What to eat with Santa Clara Valley wines, on the trail and at home: local pairings that actually work.
Pairing here starts with the wines themselves: century-old Grenache, Italian-family estate reds and easy-going daily pours from cellars bonded before Prohibition.
Casa de Fruta pairs its winery with a full roadside food empire, Guglielmo and the Gilroy corridor sit minutes from garlic-country restaurants, and picnic grounds at Kirigin welcome your own spread
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
Where kitchens are scarce, a cooler and a farm-stand stop turn any permitted picnic table into the best restaurant in the region.
old-vine Grenache from Besson's 1910 planting is the valley's collector piece, with Guglielmo's estate reds and Kirigin's one-of-a-kind Vino de Mocca the take-home signatures, and both reward the table more than the trophy shelf.
Every winery we track in the region, each with its own page.
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