendly patio right next to the vineyard. Opt for the Premier Tasting, which is an extra $5 and focuses on estate and reserve wines.

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Under the NorCal Sun: For a Mediterranean feel, Nicholson Vineyards produces not only Burgundian varietals but also Italian ones (barbera, sangiovese), as well as olive oil using the fruit of a grove of Tuscan olive trees planted on the estate. To try the olive oil along with the wines, book a private tasting among those trees.

Storrs Winery and Vineyards Corralitos

Organic Vines, And a Bocce Court

Just west of Corralitos, on the way back to the highway from Windy Oaks, you’ll find Storrs’ organically farmed Hidden Springs estate. The winery makes pinot noir, chardonnay, and sparkling bottles from the estate, in addition to a range of varieties (sauvignon blanc, petite sirah, grenache) sourced from other vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains and along the coast. Aside from standard tastings and picnics, you can book a two-hour bocce session, which includes two bottles for a party of up to six.

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Eager to get back to town? Storrs also has a conveniently located tasting room in downtown Santa Cruz. No bocce court, though.

Trestles Capitola

Wine Country Cuisine by the Sea

Local son Nick Sherman opened his Capitola restaurant — named for the city’s 19th-century wooden railroad trestle — in 2021, and it quickly became one of the best in the county. Sherman came up in Napa and Sonoma kitchens, and the Wine Country influence shows in his cooking: The menu at Trestles shouts out area farmers who produce the ingredients for dishes such as crab-stuffed squash blossoms, brick chicken with blue cheese grits, and peach toast with burrata and caviar. (Pro tip: The burger, served only on Thursday, is a local favorite.)

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Other options: Building on the success of Trestles, Sherman expanded to Aptos in 2024 with Cavalletta. The main focus here is the pizzas that emerge perfectly charred from the 800-degree wood-fired oven, but pastas and other Italian dishes pop as well.

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