Santa Cruz Mountains, 1996-2004 from the Web Winery archive
The Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association is the wineries' own trade group; today it calls itself Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains1. On the original Web Winery its pages were hosted by Aull-N-Aull, which was a business associate member, so the association's history, news, competition results, festival pages and maps sat beside the shop's own regional maps. The summaries below cover those pages, credited to the association, and each links the Wayback Machine's copy of the original.
The association on Web Winery
The association's history of the region
The association's history page told the region's story from the Spanish mission vines of the late 1700s to the 1981 federal recognition of the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation2. It credits the Jarvis brothers with the first commercial vineyards, in the Vine Hill district in the 1860s, and names the pioneers who followed, among them Emmett Rixford at La Questa near Woodside, Pierre Klein at Mira Valle on Montebello Ridge, and Dr. John Stewart in Scotts Valley. Phylloxera and Prohibition left only Paul Masson and the Jesuits' Novitiate winery working; Bargetto, Martin Ray and Chaffee Hall's Hallcrest started up after Repeal, and the revival came in the 1960s and 1970s with David Bruce, Ridge and a dozen more2. The version saved on Web Winery is signed by Andrew Nolten and dated 20032.
A shorter fact sheet described the appellation as the association saw it: mountain land from Mount Madonna north to Half Moon Bay, bounded by elevation lines rather than county lines, the first American wine region defined by a mountain range, and "America's Premier Mountain Appellation"3.
The Vintners' Festival and other events
The association's big public event was the Vintners' Festival, held over two weekends each June: one on the Santa Clara and San Mateo side of the mountains, one on the Santa Cruz side. A commemorative glass was the ticket, and the wineries, many of them not normally open to visitors, poured at their cellars and at restaurants4,5. The festival grew from 35 wineries at 27 places in 2000, its 13th year, to 44 wineries at 41 places in 2004, its 17th4,5. Every summer the association also ran the Santa Cruz Mountains Commercial Wine Competition, whose winners went on show at the Santa Cruz County Fair6, and it ran a Passport program, four Saturdays a year, when twenty wineries opened their doors to Passport holders7. The pages also record its Wine with Heart benefit, a winemakers' dinner and a series of dinners in the vineyards.
History, news, events and awards
- On Web Winery by December 1998
Winemaking in the Santa Cruz Mountains: the association's history
A history of winemaking in the mountains, from the mission vines of the late 1700s and the Jarvis brothers' Vine Hill plantings of the 1860s, through phylloxera and Prohibition (which Paul Masson and the Novitiate winery survived), to the revival led by Martin Ray, David Bruce and Ridge in the 1960s and 1970s and the appellation's federal recognition in 1981. The copy saved in 2005 is signed by Andrew Nolten and dated 2003, with a short bibliography.
Wine making in the Santa Cruz Mountains began with the Spanish Missionaries in the 18th century.
- On Web Winery by January 1999
The 13th Vintners' Festival, June 2000
The association's page for its 13th annual Vintners' Festival in June 2000: 35 wineries pouring at 27 places over two weekends, the Santa Clara and San Mateo side of the mountains first and the Santa Cruz side the next, with barrel tastings, tours, music and art. The saved copy (from 2002) lists each stop with what the winery planned to pour.
- May 2, 1999
Wine with Heart, 1999
The fourth annual Wine with Heart, a benefit for the American Heart Association and vascular surgery research at Stanford: a dinner and auction at Thomas Fogarty Winery in Woodside on April 30, 1999, then a tasting and auction with all 43 of the region's wineries at the Stanford Barn in Palo Alto on May 2.
- On Web Winery by October 2000
The 15th Vintners' Festival, June 2002
The 2002 festival page: 37 wineries at 28 places, on June 1 and 2 in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and June 8 and 9 in Santa Cruz County, many at wineries not normally open to the public. It opens with the association's short case for the region: altitude, ocean and fog, a long growing season and low-yielding mountain vines.
- On Web Winery by October 2000
Wine with Heart, a later year
A later page for the same benefit, hosted by 45 local wineries: a Friday dinner and auction at Thomas Fogarty Winery and a Sunday grand tasting. It said the previous year's auction had raised more than $100,000 for Stanford vascular research and the American Heart Association.
- September 10, 2001
The association's news list
The index of the association's news on Web Winery: competition releases from 1996 to 2004, the appellation fact sheet, and links to Santa Cruz Sentinel pieces from 2001 (listed in the press archive by paper, date and headline).
- On Web Winery by March 2002
Getting around on event days
A short list of limousine and sedan companies that drove visitors during the association's wine events, a reminder that the festival pages always urged people not to drive themselves.
- August 2002
Results of the 2002 wine competition (second copy)
A second copy of the 2002 results table, sorted by medal and score, with David Bruce's 2000 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir as Best of Show.
- February 25, 2003
The Ultimate Winemakers' Dinner, 2003
The association's eighth annual Ultimate Winemakers' Dinner, on February 25, 2003 at the Shadowbrook Restaurant above Soquel Creek: a tasting of wines from up to 25 member wineries, then dinner with a winemaker at each table pouring their own wines.
- August 2003
Local wine takes three top awards, 2003
Cinnabar's 2000 Chardonnay won a double gold, Best of Show and a new award, Best Santa Cruz Mountains White Wine, open only to wines made from Santa Cruz Mountains grapes. The release said the wine came from eight acres planted in 1984 at 1,400 feet, just above the fog line, and quoted winemaker George Troquato on the old vines' small berries.
- September 2003
Dinner in the Vineyard at Silver Mountain, September 2003
One of the association's Dinner in the Vineyard evenings, "where food meets the vine": dinner among the vines at Silver Mountain Vineyards on September 6, 2003.
- October 2003
Dinner in the Vineyard at Burrell School, October 2003
The next dinner in the same series, at Burrell School Vineyards on October 3, 2003.
- 2004
Results of the 2004 wine competition
The 20th competition, judged by 39 professionals. Salamandre's 2002 Arroyo Seco Pinot Noir was Best of Show; Soquel Vineyards' 2003 Partners' Reserve Chardonnay was the best Santa Cruz Mountains white, and Fernwood Cellars' 2002 Redwood Retreat Vineyards Zinfandel the best Santa Cruz Mountains red. The full medal list follows.
- 2004
The 17th Vintners' Festival, June 2004
"A Taste of the Mountains": the 2004 festival, on June 5 and 6 and June 12 and 13, with 44 wineries at 41 places, the most of any festival on the old site. As before, a commemorative glass was the ticket, and the attractions were barrel tastings, tours, new releases, music and food.
- On Web Winery by March 2004
Appellation facts
The association's fact sheet on the appellation: it runs from Mount Madonna north to Half Moon Bay across Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, its borders follow the 400-foot and 800-foot contour lines, and it was the first American wine region defined by a mountain range (1981). In 1995 it counted 61 vineyards on almost 700 acres, about a third of them Chardonnay.
most of the acreage consists of rugged, steep terrain hosting majestic redwood groves, mountain lions and banana slugs.
The Passport program
- On Web Winery by April 2003
The Passport program
How the association's Passport program worked: on the third Saturday of January, April, July and November, twenty wineries, half of them not normally open to the public, welcomed Passport holders, who collected a stamp at each one. Completed Passports earned a prize, with no deadline.
the true reward is discovering and enjoying the great wines along the way.
Friends of the Winemakers
- On Web Winery by December 1998
Friends of the Winemakers
A club of local wine enthusiasts devoted to the wines and wine history of the Santa Clara Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains: a winery visit or tasting each month, and volunteers pouring at nonprofit events.
- June 1999
Friends of the Winemakers outing, June 1999
The club's outing of June 26, 1999 to the Cienega Valley south of Hollister: Calera, Pietra Santa, and Cienega Valley Vineyards, the old Almaden winery on the San Andreas fault, with an optional dinner afterward.
The old maps
Directions on these maps are long out of date.
- On Web Winery by December 1998
Map of California's wine appellations
Aull-N-Aull's map of the California appellations, with a short promotional note on the Santa Cruz Mountains that tied the region's wines to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, whose epicenter lay in these mountains.
- On Web Winery by December 1998
The map index
A short index of the shop's two maps: California's appellations and the Santa Cruz Mountains wine region.
- On Web Winery by December 1998
Map of the Santa Cruz Mountains wine region
Aull-N-Aull's numbered map of the region's wineries, updated July 15, 2003, with links to the wineries' own pages. The copy saved in May 2005 already carries the shop's closing notice at the top.
- On Web Winery by December 1998
Map of the Santa Cruz Mountains wine region (second version)
Another version of the regional map and winery list. Its saved copy, from May 2005, also opens with the closing notice.
- On Web Winery by September 2000
Vintners' Festival map
A map of the festival stops, which the page itself said was good for the wineries' relative positions only.
- 2002
Vintners' Festival map, 2002
The map image for the 2002 festival stops.
Sources
- Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains, "About" , checked Nov 15, 2026.
- Andrew Nolten, "Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Making History", for the association, on Web Winery by December 1998
- The association's "Appellation Info", on Web Winery by March 2004
- The 13th Vintners' Festival page, June 2000
- The 17th Vintners' Festival page, June 2004
- Release on the 1996 Santa Cruz Mountains Commercial Wine Competition
- The association's Passport program page, 2003