About the winery
Woodside Vineyards was Bob Mullen's small winery in Woodside, on the Peninsula side of the Santa Cruz Mountains; its 1998 page on Web Winery called it one of the oldest and smallest California wineries6. Mullen made his first wines in the 1950s from grapes on a Kings Mountain Road property whose owner didn't want the harvest, and then went into partnership with the Groetzinger family, who made wine at La Questa Vineyards4. La Questa's vines were first planted in 1884, and its wine won a gold medal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition1. The winery was bonded in 19632, and when the Groetzingers moved to Europe in 1970, Mullen bought their share4.
In 1998 Bob and Polly Mullen owned the winery. Its page described a family winery helped by long-time volunteers at harvest and tastings, making about 2,000 cases a year of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and a dry Gewürztraminer, with most of the Cabernet and all of the Zinfandel from Woodside vines more than 100 years old6. In its later years the winery worked from Auto Vino in San Carlos2.
In August 2025 Mullen, then 99, sold the winery to Jerold O'Brien of Silver Mountain Vineyards, a friend of 55 years; the tanks, barrels, equipment and wine moved from San Carlos to Silver Mountain1,2. Founder Bob Mullen died in November 2025, aged 994,5.
Known for
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Zinfandel from century-old Woodside vines
- Pinot Noir
- Chardonnay
Nearby in Santa Cruz Mountains
- Thomas Fogarty Winery WoodsideOpen
- Aptos Vineyard AptosOpen
- Bargetto Winery SoquelOpen
- Burrell School Vineyards & Winery Los GatosOpen
