About 60 miles south of central San Jose is San Juan Bautista, the small town off Highway 101 wherein a Spanish mission and its surrounding grounds serve as the entrance to the Cienaga Valley, an American Viticultural Area (AVA) whose growing conditions surpass those found in many internationally renowned wine regions.
Founded in 1797, the San Juan Bautista Mission served to convert Native Americans (mostly the Ohlone, in this case) to Catholicism, and it doesn’t take too much of a walk around the grounds to come to understand that such an endeavor didn’t come without pain and suffering. A graveyard close to the central church makes the connection obvious.
The town itself, population 2,000, consists mainly of two one-way streets, with Third Street laden with markets, cafes, antique shops and restaurants. It is an area that appears to be rather inauspicious but holds some real wonders.
First, some of the best golf in Northern California is less than 15 minutes away in nearby Hollister. San Juan Oaks Golf Club, originally designed by Gene Bates and Fred Couples and opened about 25 years ago, closed in 2022. New owners, Third Millennium Partners out of San Jose, have remodeled the course and buildings and re-opened the course in late 2024. And it looks spectacular with its pristine playing conditions, expansive driving range and new restaurants.
Driving through this region you’ll see countless fields that contribute to California’s agricultural dominance. Onions, tomatoes, garlic, apples, apricots and just about anything else you can name comes out of this area. And as you drive 20 minutes to the southeast on Cienaga Road it brings you another unique destination – the DeRose Winery, a family-run operation that produces some of the rarest (and tastiest) varietals found in the U.S.
The winery has undergone several owners, with the DeRose family taking over in 1988. Thanks to its unique and special wines, the entire Napa and Sonoma Valley is garnering more attention. “We have gained more recognition through the press with good stories,” said owner Alphonse DeRose. “There’s definitely more notoriety, and that’s good for what we’re doing in the Valley.”
DeRose is known for, among others, red varietals Cabernet Pfeffer and Negrette, the latter off vines dating to 1857. Cabernet Pfeffer, named after the man who created the hybrid in 1895, is a medium-bodied wine similar to cabernet but with a sprinkle of pepper on the nose. Negrette is closer to a traditional California cabernet but not over-powering - “fruit forward” in the parlance but balanced and with minimum tannin after taste.
Situated in a concrete barn some 70 years old, DeRose is an antithesis of the high-end, super stylish, corporate-owned tasting rooms in Napa and Sonoma valleys. Portable tables, shelves full of bottles and homemade wood tables (made by hand by Alphonse) sit among the steel tanks and banks of oak barrels. Tasting pours are 3 ounces, at least twice as much as you’ll find in Napa.
But that’s one stop. Behind the DeRose property is Eden Rift, and further down Cienaga Road is Calera. Both produce first-rate pinot noir wines, with Calera often ranking among the best in California, which also means the world. Guerra, La Vie and Dansante are within easy driving distance.
Together, they make the Cienaga Valley just another unique California charm that reminds us of how lucky we are to live in the region.