Cupertino.com Mail

Fry's Home Electronics Superstore

• Automotive
• Beauty
• Clothing & Accessories
• Education
• Event Planning
• Health & Wellness
• Home & Garden
• Sports & Recreation
• Theater

17100 Monte Bello Rd. / Box 1810, Cupertino CA 95015
Tel. 408.867.3233

Ridge Vineyards is open year round, except major holidays, and holds wine tasting Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 4pm. It is recommended that parties of eight or more call in advance.

Ridge Vineyards has a long storied history in Cupertino

By Karen Kabiling

It takes a little while to get there, but the scenic drive up the Santa Cruz Mountains to Ridge Vineyards proves that the best things are often found at the top.

Chief winegrower and CEO of Ridge Vineyards Paul Draper says the location makes all the difference with wine production. However, he admits that the distance has also kept its visitors to a set of longtime loyal customers.

Whether it's a zinfandel, cabernet or chardonnay, a willing and experienced winemaker would say that the wine from three different vineyards would not taste the same.

Placement makes all the difference--the combination of location, exposure to sunlight, soil and climate affect the flavor of the wine.

"It's geographically different," Draper explained. "[Ridge Vineyards has] an exotic terrain not formed in the same place as other surrounding vineyards."

Moreover, he said, the vineyard's unusual feature of limestone subsoils affects the taste of the wine. It's extremely rare in California--no other vineyard in Napa or Sonoma has that type of limestone sub-soil. However, Draper said it's typical in countries such as France.

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

Ridge Vineyards Vintner Paul Draper stands with barrels of cabernet.
The vineyard was built in 1886 by Osea Perrone, a San Francisco medical doctor and member of the city's Italian community. He bought 180 acres of land near the top of Monte Bello Ridge where he built Monte Bello Winery.

Six years later, the minimum amount of time for production, he created the first vintage wine under the name Monte Bello Winery.

Production continued until the 1920s when the Prohibition laws came into effect. At that time, no wineries were allowed to ship their products.

In 1933, the winery re-opened, with ownership held by multiple partners. During the 1940s, William Short, a theologian, bought and abandoned the winery and vineyard just below Perrone's property where he re-planted several parcels to cabernet sauvignon.

A group of scientists from the Stanford Research Institute of engineers became the owners of the lower vineyard in 1959. In 1962, they produced the first vintage of Monte Bello Cabernet.

By the mid-1960s, the partners were able to purchase the Monte Bello and Perrone vineyards.

When the winery re-opened commercially in 1962, the owners planned to call it "Monte Bello Vineyards," but they were unable to do so because an East Coast company already had rights to the name. They called it "Ridge Vineyards" instead.

In 1969 Draper, a Stanford philosophy graduate who had recently returned from setting up a winery in Chile's coastal range, joined the enterprise as the winemaker and became a partner the following year.

During the 1970s, Draper was able to take back the Monte Bello trademark.

However, even though Draper owned the Monte Bello, he decided to keep the name Ridge Vineyards. The name of the estate was changed to Monte Bello Vineyards for legal reasons and can be seen on the bottle.

Though Draper plays a significant role in the wine making process, he prefers not to be called a "winemaker."

"The word 'winemaker' is basically a new word in English," he says. "There's no equivalent to that word in Europe."

Draper says he prefers the name "vintner."

"In Europe, the people in charge of the wine consider themselves more as guiding a natural process rather than making or creating the wine themselves," he said.

Draper explained that the American equivalent to "vintner" is "winegrower."

Draper said differentiating between the two is important because where the grapes are grown has a significant effect on the wine.

"Traditionally, wine made naturally doesn't need to add anything to the grape," Draper said. "But it does need to be guided in that process."

That's where winegrowers come in.

As for the wine made at Ridge Vineyards, it is a natural as can be. The natural yeast on the grapes is enough to carry out the fermentation process, and the color of the red wine comes from the skins--nothing else is added.

"The grape is a natural product," Draper said. "The balance of acid and sugar of the grape itself is not found in any other fruit."

He said Ridge Vineyards has used air-dried American Oak barrels longer than other vineyards. A number of Californian wineries chose to use kiln-dried barrels instead and have been unsuccessful. Many have converted to using air-dried, but Draper said, Ridge Vineyards has been using them from the start.

Tom Pecota, Ridge Vineyards' tasting room manager, said he knows that not many people are aware the vineyard is in Cupertino, but added that they have many repeat customers.

"Our wine lovers are Ridge lovers. We have a really good following," he said. "You can't get much of a better view in the Bay Area."

--Cupertino Courier, August 1, 2001