About Kings Mountain Vineyards
Kings Mountain is a single acre of vines at the northern end of the Santa Cruz Mountains, planted in 1992 on a private Woodside estate that has existed since the late 1800s. The winery does not publish a street address, and there is no public tasting room.
The estate has a genuinely odd history. It was once owned by George Whittell Jr., an eccentric heir who kept an elephant named Mingo and a lion named Bill on the property, and who built a theatre there for his Hollywood friends. That theatre is the building drawn on the wine label. Whittell also built the Thunderbird Lodge on Lake Tahoe.
The vineyard began as Chardonnay, Zinfandel and Cabernet, but all 520 vines were eventually converted to two clones of Pinot Noir, 667 and clone 13, better known as Martini. They are dry farmed, hand maintained and hand harvested on a quadrilateral cordon-trained, spur-pruned system over an open lyre trellis.
Output is about 400 cases a year, split between the Pinot Noir and a Bordeaux-style Meritage. Everything is made in small lots, unfined and unfiltered, and aged only in new French oak.
One acre, 520 dry-farmed vines, and a wine label drawn from a theatre built for Hollywood guests.
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One acre, 400 casesAbout as small as a commercial winery gets, with everything hand maintained and hand harvested.
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Dry farmed PinotAll 520 vines converted to clones 667 and Martini, farmed without irrigation.
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A properly strange historyThe estate belonged to George Whittell Jr., who kept an elephant and a lion here and built the theatre on the label.
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One of California's coolest sitesThe northern Santa Cruz Mountains above Woodside, on clay and hardscrabble soils.
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Unfined and unfilteredSmall lots aged only in new French oak, released when the winery judges them ready.
"A single hand-farmed acre behind a private gate, with the oddest backstory in the appellation."
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Current Releases
Wines change with each vintage
For an accurate list of current-release wines and library bottlings from Kings Mountain Vineyards, please check the winery'Santa Cruz Mountains producers typically rotate vintages and offerings seasonally.
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Kings Mountain 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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