Soquel Vineyards

Husband and I enjoyed the 2013 Pinot Noir partners reserve, library selection. It was top notch! We are in love! Went well with cheese and steak! Worst part, only 1 bottle!

Great wine and great owners Paul and Peter Bargetto!!! Cheers!

I liked their Pinot Noir; nice scent, color and taste.
And their Cabernet is inky, biggish body, a whiff of chocolate and your mouth would be saying «I’d like another glass and a Flintstone sized rib eye steak.
The Chardonnay has a fine nose; it was clean tasting with a buttery pattern; so you know it’s aged in French oak casks.
Their Trinity Rosso is a table wine that would surprise your taste buds and be great with burgers, pizza or steaks.
Fine hilltop view.
Customer service: very good; Kelsey was courteous and knowledgeable.

Lovely winery – the setting is spectacular! The wines are yummy, both whites and reds. Peter and Paul are always friendly and welcoming, sometimes even offering barrel tasting. Visit the winery if you want to enjoy great wines in the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains!

This place is probably only 1 of 3 wineries to stop by in the Santa Cruz area… not many already but few are even any good… sorry to say. This place was very nice with a great staff… we had several tastings and a barrel tasting which was very nice. A must stop if wine tasting in the area…

first stop of our wine tasting trip on Soquel and Ben Lomond. They have some pretty good white wines but what surprised me most was their version of Bordeaux. It was delicious. Flavorful, bold and still gentle. Unfortunately the one we tasted will only be released in a couple of months. I’d come back.

Stopped here on Saturday to pick up a wine donation for our November fundraiser. Peter is truly a generous business owner. My husband and I enjoyed wine tasting on their gorgeous patio. There were 4 or five couples enjoying the views and warm sunshine while sipping wine and taking in the vineyard views. This is a must see if your in the area.
I tend to bounce back and forth between red and white depending on my mood. Their Steele barrel Chardonnay was so yummy! Looking forward to another trip put there very soon.

This is my favorite Santa Cruz Mts winery. I’m in the wine club, so try to go up there every month or 2. It is a fun, casual atmosphere and everyone who works there is great. Peter and Paul are twin brothers who are there every weekend and they always make us laugh. We always have fun when we go up there. The patio up top with select tastings is fun and has amazing views of the vineyards and Monterey Bay beyond on a clear day.
Now for the wine: If you like Pinots, they have many to try. I also really like Olivia’s Chardonay and it’s so great to see Olivia evolve into a wine maker :) the Trinity is an amazing buy at $ 14 a bottle. Buy a case and you’ve got a solid house wine! I’ve really never tried a wine I didn’t like! They have great Cabs, Nebbiolo, Petite Syrah, and Sangiovese too.
The only down side is that they are only open on the weekends and close at 4, but I think that’s true for most SC mountain wineries.

Had a great time here this weekend. We were looking for something low key, with great wines, and a great view. Found Soquel, and couldn’t be happier. We opted for the reserve tasting outside, and couldn’t beat it. Very quiet with views over the valley and sea on the clear day. Always best with a bit of cheese and crackers; hear there is free outdoor pizza oven firing on Sunday’s too.
Wines were some of the best I’ve tasted in the area, Pinot Noir with some backbone, decent selection of Chardonnay and a couple Italian varietals. Going to give the wine club a bit of a trial, and hope to make it back. Seemed to be a smaller production place where the winemaker is walking about and just a few fellow wine tasters.
All in all, just what we were looking for and highly recommend.

Soquel Vineyards wines are delicious. Coming from generations of winemakers, they know how to blend and cultivate some really complex flavors in their wine. The winery has developed over the years and is becoming a really nice spot to come. We’re in the wine club and their club events are awesome. Peter, Paul (and Jon) are really nice, knowledgeable guys who make some fantastic wines. I love the Pinots, the Sangiovese and they’ve made some stellar Zinfandel of late. Their blend, Trinity is a great everyday wine at a reasonable price too.

The wines are really exceptional. Great Pinots (a little on the spendy side, but definitely worth the 40 clams). They also have a really delicious Sangiovese. I love the wines and would love to give the winery five stars, but I’m knocking off two stars because…
:(
…the winery is kind of stuffy. Despite the pretty views and lovely setting, I never quite feel welcome. Definitely worth the drive up the hill for the tasting, but when you are done head down to Hunter Hill and picnic there.

Soquel Vineyards is a great little winery and we are extreemly happy with their wines! Its easy to get to and not too busy. The staff is also very friendly, they even gave a great reccomendation for a place to eat lunch after our visit!
We are going to join the wine club on our next visit!

Peter and Paul Bargetto are the owners and possibly the most classy and warm-​hearted twins on earth! Their wine is some of the best in Santa Cruz. If I could only drink one red wine for the rest of my life it would be the Soquel Vineyards, Lester Vineyard Pinot Noir. Thanks so much for making my life that much better guys :)
Cheers!

Came here on a Passport Day, so at the least we marked this one off the list. I thought all the reds here were pretty mediocre (with the exception of the Sangiovese, which I took home a bottle of). The whites, tasty. Came home with a couple bottles of their Chardonnay.
Very beautiful and remote location. But pretty lackluster service, if you ask me.

Okay, they benefit from our having gone to Burrell School Vineyards first. However, even without that trauma as a backdrop, Soquel would have gotten high marks. Congenial servers — knowledgeable without being pushy — good wines, and a lovely atmosphere.
I didn’t like all of the wines. I think that’s a good thing. Until I get my own winery (=never), I want winemakers to create things for a range of tastes. Soquel does, and for a range of budgets as well. One wine we tasted retails for ~$ 12.99; others were in the $ 55-​$ 65 range.
What I was startled by was the Chardonnay (2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Trout Gulch Vineyard): so crisp and so clean that I briefly thought we must have been given a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio/​Vin Gris by mistake. But it was richer than those usually are, without being at all cloying. I thought maybe it was just me, but when I raised my eyes from that first delicious sip, I saw that my friends were wrestling with a similar «Chardonnay? WTF?!? Yummy!» confusion. Later on, another group of tourists was asked, at the same time as we were, whether there was a tasting wine they’d like to revisit. As with us, unanimous: the Chardonnay. It’s not even especially pricey. So much for my being a red wine person.
The reds were good overall and a couple were really tasty, but nothing stood out as shockingly savory. Nothing was bad (or even mediocre), though, and I would definitely revisit their zinfandels. I was just so startled by that stellar chardonnay that it may have eclipsed the reds.
Very pleasant staff (minimal attitude/​maximal knowledge), lovely grounds, kid– and dog-​friendly (I don’t especially care for children, but they handled the little ankle-​biters beautifully), laid back about our lounging on the chairs in the gardens and yakking well after we’d finished our tasting.
Will be bringing the folks by next time they’re in from the Other Coast.

This is, without a doubt, my favorite winery in the world. It is easy to get to, boasts beautiful views, and has consistently excellent wines. They regularly offer barrel tastings, and are always willing to share their expansive wine knowledge — just ask!
We’re wine club members, so the tasting fees have been waived. Since I love the wines here and we visit regularly, the membership really makes sense. It gets us two choice bottles every two months, as well as regular correspondence about events and access to discounts.
This is where the magic happened — James asked me to marry him at the table in the garden, overlooking the ocean. Even if nothing that life-​changing happens for you here, relax for a few moments with a glass of excellent wine, good company and that amazing view. It’ll become your favorite winery, too.

Pretty winery — no doubt.
Went here cause I have heard so many positive things… but I have to say I was disappointed primarily with the reception. Wine was decent, but my experience was corked!
It was a drizzly Sunday and I brought my visiting mother up to go wine tasting. For most of the time we were there, we were the only customers, but for the whole time we were there — we felt soooooooo unwanted. I literally had to ask our wine guide what wine she was pouring us. She warmed up a little towards the end of the tasting, but overall it was fairly painful, and unfortunately for them, the wine didn’t sell itself that day.

For every tough decision in life, there is a strategy that is simple, obvious and wrong. For example: which (and how much) wine to buy on your wine-​tasting trip. Back in my early days, I had a strategy of simply buying the best-​tasting bottle (within my price range) at every winery we stopped at. And while it eliminated those awkward post-​tasting moments where you’re trying to let the vintner down easy («it’s not your wine, it’s me»), it was actually a very poor strategy for coming home with the best damn box of wine you could get.
And the reason is this: the virtues of good winemakers (talent, technique, and a shrewd sense of pricing) generally apply across all their varietals and blends, and likewise the vices of bad winemakers. Case in point: on my most recent trip, I visited 4 wineries: Loma Prieta, Silver Mountain, Hunter Hill, and Soquel Vineyards. The 4 best bottles… were all from Soquel (in particular, the Pescadero Pinot, the Cabernet, and the Pyramid and Trinity blends. I didn’t try the $ 50+ «reserve» pinots, although now I’m kind of regretting it). So forget your over-​analytical brain, just learn to trust your taste buds. They’ll tell you when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em (your hard-​earned wine dollars, that is).

Their wines tasted good, no problems there. Their wines range from $ 15 – 75. The place is great for those who have the passport program.
As for the view, I’m very jealous that these twin brothers who own the property get to work here everyday and see the ocean and beautiful mountains. Funny the owners names are Peter and Paul, twins. hee hee. They have the sweetest Golden Ret. dog outside that will let you pet him for days. That was my favorite part of the trip. Bonus points for pets.

One of the true winery locations we visited on passport day.
Highlights:
— Outdoor view: we were up on the hill and could actually see the vines. After being stuck in garages and warehouses all day, it was such a pleasant site.
— Tasting in 3 places: started outside then inside at the tasting bar and then the back room.
— Wines: pretty good. I enjoyed the chardonnay and zins the best – surprise surprise. We also brought home a trinity.
— Prices: pretty inexpensive. We got 2 bottles for just under $ 30.
Lowlights (my flip side to highlights):
— It was our 2^nd to last winery of the day and we had to leave to get to another.
I’d definitely come back here, get more wine, and spend more time soaking up the view.