Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Nick Gionfriddo joins in the harvest of pinot noir grapes grown in his family's backyard vineyard in Los Gatos.

Backyard vineyards make fine wines

By Suzy Ramirez

The vineyard area of the Santa Cruz Mountains is expanding into the lowlands, thanks to a steady increase in the number of local homeowners growing and harvesting grapes in their own back yards.

Three years ago, Los Gatos resident Bob Gionfriddo planted pinot noir grapevines on the hillside behind his Queen Anne Victorian house. The 70 vines on the acre of land were just harvested to begin making the family's first cases of pinot noir.

Gionfriddo's Italian heritage included homemade wine. When it came time to decide what to plant in his hillside back yard, he said, growing grapevines to make wine seemed like the natural thing to do.

"It will be great to just have the wine to [give to friends] around Christmas time," Gionfriddo said. "Watching the whole process and the fruits of the labor is what I enjoy most."

While Gionfriddo expects to produce only a few cases of wine from his current 125-pound grape harvest, as the vines grow more fruitful in later years, so will his amount of wine.

Gionfriddo works in conjunction with Ron Mosley, general manager of Cinnabar Winery, located in the foothills of Saratoga. Once the grapes are harvested, they go to Cinnabar to be crushed and de-stemmed and go through the fermentation, pressing and aging process.

When the winemaking process is complete, the cases of wine are ready for sale and distribution. Only then do Gionfriddo and other local growers reap the benefits of a harvest that took place almost three years earlier.

"Just being able to be a part of the process is great," Gionfriddo said.

Saratoga residential builder and vineyard grower Paul Conrado has five of his own vineyards, installed by Mosley's Vinescape business, at locations ranging from his back yard to Sacred Heart Church in Saratoga. Conrado maintains the vineyards every other weekend from April to October.

Unlike Gionfriddo, who does not have direct access to the winemaking process, Conrado brings his vineyards' grapes to his personal winery in the garage of his home to make cabernet sauvignon and merlot. The aging process takes place in barrels placed in an actual cave on Conrado's property.

Conrado's hobby has also become a promotional stint for his residential building business, Conrado Company. The labels on every Conrado Cellars bottle, which he hands out to clients and friends, have the slogan "Builders of Fine Homes and Maker of Fine Wines."

The other three vineyards of Conrado's are on residential properties that make agreements with the winemaker.

"If I can use the land, I'll take care of their backyard vineyards, make the wine and give them half of the wine produced," Conrado said. "I think it's a pretty good trade."

Conrado has become so fascinated with vineyards that he suggests them as landscaping to all of his clients building new homes.

"The cost of landscaping is actually much more expensive than putting in a vineyard," he said. "The vines are beautiful and give the yard a rustic look."

The Cinnabar Winery encourages local growers and enthusiasts to grow their own grapes for wine. According to Mosley, trading grapes from growers for wine made by Cinnabar is a common practice. The market for wine growers is very good, and wineries often look for local growers who will sell their grapes and keep winery workers employed.

Conrado agrees.

"There is definitely a trend in the number of home vineyards as the need for amateur wine makers grows," he said.

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