The Mountain Winery

Kristie at the Mountain Winery was absolutely amazing! She helped with our disabled ticket purchase and was very friendly and knowledgeable. She made the entire transaction and experience so easy!!

This is a beautiful winery with a storied past. You can Google to reminisce the past. As for the present, it's got character and serene mountain scenery with wines to enjoy... it's as good as it gets.

We were invited for this wine tasting event where over 50 local Santa Cruz wineries & others were showing off their craft.

Each booth was serving its best wines, from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Merlot to Cabernet Sauvignon... some are fairly good.

Totally enjoyed the event. Thanks!

Wine tasting room review:

Randomly stumbled across winery while passing through on a business trip.

Reason for low rating: Jess the wine tasting employee was great initially, he had a lot of energy and was enthusiastic about his product.
He was extremely overbearing, intrusive, asked a lot of questions based on his assumptions. He was flirting with my partner and blatantly said he was, even tho we walked in holding hands. He seemed inebriated, slurring and repeating himself multiple times. He talked so much we couldn't enjoy our wine or our personal conversation without multiple interruptions.
Final point which made us leave, him speaking about his political views and made racial comments about Chinese news media and a groups Asians tourists leaving the wine tasting room.

Note for Jesse: please stick to pouring wine, read your audience, and keep conversations professional. Your age and experience do not grant discrimination, disrespect and opinionated conversation.

Pros
- Friday afternoon, less than 10 people on grounds. Nice and quiet
- Beautiful winery and well maintained grounds
- Breathtaking views
- Wine was reasonably priced

Cons
- Unprofessional service (Jesse)
- Untimely service - server took to long talking
- Mediocre wine and limited options
- Unclear signage, hard to locate wine tasting room after parking
- Not LBGTQ friendly

Hopefully management will address and use this as a training opportunity for more professional development.

Great little venue with some really good bands. Not a bad seat in the house.

I left a vmail asking when tickets would go on sale for one of my favorite bands, and to my surprise, Christie, the office manager called me back and was incredibly helpful. She has a great customer service attitude!

This is the consummate date venue. We went to the Santa Cruz wine tasting event on this spectacular Sunday. The only downside is the wine tasting was held indoors (maybe because of the weather?). It was a little dark and musty. So if you go to the wine tasting event keep that in mind. It's a shame not to use the breathtaking grounds for the actual wine tasting. Staff is on the ever alert & will let you know if you step one foot out of the unrestricted area (there are many ). But polite about it & are just enforcing the rules.
The views through. And wine.

My group scored $25 general admission tickets to see All-4-One and 98 Degrees here. It was my first time at this venue. We left SF at 5:30pm and got to the parking lot by 7pm. There is no cell reception up the windy road but after you pass the gate to the venue it comes back. Next time I'm going to need to take something for motion sickness. There are 2 roads that lead up to the venue. There was no traffic up the road until we passed the gate. There is 2 lines to the parking lot and you can be in either one. They take cash and credit cards for parking. It's $25 if you have only 2 passengers and $20 if you have more.

It was a full moon that night and the view was gorgeous. Bathrooms were big and clean. My friends ordered nacho fries and it was pretty good. The cocktails were strong. The audio is great. The general admission seating is just a long wooden bench. Luckily I brought a blanket to sit on as a cushion. A few of us bumped ours knees a couple of times while dancing though so watch out.

Leaving the venue sucked but was expected.

I visited Mountain Winery to see the Boyz 2 Men Concert in August. It was my first visit and I was really amazed by the view. The weather was absolutely gorgeous too and you can watch the sunset from the mountaintop as well. Make sure you get food and drinks early on because the lines can get LONG.

The venue is gorgeous and so unique, it sets a great tone for the concert. Instead of individual seats, we sat on extended benches.

The only dampener on our trip were the audience members in front of us who were heavily intoxicated and being disruptive during the concert.

Also just a warning, that parking here can be very stressful. It's a narrow road coming up the mountain, and there's only one road up and down the hill. The parking lot we were at was extremely slanted and we saw a woman fall and sprain/break her ankle because from the uneven ground in the darkness after the show. (Suggestion: add street lamps in the parking lot so it's easier for guests to see where they're walking?)

Either way, it's a really great location. Will be coming back again in the future!

This review is for wine tasting
They're open from 12 to 5 PM on weekends - no reservations necessary for wine tasting (which I'm glad, since Napa used to be first come first serve, but they now require reservations)

Very friendly and lively staff - shout out to Jamie and Jesus. Jamie (she) was very friendly and pleasant.

But maybe Jesus needs to chill on constantly asking for the guests ethnic background (it may be his form of hospitality, but it's not ideal)

We got (2) flights - red and wine.
Glad they had some food offering - they have either a charcuterie board with meat and fruits, and also a cheese place with fruits.

The view is amazing and very relaxing.

Would probably check out a concert here someday.

Its all about the money for this place. I dont drink, so pricy wine doesnt impress me. If I want a nice view, Ill take a hike. Going to see music shouldnt take a minor investment. Ticket prices vary so you can get a decent seat for a reasonable cost, but that is when all the extra charges, "fees and taxes" begin to add up.. Then they charge you $6.00 just to pick up your tickets. If you want them mailed its $15.00. Excuse me?
Lets talk parking. This place owns the whole area so there arent any public streets to park on. On top of the outrageous ticket prices, you have to pay to park. Just parking can cost anywhere from $27.50 to $50.00. $50.00 is for the "Premium Parking", meaning its reserved for you "for the WHOLE night" (I dont think that means you can sleep there if you have too much expensive wine to drink though), but its a zoo whatever you end up paying.
The parking is just an unlit dirt field that becomes a mad scramble at the end of the night to get to the road, and then a traffic jam to get to the main highway.
A relatively reasonably priced concert ticket can easily double in price after all the fees and parking are added. They got ya. And they know it. Personally, none of this appeals to me. They arent offering me anything I cant get someplace else without feeling ripped off. Plans for this area include an 81-room "boutique" hotel and 255 single units. There goes the neighborhood.

Disappointing. If you're looking for a legit wine tasting experience, don't bother. Otherwise, it's a nice place to drink. You are paying for the ambiance and a nice view of the bay area

They only have 2 of their own wines. The rest are more mainstream, low end wines you can get at the store. We did their estate tasting of 2 of their wines plus 1 guest wine of our choice for $20. Pricey for 3 pours. Both of their wines were mediocre. Normal sized pours

They also have canned beers (generic, no craft) and a cheese or charcuterie board. We got the cheese board and found that the grapes were moldy, which made us question the freshness.

Self service. Seat yourself and go up to the counter when you want your next pour. It can get hot. It was outdoor seating only. No reservations. All walk in. You park in the front and walk a few mins to the tasting area