Photograph by Robert Scheer
Jan Garrod, operations manager at Cooper-Garrod Vineyards, pours the winery's award-winning 1994 chardonnay.
By Loretta McCarty
Cooper-Garrod Vineyards of Saratoga are harvesting more than grapes these days; they are harvesting numerous awards as well. The most recent was "Best White Wine" at the 1996 San Francisco Bay Wine Competition, held May 24.
In addition, their 1994 Cooper-Garrod Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains appellation, won one of only five gold medals awarded among the 120 wines submitted by 25 wineries.
Their 1994 Cabernet Franc also won a bronze medal in the San Diego National Wine Competition, competing against 381 wineries, and a silver medal at the Farmers Fair of Riverside County against 300 wineries.
"We are thrilled," said Doris Cooper, marketing director. "This is only our third year of commercial sales, and we are so pleased that our wine is meeting with the recognition that we had hoped for."
The young winery produces 2,500 cases of wine a year and plans to produce 3,000 cases next year.
Operations manager Jan Garrod said he's confident that there will be many more prize winners to follow because of the great growing climate on their hillside.
"The grapes profit from the nice warm days and cool evenings because the sugar development and the fruit flavor are not rushed," Cooper said.
The Cooper-Garrod Winery is a small, family-owned and -operated business located high above the village of Saratoga, on land that has been in the family for more than 100 years. It was originally the site of apricot and prune orchards started by R.V. Garrod, an English immigrant.
George Garrod didn't start growing his grape vines until 1972, and only in 1975 did he begin making wine for family use. After several years, he was encouraged by friends and family, who thought the wine was good enough to sell, to venture into the commercial market.
In 1994 he did, and Cooper-Garrod wines are now served throughout the Bay Area and the Santa Cruz coast.
Doris Cooper said Cooper-Garrod produces only ultra-premium wine. The firm only uses estate grapes, grown on the property, unlike many other wineries in the Napa Valley and elsewhere that purchase grapes from other vineyards.
"We are not a corporate organization; we are a family operation that wants to continue as a family operation, and that's rare these days," said Garrod. "We'll never be fancy; we are just who we are."
The 21- acres of vines include five acres of cabernet franc, five of chardonnay and 11 of cabernet sauvignon.
To sample this "Best White Wine" in the San Francisco Bay Area, drop by the vintage 1922 "Fruit House," the historic tasting room at 22600 Mount Eden Road in Saratoga. Their new prize winner is $18 a bottle. The winery is open Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, July 17, 1996.
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