Hop 'N Vine Festival & Market
Cinnabar Winery is a family-owned winery that embraces winemaking as a blend of science and nature’s magic. Rooted in the Santa Cruz Mountains at our lively Saratoga and Gilroy Tasting Rooms, we partner with local growers to transform California’s finest grapes into distinct and approachable wines.
Our History
Established in 1983 by the late Tom Mudd, Cinnabar initially planted vineyards and built a majestic winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains. After Tom’s passing, the estate changed hands in 2007, and Cinnabar found its new home in downtown Saratoga.
In 2019, Ron Mosley, the original vineyard manager, took ownership, completing a remarkable full-circle journey. Ron is dedicated to honoring Cinnabar’s legacy and leading the business toward an exciting future. Cinnabar’s philosophy remains rooted in having fun with serious wine.
The Magic
We revel in the variations of California’s diverse regions, from the Santa Cruz Mountains to Paso Robles, Santa Lucia Highlands, the Red Hills of Lake County, and Sonoma County’s Alexander Valley. Through longstanding partnerships with artisan growers, we cherish the land and climate variations that produce an array of fruit.
The Science
Under the guidance of Winemaker Alejandro Aldama, who has been with Cinnabar for over 30 years, every step of the winemaking process is carefully overseen. Meticulously selecting vineyards based on soil, climate, and viticultural practices, we cultivate grapevines that are hand-harvested in the morning cool and gently handled in nearby cellars. Fermented in small oak barrels or stainless steel tanks, our wines embody the essence of their respective regions. With mastery and patience, our cellar team ensures that each bottle of Cinnabar wine captivates with elegance and enchanting flavors.
Welcome to Griffin Hill! We’re a very small winery and vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA. Each year, we make about 300 cases of wine. Our goal is to make wines that are interesting, food-friendly and inspiring. This is accomplished by hand-tending the vines and a patient, low-tech winemaking style that allows the flavor of the exquisite fruit grown in these hills to shine through. Our facility is located in one of the most famous, yet so small as to rarely get mentioned, wine-growing areas of the world. The Santa Cruz Mountains rise up between Silicon Valley and the Pacific Ocean. While we recognize that many (most?) of the hard-working people in Silicon Valley barely take note of these beautiful mountains, it’s now our mission to bring the exquisite taste of the wines which represent and capture the flavor of these mountains to the people of Silicon Valley and Santa Cruz.
Michael Franti says “every flower got a right to be bloomin’.” We believe we can farm this land and still care for it. We’ve learned that native plants and insects, when cared for, will naturally keep out insects that would harm our vines and they will outcompete invasive weed species. We just don’t need widespread spraying of insecticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers.
In the photo, the new owners, Jeff and Claudia Griffin, back in April 2011, had just purchased our first vineyard. Our purchase grew out of Claudia’s non-stop interest in food-producing plants. We began looking on the weekends for a small plot of land for a farm and orchard that would be our weekend getaway/project, but after some reflection, I told her that I wanted to try growing wine grapes. Mostly a beer drinker, I had earlier “discovered” wine in an “aha” moment with a Duckhorn Merlot at a family dinner. I know – Merlot, right?
Hi folks– you want to know more about us? Here’s the whole story. But more importantly, thanks for your interest, and we can’t wait to meet you and share our wines with you.”
Cheers, Kim & Todd
While living in San Francisco, our first big adventure together, we decided we wanted to dive head first into the wine industry. Moving to San Martin in 2009 with this goal in mind, we found a property that could be our home as well as our vineyard. Land work began immediately, clearing, leveling, understanding water flow, controlling weeds. Purchasing a tractor really drove home the fact that we were out of the city and on to our next adventure. Kim switched careers and began working for a local tasting room, apprenticing in the vineyard and winery at every opportunity. While Kim gained the “hands on” experience from grapevines to sales, Todd began flooding his brain with grape growing and winemaking information, reading textbooks, articles, and blogs. Finding ourselves in a welcoming community of farmers and winemakers, we participated in study groups based on winemaking education courses. Hearing experiences from our local experts, we quickly learned much about the industry and process.
Traveling to France in 2009 and touring from the Cote d’ Azure to Provence to the Rhone to Lyon, we fell completely, head over heels, in love with the Viognier grape, visiting Condrieu and appreciating all that it could offer. For nearly two weeks we had a daily ‘happy hour,’ tasting some of the best Viognier in the world, complemented by fresh bread and french cheese. Coming back stateside we began the painstaking work of tasting every domestically-made Viognier and many other white Rhone varietals. An amazing dinner in the Mission district of San Francisco with friends included our first taste of single varietal Grenache Blanc–and again, love at first taste.
Our original estate vineyard was planted in 2011. We tended every single plant of our 5 acre property with our own hands, with occasional help from willing family and friends. All 4000+ plants were handled repeatedly as they were trained, pruned, trained, pruned, over and over. A true “labor of love,” raising grapes takes a lot of determination, commitment, patience, and backbreaking labor. Even in our glorious, Mediterranean climate, it was hot, dusty, dirty work…with beautiful, delicious rewards.
We acquired another property in 2013 allowing us the space to create the wines we have to share with you. Just one-third mile south of the original vineyard site, the growing conditions are prime, with the land having been fallow for a number of years. Preparations have already begun for planting another 4000+ vines of Rhone varietals; this time they’ll be red. Similar in soil and climate, the terroir at the new property is equally suitable for grapevines, as it, too, was once part of the large land tract previously known as Lion Ranch. We have been very diligent in creating an atmosphere in the vineyard which is sustainable for both our grapes and our family, including our dogs—we insist upon the highest quality grapes, but refuse to compromise by introducing harsh chemicals or pesticides.
Onsite tasting began in summer of 2015. Our newest vineyard of red Rhone varietals was planted in spring of 2016.