Shadow Mountain is an ideal grape-growing location with an elevation of 3,500 feet, and it’s blessed with Pacific Ocean breezes and cool, dry nights.Master vintner Alexander McGeary specializes in award-winning viognier, whites, reds and dessert wines such as merlot, Syrah, cabernet, zinfandel and a muscat cannelli.Shadow Mountain Vineyards is a 3rd generation family estate grape growing & wine making business, which was founded by Agusto & Helen Mase, an Italian couple in 1944. The second generation of the family continued in this family tradition, by planting extensive vineyards in the 1960′s and 70′s.

At Los Pilares it has to be local. For the folks at this winery that means 100% San Diego County grapes. It has to be the appropriate varieties. We want nature to choose the varieties, not marketing. Coleman, Jay, Michael and Pelin don’t look for Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay in San Diego’s provençal backcountry, rather for varieties like Grenache, Carignane, and Mourvedre. There’s not a lot of it growing here yet. Fortunately, the growers who have it tend to share Los Pilares Wine philosophy. The fruit has to be harvested at the right time — that means not overripe; we want to bring you fresh, bright, crisp flavors that show off the variety that San Diego can deliver (variety of the grapes, of the farms, of the vintage), not generic, thick, plummy, hot fruit.