Pouring wine at the Menlo Park Wine Walk this past weekend in the pouring rain shed light on three things: Kids who recently turned 21 look more like 15 to me; almost everyone, young and old, loves pinot noir; and if there’s a Meritage on the list, that’s the wine people get starry-eyed over.

With a dozen local wineries pouring outstanding stuff, the crowd was in for a treat, whether they discovered the 2021 Aptos Vineyard Rosé of Pinot Noir, the 2013 Kings Mountain Vineyards Clone 13 Pinot Noir, the 2019 Neely Upper Picnic Block Pinot Noir or the 2016 Lexington Gist Ranch Cabernet Franc.

Which leads me to the topic of cabernet sauvignon and its center stage role in holiday celebrations.

Speak in revered tones of Napa cabs if you must, but do not forget that the Santa Cruz Mountains has some of the longest-lasting, built-for-the-ages cabs this side of France. Names like Mount Eden, Ridge, La Cuesta and Chaine d’Or have long been uttered with reverence, and with good reason. Attending the 2022 Premier Cruz celebration, held in Santa Cruz on Nov. 18 (it was supposed to be hosted at House Family in Saratoga, but their CUP limits crowd size), was an ideal chance to explore the region’s arguable depth in Bordeaux varieties and blends.

Attendees were presented a wealth of current and library selections from Burrell School, Cooper-Garrod, Dorcich, Fernwood Cellars, House Family, Kathryn Kennedy, Kings Mountain Vineyards, Left Bend, Lexington, Madson Wines, Mount Eden, Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, Silver Mountain and Ridge. The salon tasting and the seated dinner that followed were catered by the talented Chef Ross Hanson of Oak & Rye, and his wife Brianna, who have kept a restaurant going at their location in Los Gatos since Ross’s mother, Brenda, established Restaurant James Randall in 2006, the same year that Premier Cruz debuted.

Brenda flew in from Florida to attend and found herself bidding on an auction item featuring the Bordeaux-style 2005 Kings Mountain Meritage, grown in Woodside. She couldn’t believe this wine was from California, with its aromas of leather, tobacco, cedar closet, earth, rosemary and chervil.

Absent this year was Woodside Vineyards, with their exemplary La Questa, an age-worthy 100% cabernet sauvignon from a vineyard originally planted in Woodside in 1884. It appears that Woodside Vineyards, established in 1963 by Bob Mullen and which recently relocated from Menlo Park to San Carlos, is for sale.

Among the wines that most stood out at Premier Cruz were the 2002 House Family Cabernet, the 2007 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards Luchessi Vineyard Cabernet, the 2017 Kathryn Kennedy Estate Cabernet, the 2018 Lexington Merlot, the 2017 Santa Cruz Mountains Vineyard Bates Ranch Cabernet Franc, the 2009 Ridge Monte Bello (slowly approaching drinkability), the 2017 Cooper-Garrod F86 Sabre Jet Test Pilot Bordeaux blend and the 2007 Kings Mountain Vineyards Meritage, which is finally tasting chocolatey and smooth after years of patient cellaring.

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Patience is the key to enjoying statuesque Santa Cruz Mountains cabs and cab-based blends. Some need time to grow up, to lose those sharp elbows of acid and awkward, unresolved tannins. Eventually, all the elements of a great wine start playing together harmoniously like a well-seasoned football team. And then suddenly you have a wine that fires on all cylinders in a way that a very ripe, super fleshy, over-oaked and Botoxed-with-tannin wine simply cannot.

It’s a lot like the difference between a team that starts off strong and fades to black vs. one that can’t get going in the first half of the season, only to come on strong in the playoffs. Which would you rather have?