Winemaker Jerold O’Brien of Silver Mountain Vineyards is celebrating 40 years in the business of making wine. He must be doing something right!
One of the things he is definitely doing right is organically farming his estate grapes, stewarding the environment and handcrafting all his wines. He also carefully sources non-estate grapes from respected vineyards. Fruit for his Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 ($44) comes from the esteemed Bates Ranch Vineyard in Gilroy, resulting in a luscious and very drinkable deep-red wine with lots of backbone. “The tannins are soft and well-integrated with flavors of wild blueberry, cedar, vanilla, forest floor,” says O’Brien.
This is the kind of wine that you open to reward yourself at the weekend. Sit back and savor all the Cab’s typical aromas of black currant, tobacco and coffee, plus the sublime flavors of rich, dark fruits such as black plums and blueberries.
Silver Mountain has two very different tasting rooms, one on the Westside of Santa Cruz and the other on O’Brien’s estate in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Silver Mountain Vineyards, 402 Ingalls St. Suite 29, Santa Cruz; Silver Mountain Drive, Los Gatos. 408-353-2278, silvermtn.com.
Cruise on the Rhine with Lester Family Vineyards
If cruising is for you and you love good wine, then you might want to sign up for a cruise on the River Rhine with Steve and Lori Johnson of Lester Family Vineyards in Aptos. This high-end, seven-night cruise aboard the AmaSerena includes free-flowing wine with lunch and dinner, visits to historic wineries and vineyards, daily Sip and Sail happy hour, an onboard wine tasting with the Johnsons, and a gourmet wine-paired dinner prepared by AmaWaterways’ award-winning culinary team featuring Lester Estate Wines. Dates are Nov 17-24, 2019.
Cabernet Sauvignon might be one of the most desired wines, and Jerold O’Brien has done a great job not only in wine-making, but also in terms of organic farming of the components. Wine-making might be one of the most lucrative things in the country, especially with the market size being valued at more than 80 billion USD by 2025 in America alone, according to a Grand View Research report. With California alone accounting for more than 95% production in the country, wine-makers in the region have a genuine opportunity to bring their market to the fore.