For wine-loving visitors,
these urban operations
fun 94 South Bay Accent
deliver t h e fo exploring
a local winery’s offerings without even
hitting the highway in many cases.
But the passion persists, and those who use grapes
purchased from growers, buy used equipment and
find less costly space in an urban environment can
feed their fervor without the scary price tag. For
wine-loving visitors, these urban operations deliver
the fun of exploring a local winery’s offerings without
even hitting the highway in many cases. After
grabbing some friends and checking out the South
Bay’s urban winery scene, sippers will be sold on this
hyper-local “wine country.”
SAN JOSE AND CAMPBELL
Close to downtown San Jose and the international
airport, J. Lohr Vineyards is a family-run operation
that’s grown into a fairly large producer of enjoyable,
affordable wines during its half-century of life.
The production facilities are elsewhere, as are the
vineyards, but guests of the pleasant tasting room
rave about the unheard-of free tastings of most of
the wines and the amiable environment. Many varieties
are available, with highlights being some of the
higher-end cabernets, a lush Central Coast chardonnay
and a forward Monterey valdiguié, a semi-rare
red French Rhone grape. www.jlohr.com; open 10
a.m.–5 p.m. daily. No tasting fee for most wines.
A relative youngster compared to J. Lohr, Coterie
Cellars is just a few blocks away and is as small as its
neighbor is large production wise, with the delicious
wines tending to sell out quickly. The handsome,
modern tasting room has a roll-up garage door, a
common feature in Pacific Northwest urban wineries.
Cherry-picking fine grapes from all around
California, Coterie specializes in pinot noirs and
interesting Rhone-style wines. Don’t miss the superb viogniers
and palate-pleasing pinots from various prime regions. www.
coteriewinery.com; open Thursday–Friday, 5–8 p.m., and weekends,
1–5 p.m. Tasting fee: $10.
Originally launched as a home-winemaking project by a local
geologist and his pal, a San Francisco plastic surgeon, Travieso
Winery now inhabits a Campbell warehouse and might well have
some of the coolest wine labels around. A noted winemaker friend
got the two interested in Rhone grapes, and they now make some
lovely wines, including a mouth-filling syrah from the Santa Lucia
Highlands and a delicious white blend of viognier, chardonnay
and roussanne. But the two wine nuts also make cabernet and
Locals need not drive a few hours to the Napa/Sonoma wine
country anymore to taste wine and meet passionate winemakers.
Now there are delightful little clusters of urban wineries throughout
the South Bay; and these pockets of prime tasting territory
cater to local wine lovers.In addition, some winemakers in the
region whose operations are located in hard-to-find corners of
the mountains have been opening more accessible and friendly
tasting rooms, particularly in quaint Saratoga, where casual connoisseurs
can stroll along the main drag and belly up to Bacchus
inspired bars.
The economics of owning a winery in 21st century California
are a prime driver of the urban wineries trend. Good vineyard
land can easily exceed $100,000 per acre—$350,000 per acre for
coveted parcels in the Napa Valley—while the stratospheric costs
of building and outfitting a winery, establishing and marketing
wine and all the other financial barriers limit this golden dream
of would-be winery owners to those with vast personal wealth or
deep-pocket investors on speed dial. In short, this challenging
business is for those who shouldn’t care about profits, which can
be low or nonexistent.
OWNER
RICHARD
HANKE OF
LEFT BEND
WINERY
COURTESY OF LEFT BEND WINERY; PREVIOUS SPREAD FROM TOP
LEFT: COURTESY OF J. LOHR; KRISTIAN MELOM; COURTESY OF COTERIE
CELLARS; COURTESY OF SER WINERY; SHUTTERSTOCK
