San Benito County’s Cienega Valley is unique as far as wine
countries go. It’s less cluttered and more rural than Sonoma or
Napa. It’s newer, greener and less ostentatious than France’s wine
country. So it’s only fitting that San Benito County has its own
group dedicated to promoting everything that makes the area’s
vineyards so different.
Hollister – San Benito County’s Cienega Valley is unique as far as wine countries go. It’s less cluttered and more rural than Sonoma or Napa. It’s newer, greener and less ostentatious than France’s wine country. So it’s only fitting that San Benito County has its own group dedicated to promoting everything that makes the area’s vineyards so different.
But up until about four years ago, when the San Benito County Wine Growers Association was formed, no such group existed. Individual wineries like Calera and DeRose had to work by themselves to promote the Cienega Valley’s best-kept secrets – not only in places like Sonoma where wineries and tourists alike sardine themselves onto high-priced acreage, but also within their own county, where few people knew just how many great wines were being produced every year just a few miles down the road.
“It’s great not to have to go to Napa or Sonoma where there are so many tourists,” explained Sue Marsh, events coordinator for the SBCWGA. “One of the beauties of our county is we don’t have the massive tourism yet.”
What the county does have, and has had for some time, Marsh said, is a population ready to embrace local wines if they just knew they were here. Marsh, who ran the wine program at the Tres Pinos Inn before joining the SBCWGA and switching to a career in real-estate, said it was her love of local wines that kept her involved in the whole culture even after she changed jobs.
While working at the Inn, she said, “We got the idea that we should have an association because we just realized that every time we mentioned local wines, people were coming in droves.”
Since its inception, the nonprofit organization has grown to include eight wineries, including its newest member, Donati Vineyards. And they’ve been striving to make people aware of San Benito County’s ability to compete with the big boys of wine and tourism that have been in the game a lot longer.
“I think (the SBCWGA’s efforts) are promising,” said Josh Jensen, owner of Calera Winery. “These things don’t just happen over night. I mean, Napa’s been promoting itself as a great wine area and a tourism spot for what, 140 years now. So we’re starting a little late. But we’re starting to get the word out.”
“I think it’s to the benefit of the whole community because we bring a lot of tourism into the community, which for obvious reasons is good for everybody,” Marsh said.
And as far as community benefits go, giving out annual scholarships to graduating high school seniors isn’t a bad contribution, either. The group will name the recipient of its first scholarship this year in an ongoing effort to support local students going on to study viticulture or wine making after high school.
The SBCWGA raises money for its scholarship program and other charities, like the newly-formed local Habitat for Humanity, by putting on several events every year, according to Marsh. Between its annual Food, Wine & Golf Classic, “Twilight Tastings” at the county fair and a “Passport Weekend” during which guests sample the region’s wines at each of the SBCWGA members’ tasting rooms, Marsh said the organization has stepped up its fund-raising efforts over the past 12 months.
Members have also been busy brainstorming ideas for ways to promote the region both within and outside of San Benito County. The group recently had a new wine trail map printed that they’re hoping to get distributed in Santa Clara, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. They’re also working on getting signs posted on Cienega Road pointing visitors towards the different wineries and looking for wine events throughout the state where they can showcase San Benito County wines.
“We’re looking at a couple different things. One of them is looking at doing events that are up the peninsula,” said Marsh. “What we’re looking at doing is presenting not Pietra Santa and not DeRose, but all the wines of San Benito County at one table.”
“It allows new customers to come to this area,” said SBCWGA Vice President Deanna Gimelli, who owns Pietra Santa with her husband Joe. “It’s us pushing out to pull people into this area.”
And slowly but surely, the SBCWGA is doing just that, and they’re doing it all on their own.
“We have in the past been approached by (the Santa Clara Valley Wine Growers Association). In my opinion it’s that they think that our wines are so good that they want to be associated with us,” said Marsh. “Maybe that sounds egotistical, but hey, I’m a Realtor.”
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at jq*****@fr***********.com.
