Drive out on Highway 46 for a bit and you will find tucked away Rocky Creek Cellars. Rocky Creek is a homey little tasting room with the charm of a rustic cabin. The folks that run this place, like most of the wineries and tasting rooms in the area, are a family, so you can tell a certain amount of personal flair and attention has been put into everything right down to the tasty crackers they serve with their flights.
Every winemaker pours a little bit of their self into their handcrafted wines. From the soil, vineyard, grapes and the actual end product, the wine. Six generations our family has cared for and improved the estate and has heavily shaped what the Fernwood Cellars brand has become today.
Matt Oetinger, the only child of Linda Pond and Lew Oetinger, established Fernwood Cellars and built the winery on Redwood Retreat land. He became the fifth generation of his pioneering family to work on and enhance the land through a successful agri-business. After graduating from U.C. Davis with a degree in Biology, Matt served as vineyard manager at Clos LaChance Winery in Morgan Hill, CA. He continued to pursue his passion for winemaking and eventually dedicated all his time and energy to the evolution of Fernwood Cellars.
Broc Cellars is a Berkeley-based winery known for producing refreshing and approachable wines meant for everyday enjoyment. Founded in 2002 by owner and winemaker Chris Brockway, the winery employs native fermentations and uses organically-grown grapes. Broc wines are crafted with the goal of uplifting the spirit without overwhelming the senses.
Chris Brockway’s winemaking journey began with a fascination for California Zinfandel. Drawn from his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska to California by the spicy, brambly fruit style, he discovered that the California wine scene had shifted towards the "bigger is better" trend of the time. Personally, Brockway found this approach excessive, with wines that were high in alcohol and overly robust.
Believing that California wine could offer a different experience, Brockway started with a single barrel in 2002 and has since expanded to over 20 different wine releases each year. Broc Cellars continues to focus on creating fresh, enjoyable California wines. In 2023, the winery's commitment to simple and ethical winemaking expanded with the acquisition of Fox Hill Vineyard.
Located in Sonoma County, California, one of the world's premier wine producing areas, McIlroy Wines is a small, family based winery that creates outstanding wines. Only a small number of cases are produced each year.
Joel Gott was born to make wine. His grandfather was winemaker and president of Inglenook in the 1960s and 1970s while his father, Cary Gott, is the founder of Montevina and continues to consult for wineries such as D.R. Stephens. In addition to Joel's uncanny blending ability, he has privileged access to many of the best and as yet undiscovered fruit sources in the Napa Valley. Joel Gott wines are therefore remarkable values, offering gobs of classic California fruit, good structure and excellent balance. Of course, Joel is also the proud proprietor of Gott's Roadside, Napa Valley's red hot retro-chic "hamburger joint" on Highway 29, and most recently, in San Francisco as well. Robert Parker once proclaimed a meal at Taylor's one of the finest meals of the year in the Wine Advocate! Not open to the public.
The winery’s 40 acres of prime vineyards are located in the Fair Play Appellation which has an average elevation of 2500 feet and a soil composition of decomposed granite. The grape growing sites in this vineyard were chosen to bring out the best quality in each varietal and all of the vines are pruned by hand.Perry Creek’s diverse winemaking team of Garrett Buckland, Stefan Tscheppe and Scott Johnson combine experience from Napa, Austria and the Sierra Foothills. They share a vineyard driven approach, developing a personality and character for each wine they produce.
Reservations are a must! Call a couple of weeks ahead of time, so you get the day and time slot you want. They only have two time slots, either 10am or 2pm. The wine tour and tasting runs about three hours (half tour, half tasting), but it's totally worth it! The winery grounds are gorgeous. Great scenic views. The tour and tasting combo is $40, but it's waived if you buy an equivalent amount of wine. Sweet! Their bottles range from about $25 to $50 depending on what you get.
DeRose Vineyards has the single best Negrette I have ever had. Pat DeRose not only has one of the coolest moustaches on the planet, but he and Al (his son) are wine purists, not necessarily in the "Wine Spectator" since, they simply love great wines. Al DeRose search for new endeavors took him to central Chile where he produces and imports his Chilean wines. De Rose VIneyards is one of the oldest operated wineries in the US - 1854. At De Rose VIneyards they are not concerned about anything other than wine... nada. The DeRose family doesn't care about wine spectator's points, they don't care about who endorsed what, and I find that not simply amuzing, but delightful! Their style is very much like the old world where the people of the community get together. The winemakers, the farmers, the butcher and the candlestick-maker all living together, drinking together, eating together and enjoying the celebration of life. At DeRose Vineyards it is,"Good friends, good food and good wine.*
Hours:
Hollister Tasting Room
9970 Cienega Road
Hollister, CA
Hours:
Thursday - Friday: 11 AM – 5 PM
Saturday - Sunday: 11 AM – 4 PM
San Martin Tasting Room
255 Fitzgerald Avenue
San Martin, CA
Hours:
Friday: 4 PM – 8 PM
LaRocca Vineyards was born in 1984 when Philip and Judy began farming 110 acres of unkept Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot wine grapes, on Doe Mill Ridge in Forest Ranch, California. Philip and Judy transformed the vineyard to a thriving, successful certified organic operation. LaRocca Vineyards is located at 2600 feet elevation on the lower southern slopes of Mount Lassen.
In the heart of California’s scenic Gold Rush Country, Ironstone Vineyards will surprise and delight you with a winery that places as much emphasis on the natural beauty and history of their surroundings, as they do on the quality of their wines.
