Hallcrest Vineyards

Appropriately named by the Hall family back in the 1880s, Hallcrest is at the crest of a small hill above the old town of Felton. It was a retreat for the Hall family until 1941 when Chaffee Hall, a prominent business attorney from San Francisco acted on his obsession with wine and planted the first vineyard. The winery that is still in use today followed in 1945 with its first vintage in 1946. At the time, it was one of only three wineries in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the only one producing varietal wines from estate vineyards.

Hallcrest wasted no time proving to the world that the wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains were of world class caliber and under Chaffee’s direction, Hallcrest became one of the outstanding wineries in California and a benchmark for Cabernet Sauvignon and White Riesling. The acclaim of the wines combined with Hall’s reputation as a winemaking pioneer in the Santa Cruz Mountains elevated Hallcrest wines to a category we would now call, “cult wine.”

In 1987, John Schumacher and his family bought the Hallcrest site, which had been operating as Felton Empire since Chaffee Hall’s retirement. John and his family restored the name, “Hallcrest Vineyards” and the guiding principle that Chaffee had originally established, namely, making uncompromised quality wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Today, Hallcrest is still family owned and operated by the Schumachers and the focus is still on handcrafting small lots of premium wines that bear the Santa Cruz Mountain Appellation in name and character. Chaffee’s label collection, a history in itself still lines the walls of our conference room.

A back road tour of the Santa Cruz Mountains is not for the faint of heart, but for a true taste of what winemaking in the mountains is all about and for some of the most beautiful scenery in the country, it is a must. Narrow one-lane roads twist and turn up and down the ridges, in and out of the valleys…ocean views here, redwood groves there, and every so often, a tiny town or hidden vineyard tucked into some of the most awe-inspiring nature. Winter brings the ruggedness that makes the appellation what it is. Giant storms swallow dirt roads, down trees, and cut power lines, but winemaking goes on. Summer is easier, but the threats of earthquakes, heat spikes chance showers, and high winds can create a need for some quick improvising. It has to be a passion and a belief that all of these challenges and obstacles only make the winemakers and winegrowers stronger and of course, the wines better.

The Santa Cruz Mountain Appellation is one of California’s largest “Approved American Viticultural Areas.” Roughly speaking, it begins at Half Moon Bay and stretches south along the coast towards Aptos and then works its way East away from the sea over Mt. Madonna then back North along Highway 85 and 280. What defines the appellation is cool variable weather, an extremely long growing season, and starved soils. High elevations, Pacific breezes, and lingering fog along with the San Francisco Bay buffer keep things cool year round. Cool air comes down the mountains and forces warm air up which slows down growth and ripening and makes for a very long season not to mention a lot of anxiety. The mountain soils are weathered and eroded, thin and stony. Vines are malnourished and struggling to survive in harsh weather conditions, but the resulting fruit is unmatched in depth and concentration.

If you’re driving around the area, what you will find in the middle of it all is our historic Hallcrest Vineyards.

The emphasis at Hallcrest is on making small lot wines from selected vineyards. We make wines that represent the Santa Cruz Mountain appellation and specifically, the vineyards that we are sourcing from. The fact that our appellation is as diverse as it is broad provides us with the opportunity to produce unique wines that reflect the unique characters and qualities of the appellation and it’s microclimates. Our winemaking philosophy is simple…produce the best wines possible and let the fruit dictate the decision making. We don’t try to bend or manipulate the fruit into being something that it is not. A Santa Cruz Mountain Chardonnay is not a Napa Chardonnay or a Burgundy and though we could try to make it one, our feeling is that it will always be better as a Santa Cruz Mountain Chardonnay. Annual production is less than 5000 cases, which allows us to handcraft each wine with strict attention to detail and quality.