About Hallcrest Vineyards
Hallcrest sits at the crest of a small hill above old Felton, in the redwoods of the San Lorenzo Valley. The Hall family named it in the 1880s and used it as a retreat until 1941, when Chaffee Hall, a San Francisco business attorney, acted on his obsession with wine and planted the first vineyard.
It mattered immediately. At the time Hallcrest was one of only three wineries in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the only one making varietal wines from its own estate fruit. Under Hall the Cabernet Sauvignon and White Riesling became benchmarks for the region, the sort of bottles a later generation would call cult wines.
After Hall's death the site ran as Felton Empire Winery until 1987, when John Schumacher and his family bought it and restored the original Hallcrest name and label. It has been family owned and operated since, making just over 20,000 cases a year of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Syrah in small lots.
The Schumachers then did something few wineries anywhere had: they launched The Organic Wine Works, the first organically farmed Farmers vineyard on the Central Coast and the first organic processor recognised by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, producing organically farmed wines with no added sulfites. The same instinct produced Santa Cruz Scrumpy, an organic hard apple cider poured on tap.
Visitors are told plainly to bring a picnic, buy a bottle and sit on the deck, which is a rarer invitation in this region than it should be.
One of the first three wineries in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the first organically farmed winery in the country.
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Real history, not marketingPlanted 1941, one of only three wineries in the appellation at the time and the only one bottling varietals from estate fruit.
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Unsulfited winesorganically farmed bottlings made without added sulfites, which is genuinely uncommon and matters to some drinkers.
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Cider on tapSanta Cruz Scrumpy, an organic hard apple cider, for anyone in the group who is not drinking wine.
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Bring your own picnicThe winery invites guests to picnic on the deck rather than restricting outside food, unlike most of the region.
"The San Lorenzo Valley's historic estate, still family run and still ahead of the field on organics."
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Wines change with each vintage
For an accurate list of current-release wines and library bottlings from Hallcrest Vineyards, please check the winery'Santa Cruz Mountains producers typically rotate vintages and offerings seasonally.
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Hallcrest Vineyards has not published a current tasting menu or pricing that we have been able to verify. Check the winery website for what is being poured and what it costs before you visit.
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