Tom Kruse moved to California and started his winery west of Gilroy in the southern Santa Clara Valley in 1972.  I first tasted his wines in the tasting room in 1974.  Somehow he recruited volunteers for his first harvest and that has been in his business model ever since. This past harvest we were waiting to volunteer for his Cab harvest but he was over-subscribed before we knew the date and we missed the party.

Tom’s winery is now east of Gilroy.  You taste in the working winery and the tasting “bar” is often staffed by volunteers on the weekends. Tom is usually wandering around and often has time for impromptu tours.

Katya learns Merlot harvesting from Tom Kruse.

This is about as close to a do-it-yourself winery as there is. You can help with harvest, crush, and bottling.  The BYOB event with food and music is always popular.  Bring your own bottles or buy them there and fill a case.

We believe Tom’s full-bodied wines are some of the best we’ve had anywhere. His unoaked Chard is bright and fresh.   His Cabs are robust from the nose to the finish but the tannins won’t burn your throat.  His Zin is consistently full of fruit and dry.  Merlot tends to have a little more body and flavor than most Merlots and we taste lots of them.

Prices for Tom’s wines are some of the lowest in the state.  Case specials as low as $5 a bottle aren’t rare.  The best deals are buying a case or more of course but even the bottle purchases won’t hurt.

For an old-time winery adventure stop by and see Tom.

- jim

Tags: Cabernet, Chardonnay, Gilroy, Merlot, Zinfandel

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Gilroy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.