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D’Vine Jazz and Wine
Address: 775 Cochrane Road, Suite 100, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
Phone: 408.779.7755
Hours: Tue-Thu 5-10pm, Fri-Sat 5-12pm, Sun noon-6pm, closed Mon.
www.dvinejazzandwine.com/
Ricardo and Linda Rivera, owners of D’Vine Jazz & Wine in Morgan Hill, recently attended a “super Tuscan party.”
A group of their wine enthusiast friends that had just come back from Tuscany bearing bottles, and wanted to celebrate with a blind tasting of the region’s remarkable blends, along with a few locals.
After all the bottles had been uncorked, votes were taken to see what wine was the best of the bunch. To everyone’s surprise, a Seducente from Gilroy’s Solis Winery was the unanimous winner.
This is just one example of how local wine should never be underestimated, says Ricardo Rivera. When the Riveras opened up their brand new wine bar and shop in Morgan Hill last September, they made a conscience decision to feature as many great local wines as possible.
“We’re in a region where we have some wonderful wines,” he brags. “We’re trying to reach people and say ‘Hey, this is another region you have to experience, it isn’t just about Napa anymore.”
The Rivera’s host live jazz nights at the Wine Bar on Friday and Saturday nights from 8pm-11pm, along with Sunday afternoon jam sessions. Ricardo, a long time jazz lover and musician, plays trombone in the bands himself. If there is one thing that he prides himself on, it’s that the approach to music at D’Vine is not subtitle.
“Music a lot of times is an afterthought for a lot of places. The musicians that come in are wonderful, fabulous musicians. But, they don’t get to open up because they’re restricted,” says Ricardo.
He says that after playing jazz gigs for years where the musicians were told to play soft, easy listening jazz, he decided straight off that the bands at his establishment could have fun.
“I had a lot of those kinds of jobs, so now I say ‘OK guys, come in here and perform, don’t play background music. We want to hear what they can do. We don’t want to restrict people from playing from their hearts,” he says.
As for Linda, she’s just glad that Ricardo has a place to practice.
“I don’t allow him to play the trombone in the house anymore,” she jokes.
Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association
Address: 7605–A Old Dominion Ct., Aptos, 95003 Phone: 831.685-VINE www.scmwa.com
Karen Hibble, co-executive director of the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association, says the future of local wineries rests on community support.
To show off their wine region’s unique personal touch, the Association will host its 15th annual Winter Passport Weekend on Jan. 17 and 18. The event brings people out to the vineyards to meet local winemakers and get a real taste of the place. Hibble is counting on events like the Passport Weekend to raise people’s awareness of the special wine region they live in.
“Winemakers live and work in the same communities as everybody else, she says. “With every bottle of wine they purchase, consumers should make supporting the local economy an important factor in their decision-making. What we’re trying to do is educate and help the consumer be aware that if you care about local agriculture, and you care about local winemakers, then you should buy local wine.”
Hibble hopes that local wine will continue to be part of local shoppers’ lists far into the future.
“People should enjoy all the great things our area has to offer, and that includes great wine,” she says. “We all have to work hard at maintaining our own economies. We have to matter to each other tremendously.”
Plumed Horse
Address: 14555 Big Basin Way, Saratoga, 95070 Phone: 408.867.4711 Hours: Mon-Sat 5:30pm to 10pm. www.plumedhorse.com
Seth Sutherlan, assistant manager of the renowned Plumed Horse restaurant in Saratoga, says that they choose to stock local wine not just because it helps native business, but because it’s just plain good.
“The Santa Cruz Mountains are in our backyard, so they’re a near and dear thing for us,” he says. “But, the wines that we choose are world-class wines. They are, in our opinion, some of the best.”
From Mount Eden Old Vine Reserve to Thomas Fogarty Blanc de Blanc champagne, the Plumed Horse offers a wide variety of local vineyards’ product for their decidedly sophisticated clientele.
“They are expecting not only a fantastic wine list,” he says, “they’re also expecting to have the best representations on that wine list. We have local wines on the list, and that might be surprising to some people, but not to us.”
Local wines, he says, possess “ wonderful characteristics that define what and where they’re from.”
Uncorked!
Address: 14500 Big Basin Way, Saratoga, 95070 Phone: 408.741.9000 Hours: Mon 4pm - 8pm, Tue- Sat 11am - 9pm, Sun 11am - 6pm. www.uncorked-wines.com
Patrick Rupert of Saratoga’s Uncorked! wine shop and tasting room says that Santa Cruz Mountain wines have a personality all their own, very different form the “big, bold, over the top styles you get from Napa.”
“Since the wineries here are so much smaller, it’s very important for retail shops to support them and keep them in business,” he says.
Uncorked often hosts’ tasting events with local wine makers, a big draw for Bay Area wine lovers.
“One thing about the Santa Cruz Mountain wineries is that they’re very generous with their information, he says. “I can call up pretty much any winery and ask them questions over the phone about certain wines, and get the answer immediately. They’re much more motivated in terms of coming and doing events at our shop, bringing their wines in, and introducing them to the public.”
Vintage Wine Merchants
Address: 377 Santana Row, Suite 1135, San Jose, 95128 Phone:408.260.1115 Hours: Mon -Wed 10am-9pm, Thu 10am-10pm, Fri-Sat 10am-11pm, Sun 12am-8pm. www.vintagewinemerchants.com
Vintage Wine Merchants on Santana Row stocks wines from more then a dozen local producers. Joe Cannistraci sees his stock of local wine only going up as the quality and standards of local wine increase.
“Ridge Monte Bello, I could go as far to say that it is the most respected domestic wine by European wine critics,” he reports. “It’s one of the most famous American wines, much to the chagrin of Napa Valley producers. Around that, a bunch of smaller producers are trying to rise to the occasion.”
Vintage lists Sonnet Wine Cellars, Kathryn Kennedy Winery, Cinnabar Vineyards & Winery and David Bruce Winery under the umbrella of local brands they carry. Cannistraci says that the shop does their part to promote small Bay Area wineries when they can.
“We have tasting events to support the individual wineries,” he says. “There is a whole social interaction component to fine wine. People just enjoy drinking wine and interacting with people when they do it.”
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