September is California Wine Month and comes just in time to celebrate our brand new Wine Trail signage and another vintage year of grape-growing. The new wine trail signs give visitors a clue that they are entering wine country—with 20-some wineries between Morgan Hill and Gilroy. You can see all 70 of these signs along Watsonville Road and Butterfield and places in between, including a sign on U.S. 101 near Dunne Avenue. The highway sign is made from a mesh material to allow the wind to pass through and keep it upright no matter how hard the wind blows.
I attended the ceremony at Guglielmo Winery that unveiled the new wine trail signage.
“If you love wine and value our open space, there is absolutely no reason to leave our region in order to taste and buy wine—not with our internationally recognized, award-winning wines,” said Mike Wasserman, president of the county board of supervisors. He explained how in 2012, he met with Mike Sampognaro (owner of Morgan Hill Cellars) and Jon Hatakeyama (local dentist and philanthropist), who spearheaded the community’s desire to designate a wine trail.
Gilroy Mayor Don Gage remembered growing up and watching prune, apricot and cherry orchards turn into vineyards that have boosted business and tourism in our area. Gage thanked “all of you who drink wine,” along with the vintners who take on all the risks of Mother Nature in order to make the wine.
Gene Guglielmo concluded the ceremony by giving thanks to all the winery owners.
“What makes our wine community so special is that we are able to set aside our personal agendas for the benefit of all of us,” he said.
A group of wine writers were whisked away on a bus to view the new signs first-hand and to visit a few wineries along the way. First stop was Thomas Kruse Winery, with Tom Kruse holding us spellbound as he demonstrated the disgorging of a bottle of Champagne, which he makes in the méthode champenoise—the traditional process used for centuries in the Champagne region of France.
“Thomas Kruse Winery is the oldest sole-proprietorship winery in the state,” Kruse said. And because of that, the title of Champagne has been grandfathered to his wines, unlike newer wineries that must use the term “sparkling wine.”
We traveled on to Morgan Hill Cellars, owned by Maryclaire and Mike Sampognaro. Mike showed us around the grounds while Maryclaire poured tastings. Next, we headed to Fortino Winery where Gino Fortino talked about the rich history of his winery, being founded in 1970 by his father, Ernest. The tour concluded with a stop at Kirigin Cellars and a rapid-fire commentary by owner Dhruv Khanna. Within the last two years, Kirigin Cellars has been transformed into a breath-taking property with an enormous event center, which is rustic and elegant all at once. There is not one, but three separate tasting rooms on the 33 acres of vineyards.
Also in time to celebrate California Wine Month is the 2014 harvest. Despite the current drought, most all wineries are experiencing a bumper crop, with most grapes being harvested on the early side.
“I can only predict that this harvest is going to be ‘interesting’ because of the unusual weather we’ve had—including so many warm nights and higher than normal humidity,” said Tom Moller, owner of Satori Cellars.
While at Hecker Pass Winery, I overheard a customer say that he was visiting from out-of-state and that it had been 25 years since he had last visited the winery. He wondered if they still sold the cream sherry he so fondly remembered.
Sure enough, he left with a bottle under each arm.
