Winetex
Austin, Texas
Master of Wine
Posts:10751
 | | 07/24/2004 7:12 PM |
| Winetex 85 points; $~20
Tasted at Pinot Noir tasting on 7/22/04
Pleasant but simple. Some cherry and cola flavors and slightly metallic on the finish. | | | |
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juggernt
Tampa, FL, USA
Wine Bottler
Posts:3407
| | 07/25/2004 3:09 PM |
| | My notes on this one are also consistent with winetex's. Nice but the finish was off-putting. | |
Visit The Butcher Block at http://www.butcherblocktampa.com/ | |
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David Niederauer
Los Gatos, CA
Master Sommelier
Posts:15756
| | 07/25/2004 6:00 PM |
| | David Bruce made some great small production Pinots in the 70's and 80's but since he has gone "big time" they are really suffering in quality. The winery is about 10 miles away as the crow flies. His wines sell well in grocery stores in this area. | | | |
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ormbee
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2397
| | 07/26/2004 6:41 AM |
| | I have ever only really liked the Sonoma bottling from David Bruce. | | | |
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Drew
Sammamish, WA
Wine Bottler
Posts:3167
| | 07/26/2004 11:40 PM |
| Since I'm having a bad day... I think I'll rant about David Bruce (and Byington) for a minute.
Who, in their right mind, would build a tasting room past the summit on Bear Creek Road? For those of you non-Valley people, imagine the single-most winding road in the Bay Area (worse than the feeders to Skyline by Fogarty, which has better wine and views IMHO). Then, add falling rocks, thick fog during certain times and constant road closures due to mud slides. Then, add a bunch of drunk people coming back from tastings at the two wineries to the mix.
I lived in Boulder Creek for a year (first year of marriage, no less), and I came very close to firebombing David Bruce :-)
DREW | | | |
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Russ Williams
Grape Fermenter
Posts:459
| | 07/27/2004 4:44 PM |
| Hope today is an improvement over yesterday. | | | |
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Stefania Wine
San Jose, CA
Grape Puncher
Posts:725
| | 07/27/2004 6:10 PM |
| DREW,
The vineyard I'm putting in on Mount Madonna is even more rugged to get too. 4 wheel drive is almost mandatory, in the winter, 4 wheel drive will be manditory, and it needs to be a small truck, a big 3/4 ton would have trouble. It's 20 minutes through the park, the road turns to dirt and is not maintained by the county. It's one lane, dirt, ungraded, most of the traffic is tractor, fog, and very twisty.
Sometimes you put wineries where you want them as the owner/winemaker/grower and the public be damned. I'd suggest you read "Vineyards in the Sky" by Eleanor Ray to see the history of the thinking behind that attitude from Santa Cruz Mountains winemakers. From Paul Masson on, local winemakers have been more concerned about their living environment than public access to them, in fact many take it with some pride to be difficult to get too.
David Bruce didn't put his winery in there for it to be easy for you to get too, he put it there because that's where he wanted to live and make wine. He learned that from Martin Ray. | |
Paul Romero - Owner/Winemaker Stefania Wine
www.stefaniawine.com | |
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ormbee
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2397
| | 07/27/2004 8:13 PM |
| tlily,
I'll agree with that, and I am sure the same can be said of Bill (?) Byington, but David Bruce recently expanded the tasting room considerably. There is no reason to do this other than drawing a bigger crowd, and as Drew said, that is no road for people to drive on after coming out of a wine tasting. I have no issue with the winery there, but if you want to have an accessible tasting room, put it in an accessible area. Geez, that road has mirrors on some of the corners so that you can see what is coming. | | | |
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Stefania Wine
San Jose, CA
Grape Puncher
Posts:725
| | 07/27/2004 10:02 PM |
| The mirror comment made me laugh. Both vineyards I do have mirrors on the road to see oncoming traffic.
Actually after visiting the Napa Vinter's Collective this spring, I think there's a good business opportunity to put such a business in Los Gatos featuring the SCM wineries. It would be perfect since so few are open to the public and even those that are are hard to get too.
Last summer as I led Otis and Mrs Otis up to Ridge, we hit that first turn past the stables and the quary, and Stef yelled at me "Slow down, they're from Chicago, you'll kill them on this road".  Montebello reminds be off a quote from "A Bridge too Far". To paraphrase "I've got good news and bad news about the road ahead. The good news is it doesn't get any twistier, the bad news is this is the wide part." | |
Paul Romero - Owner/Winemaker Stefania Wine
www.stefaniawine.com | |
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ChangeMe
Barrel Filler
Posts:1371
| | 07/27/2004 10:40 PM |
| | We had similar feelings on Skyline Drive after hiking some trails, Long Ridge? Of course, we are Floridians so used to the flats not mountains. | | | |
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ormbee
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2397
| | 07/27/2004 11:02 PM |
| Quote:
Actually after visiting the Napa Vinter's Collective this spring, I think there's a good business opportunity to put such a business in Los Gatos featuring the SCM wineries. It would be perfect since so few are open to the public and even those that are are hard to get too.
That's a great idea. | | | |
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Drew
Sammamish, WA
Wine Bottler
Posts:3167
| | 07/28/2004 6:45 PM |
| Tlily -
Was a grumpy day rant. I guess you're stuck having a tasting room where you own the land, but god it's a horrible place to have a bunch of people visit. Byington (across the road and down a bit) has huge receptions, to boot. I love a great pinot as much as the next guy, but unless Jesus is standing there changing the water over, I'd probably skip David Bruce...
DREW | | | |
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Stefania Wine
San Jose, CA
Grape Puncher
Posts:725
| | 07/28/2004 7:03 PM |
| I've heard consistant rumors that Byington makes more money from weddings than selling wine. We're headed up to Silver Mountain tomorrow night for the SCM Winegrowers BBQ, should be a fun drive at 4:30 in the afternoon  | |
Paul Romero - Owner/Winemaker Stefania Wine
www.stefaniawine.com | |
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Stefania Wine
San Jose, CA
Grape Puncher
Posts:725
| | 07/28/2004 8:48 PM |
| | oh and back on the subject. there's been a long standing rumor that David Bruce 'spices up' his low level Pinot Noir's with a good dose of Petite Sirah. The original tasting note is in line with that IMHO. | |
Paul Romero - Owner/Winemaker Stefania Wine
www.stefaniawine.com | |
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Winetex
Austin, Texas
Master of Wine
Posts:10751
| | 07/29/2004 1:01 AM |
| | I don't think that's too far out of the question. The wines definitely have some flavors that could be atypical for PN. Strictly for taste purposes In some wines it's a good thing and in others such as this one not as good. | | | |
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ormbee
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2397
| | 07/29/2004 6:07 PM |
| Quote:
I've heard consistant rumors that Byington makes more money from weddings than selling wine. We're headed up to Silver Mountain tomorrow night for the SCM Winegrowers BBQ, should be a fun drive at 4:30 in the afternoon
I've noticed that Byington has seriously discounted thier wines over the last few years, so the above would not surprise me.
The only wine from there that I give any consideration to is the Alliage, and even that I have not had for about 2-3 years. | | | |
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spyder
Grape Picker
Posts:16
| | 02/16/2008 9:35 PM |
| Sorry, but I stumbled across this old post while searching for something else ... and wanted to add my $0.02
With regard to the location of some of the tasting rooms in the Santa Cruz Mtns, I find the drive to many of them to be great! The roads may be narrow and winding, but the landscape and views along the way are truly breathtaking in many cases. I went to the Thomas Fogarty Winery(off Skyline) for the first time last weekend and was greeted by one of the best panoramic views of the Santa Clara Valley I've seen in years. The same was true of Loma Prieta Winery (also off Skyline, but on the east side of Hwy 17). The drive was long, and the parking sparse (they are still a garage operation), but on that clear day you could see the Pacific Ocean from SF down to Monterey Bay.
Byington and David Bruce were a rather easy drive IMO. The only real adventure was getting to Zayante Vineyards. The access road (East Zayante Rd) there is about 2.5 cars wide and 8 miles long with large redwoods and jutting rocks off the mountain side to worry about. I would never go there during bad weather. Granted, if you go to any of the SCM wineries during the rainy winter months, you may experience washouts and mudslides, but that's normal life in the mountains. To me they are worth it though as they grow some great grapes and make some fantastic wine.
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