A magical place, with a magical name. Perched high on a Santa Cruz Mountain ridge, Cinnabar appears as if floating on a cloud. Maybe it's just the fog. But don't think that. You might break the spell.
Like the 14th century alchemists who believed they could use cinnabar to turn ordinary metal into gold, owner Tom Mudd applies modern-day alchemy to magically transform the fruit of the vine into hand-crafted wine.
Tom started small. While working as a research engineer at Stanford Research Institute, he spent more than a decade growing grapes and making wine in a one-acre vineyard in Woodside, the top end of the so-called Chaine d'Or, or golden chain, which stretches south along the west side of San Francisco Bay. Cinnabar is the last link in the chain.
His experience as a home winemaker gave him the confidence to think big, and in the early 1980s Tom searched the Santa Cruz Mountains by helicopter looking for just the right spot. He found it on top of a ridge and soon after cleared 23 acres and started to plant, gradually building a winery and digging caves at his 1650-feet high site. Tom had turned his hobby into a new profession.
And two decades later he's still at it, producing Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet and Pinot Noir. Low impact farming and meddle-free winemaking help him create wines of uncompromised quality.
Cinnabar is a no-nonsense winery, with no tasting room, no wine club and no private events. Just fine wine. That is all, but it is enough!
The public can visit six times per year, five of which are in conjunction with the Santa Cruz Mountains Winery Association. And they can put their feet to the fruit at the annual grape stomp held the last weekend in September, when wine lovers come from all around to gather at the winery on the top of the clouds.
Cinnabar Vineyard & Winery
23000 Congress Springs Road
Saratoga, California 95071
408-741-5858
www.cinnabarwine.com