We believe wine should dance with food to make the experience more than the sum of the ingredients.
Our Philosophy
This means making wines with moderate alcohol and oak so that the true characteristics of the grape varieties are expressed. You won’t find any high-alcohol, jammy, oaky wines here.
In 2008 we launched a second brand, Quinta Cruz, which features only varieties that originated on the Iberian Peninsula but are now grown here in California. These Portuguese and Spanish varieties include Tempranillo, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Souzão, Castelão and Graciano.
After more-or-less hiding away in the mountains for 32 years, the winery moved to the westside of Santa Cruz in 2008 and opened our first tasting room in our long history. We are located in an area where you can walk to many other tasting rooms nearby and are only a few blocks from the beach and Natural Bridges State Park.
Our History
For 30 years, Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard was located at one of the oldest continuously operated vineyards in California, originally established in 1863 as the Jarvis Brothers Vineyard. Ken Burnap started the winery in 1975, setting out to make the finest Pinot Noir possible in California. Ken had done years of research into what conditions were necessary to produce good Pinot Noir, and the Santa Cruz Mountains region ended up being his final choice as the area with the greatest potential for excellent wines. The first release under the Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard label was the highly regarded 1975 vintage.
In 1979 Ken hired Jeff Emery for part-time cellar work and vineyard tending while Jeff was working on a degree at UC Santa Cruz. By the time he graduated (in geology) he was hopelessly seduced by the joys of growing grapes and making wine, and couldn’t possibly look for a “real” job. A wonderful apprenticeship and collaboration was established between Ken and Jeff. By the time Ken retired in 2002 Jeff had fully taken over the day-to-day business operations and the winemaking. In the summer of 2004, Ken sold the vineyard property on Jarvis Road, and the winemaking operations for Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard moved with Jeff to our present location on the west side of the City of Santa Cruz.