In the last article you learned about some of the history of
wine making in Santa Clara Valley, a history dating back since the missionaries
and including such famous names in wine history as Almaden Winery, Paul Masson,
Mirassou and more. You also learned that
even today in Santa Clara County South Valley there are several wineries with a
long history that shows the importance of Santa Clara Valley in California’s
wine tradition.
When Thomas Kruse came to California in his early 20s, he
missed some of the memories from his family’s farm in Wisconsin and wanted to
make cider. His friends convinced him to
try to make wine instead. He quickly got
that winemaking bug and wanted to share his passion with others, opening a Wine
Art Store for home winemakers. By 1971
he had quit his day job and opened the Thomas Kruse Winery on Hecker Pass
Road.
Thomas was passionate about his craft and created dry roses
from such varietals as Carignane and Grignolino and even Thompson Seedless grapes. He also started to experiment in making
champagne in the traditional method.
By 1997 he and his wife purchased a larger 20-acre property
across the valley and planted his own 12-acre vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, Zinfandel and Chardonnay. The
winery grew to its current size of 2500 cases of wine per year. The new winery building opened in 2003. Thomas believes strongly in his wines and
strives to perfect his craft, saying that bigger is not always better. Even today, he concentrates on handcrafting a
small quantity of wine and pleasing his loyal following
of friends, volunteers
and customers.
When it comes time to harvest the grapes he will put out the
call to his list of volunteers. He
always gets more volunteers than needed so he selects the ones he needs for
that year and they are rewarded with six bottles of his Tourniquet Red
symbolizing the pain and wounds from a day of physically demanding
harvest. But those volunteers will be
coming back year after year.
Thomas Kruse is proud of the fact that he is the oldest sole
proprietorship winery in the USA. You
will see that much of the equipment used in his winery is from a forgotten era
of durability and quality rather than simply “high tech”. Thomas is familiar with each and every vine
on his property, pruning them carefully each year to produce the quality of
grapes he demands. You know when you
taste Thomas Kruse wines that you are getting something personally made by
Thomas.
He continues to dabble in making Champagne and he is allowed
to keep the Champagne name rather than the newer “Sparkling Wine” label because
he has been involved in this production since before the new rules were adopted. Again, every bottle of this Champagne is hand
produced from riddling to the dosage by Thomas.
He will even make special versions for long time customers and he has
many long term customers.
Thomas also has the reputation of always willing to help
other small vineyards and wineries that have started up in Santa Clara Valley
over the years.
In addition to his Champagne, Thomas Kruse makes Chardonnay,
Rose, Gilroy Red blend, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. He keeps his prices affordable to make these
wines a good deal for all. The Thomas
Kruse Winery is located at 3200 Dryden Avenue in Gilroy, directly east of the
Gilroy Outlets.
Fortino Winery was established in 1970 by Ernest and Marie
Fortino when they purchased the Cassa Brothers winery that had been in
operation since the 40s.
Ernest wanted
this property since it
In 1995 Ernest passed on the
responsibility for running the winery to his son Gino and daughter Teri.
They have continued to expand the vineyards
to 50 acres of which half are still dry-farmed as the original vineyards were
managed.
reminded him so much of his home in Calabria in
Italy.
Gino has guided the growth of the winery to include not only
the production of a variety of fine wines, but to develop an event and wedding
center that is known throughout the county.
The event center includes a beautiful outdoor facility overlooking the
vineyards and a full function kitchen that can cater to the needs of the
event. This writer was very pleased when
his daughter was married at this winery, an exciting event that will long be
remembered.
Fortino has a large tasting room with friendly staff ready
to serve. It has been voted the Best
Wine Tasting for several years in a row by the Gilroy Dispatch. Yelp continues to have good reviews on the
winery and wedding events.
They will usually have several wines on the tasting menu
during your visit. Some particular
standouts include the Charbono (absolutely delicious) and the Cask140, a blend
of Charbono and Cabernet Sauvignon. But
I am sure you will also enjoy the Merlot, Zinfandel, Carignane and Maribella
blend on th And, of
course, everyone enjoys their Extra-Dry Champagne and Almond Champagne for the
weddings. Stop by their tasting room at
4525 Hecker Pass Highway in Gilroy to check out the wines and gift items.
e red wine side and the Chardonnay, Riesling and Black Muscat Blush
on the white wine/Rose side.
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