The Best Wineries in Santa Clara Valley Wine Country

How We Choose

Every list like this is an argument. Ours favors rooms that express what makes Santa Clara Valley itself: century-old Grenache, Italian-family estate reds and easy-going daily pours from cellars bonded before Prohibition.

The anchor is easy: the Hecker Pass run, five family wineries on one mountain highway with Monterey Bay air spilling through the gap.

The Essential Stops

Kirigin Cellars

Bonded 1916, open daily 10-5, twenty-one wines deep

Besson Family Vineyards

Grenache planted 1910, still producing on Hecker Pass

Guglielmo Winery

Morgan Hill family estate farming since 1925

Sarah's Vineyard

Hecker Pass estate with celebrated Chardonnay and Pinot

Solis Winery

Italian-variety house on the Hecker Pass run

Fortino Winery

Old-school family cellar and event barn

CordeValle Winery

The resort estate on historic Clos LaChance ground

J. Lohr San Jose Wine Center

The label's original 1974 home city pour

Building Your Route

start at Kirigin Cellars, bonded 1916 and open daily, then run Hecker Pass west through Solis, Fortino and Sarah's before finishing among Besson's 1910 vines

Saturday for the Hecker Pass run west of Gilroy, Sunday for the Watsonville Road loop through Morgan Hill with a CordeValle or J. Lohr San Jose finish

Explore Santa Clara Valley Wine Country on Wino Notion

Every winery we track in the region, each with its own page.

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