WTN: Rexford Winery (Santa Cruz) Merlot

I decided to do a road trip on Friday and ended up in Santa Cruz. After a horrible bicycle ride into 35 mph headwinds between Santa Cruz and Davenport along Highway 1, I climbed up the delightful Z(but steep!) Bonny Doon Road. The former Bonny Doon place in the village is now owned by Beauregard Wines, where I had two quite nice Chardonnays and a lovely STB blend of Cabernet and Sangiovese that was so good that I ordered a full glass after the tasting (I was very relaxed on the descent along Empire Grade Road back to Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz will be my post-lottery retirement place of residence!

Anyway, circled back to the northern side of Santa Cruz so I could ride back along West Cliff Drive, an epicly beautiful urban waterfront! And, tucked away in a small industrial park fuill of funky businesses was a small winery, Rexford Winery. After a fascinating Pinot Gris aged on lees that was almost an orange wine in character, the winemaker poured for me a fantastic 2009 Merlot from the warm side of the appellation (San Martin). I LOVE tangy wines...this merlot had a fantastic light, tangy, character. Not vegetal per se but definitely on the bright, natural wine-tasting side of things.

It went very well with pork chops and wild rice the next day! Definitely worth a re-visit!

Sounds like a good day!

My nephew lives in Santa Cruz. I visited him for 2 days in April, on my way back from Hawaii, and managed to find a few outstanding wines there. Beautiful area!

Definitely a lot of Santa Cruz wineries that fly under the radar. Since we are talking post-lottery here, I'll put in a plug for Katherine Kennedy Cabernet (well "worth" the three figure price) but Mount Eden is doing some really nice affordable stuff under their Domain Eden label. A lot of other wineries to explore as well.

I didn't even get to hit up the Bonny Doon facility in downtown Santa Cruz.

There is lively electricity-ozone in the Santa Cruz air that I love. And, the mountains are even warmish it seems! Love the redwoods...and the roads are so much better maintained than Sonoma County that it is almost sad how bad some of the north bay roads are!

The climate is still cool, but more liveably sunny than further up the coast. I love Santa Cruz!