A group of us went to House Family Vineyards today, a mere 20 minute drive from campus. Yes 20!! Located on top of the Santa Cruz mountains in Saratoga, it's picturesque and a beautiful place to visit on a clear warm sunny day.
Pro tips:
- Arrive early (opens at noon on Sundays) to get a good seat and get parking
- Check in on social media to get a free pour
- Bring your own food / picnic if you're a scrooge like some of us :)
Wine-wise, they focus on small lot estate-grown wines. Apparently for some of their varietals, there are less than fifty cases made per vintage.
By 3pm, the place was packed, and we noticed that there was a wedding planned for the evening, and surely it is a great place for other events as well.
I wonder what the economics of this establishment is. The wines were quite expensive (~$50/bottle), as were the tastings ($12 for 4 tiny pours), but not exorbitant. The food was also likewise priced on the high end but not eye-watering. That leaves event bookings and wine-club memberships. It would definitely be interesting to see how this vineyard / destination forecasts and plans for its financial year.
Musings aside, I will definitely be coming back here.
As far as their economics, it seems that they have some direct to consumer options as well (single bottles versus just wine club memberships). You can check out their offering here: https://www.housefamilyvineyards.com/Wines/Current-Wines. But their DTC offering leaves much to be desired; you have to click on a sub-menu called "wines" to even discover that DTC is an option. There is no obvious menu option to purchase wines directly, which makes me believe - based on other winery websites as well - that there is much room for improvement in the DTC channel.
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