My wife and I enjoyed an afternoon of wine tasting at Bargetto Winery’s Santa Cruz tasting room. They also have a tasting room located in Monterey, we’ll have to visit that one soon! If you find yourself in the Santa Cruz area, and are in the mood to do some wine tasting, Bargetto Winery is a must visit. Friends and family have recommended Bargetto to us and we finally got a chance to visit. Located in the small community of Soquel, just south of Santa Cruz. Not far off of Highway 1 it’s easy to find. I’m sure it’s busier on weekends. We had the good fortune of visiting on a beautiful fall Friday, and the pace was very relaxed. People leisurely flowed in and out.
The wines
Accustomed to the bigger red wines of Amador, Placer, and Eldorado counties, wine tasting at Bargetto Winery was like a taste of home. Their Zinfandel is made from Lodi grapes. The Syrah was dark and bold as a Syrah should be. The Merlot was an enjoyable fruit forward with a dry finish. Tuxedo (named after the winery’s recently passed cat) a blend of 9 wines (like the 9 lives of a cat) very smooth and flavorful. Would make a great dinner wine.
The Winery Property
The grounds are gorgeous, overlooking a creek. The court yard is beautiful, can you say wedding, or at least reception?
We had some free time before dinner so we decided to buy glasses of wine and sit outside and enjoy their beautiful property. My wife chose the Lodi Zinfandel. I ordered the Reserve Merlot, which I hadn’t tried during the tasting. The Reserve Merlot was wonderful, lots of flavor, some complexity and some earthy notes.
We were the only ones sitting out in the court yard. We chose a table against the railing where we could have a clear view of Soquel creek as it made it’s way to the ocean at Capitola. I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye, we both looked, and spotted a coyote working his way up the stream bed.
They have a good selection of dessert wines I tasted the plum wine fruity but not overwhelmingly sweet. They also offer Blackberry, Raspberry, Pomegranate
I didn’t try their Meads but if you’ve never had wine made from honey, here’s your chance. There’s a traditional mead and a raspberry flavored mead.
So we went home with their Merlot, the Reserve Merlot, a Pomegranate & BlackBerry dessert wine.
The Winery Personnel
I have to give kudos to the gentleman behind the counter for contributing to the experience. We’ve all met people behind the counter who have made a winery memorable. My apologies for not catching his name. It appeared that there may have been a personnel scheduling problem and he was left to tend the tasting room himself. The fact that the tasting bar was physically distant from the check-out counter, I’m sure made this more difficult. He calmly flowed from one counter to the other, taking care of business. People kept their patience – after all you have no business going wine tasting if you’re in a hurry! When I ordered the glass of Reserve Merlot – there wasn’t a bottle already opened so he sent us on our way out to the court yard to relax and he brought the glass out to us. He even aerated the wine! He was also was a source of some inside information on our favorite restaurant – Phil’s Fish Market in Moss Landing’s lease situation. We hope to meet up with him again!
A beautiful early fall day, sipping wonderful wine along the bank of a flowing creek and spotting a Coyote – that’s #NorCalWineLife
