I randomly walked in with my mom this past weekend, and to our surprise found a local winery Hunter Hill pouring. Apparently every weekend a local winery has an event. A few random snacks were available and the staff were very pleasant. It seemed as something was missing, perhaps music or just more of a liveliness to the place but we did go in towards the tail end of the event. I would defintley come back. $5 for several pours and if you buy a bottle (local wines are usually around $15-$30) the fee is waived.
Review Source:A nice relaxing place to stop and sample wines before a meal. Â Our flight hit the spot, and we stayed for one more glass. Â
There are about 7 tables and one bar with a handful of chairs. About half of the people came in to taste wines, Â the others ordered their favorites and relaxed. Â No college kids here, Â the atmosphere is much more adult-friendly. Â The owner loves to talk about the wines and events, Â and is very helpful with recommending local places for out-of-towners.
I think the prices are very reasonable for tastings, wines by the glass, and by the bottle. If you check in on yelp, you get a cheaper tasting, but if you buy a bottle from the tasting, your tasting fees are waved. Vinocruz also has a free corkage program with some of the downtown restaurants, so you can save even more that way.
********************** 827 ************************
   I wouldn't even know this wine bar if it wasn't for Yelp. I was about to meet some friends for dinner and it was early, I thought I should have a glass of vino before then. Glad I came in to Vinocruz. Cute little wine shop, serves only local Santa Cruz Mountains wines.
    I checked in with Yelp and got my discount on the wines tasting. The host was really nice, shown me a few wines and explained a few new arrivals. I ended up bought a few bottles. Cute shop, support local winemakers and wineries, I like that!
I had the pleasure of getting to go wine tasting at this fine establishment this past Tuesday (8/7/12). Â We almost missed it but so glad we were able to find it.
Our Host Ryan was the best. Â Very knowledgeable about all the wines, where they came from and how they are made. Â So it was a tasting and learning experience for me. Â I learned a lot in a small amount of time. Â
If you are into wine or are interested in trying and learning about wine, this is a heavenly little place to try. Â I can't wait to revist.
We LOVE this wine bar! Â It features local wines and brings in local vintners almost every weekend to pour and discuss their wines. Â Their tasting menu changes each week, so it is great fun to try a new variety of wines (some that I would not particularly order if they were not part of the tasting menu.) Â The owners and Ryan, who is often there pouring, are very knowledgeable about the wines and always have interesting stories about the winery, the area, the winemaker or his/her family, or hysterical antidotes of some sort to share. Â They really go out of their way to help and make you comfortable. Â They make it a very friendly, open, casual, fun spot to stop.
They feature local artists' artwork in their shop which is rotated bi-weekly or monthly. Â A nice touch.
The location (next to Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History) is very convenient and I appreciate their focus on local wines and talent. Â Couldn't be happier with this place!
I've dealt with the two guys at Vinocruz a couple of times now and have been very impressed. We try our best to buy local wine as much as possible and this place really stands out above the rest. The staff are friendly and knowledgable but not overbearing - which is nice as we are definitely not connoisseurs.
My fiancee and I went in today to look for a special bottle to be part of our wedding. We picked one out after a tasting from a local vineyard (another plus) and the owner gave a beautiful box to store the wine in insisting that it was their gift to us.
If you are looking for good wine without pretentiousness, Vinocruz is a sure bet.
We stumbled across this place tugged inside a side corner on a side street in Santa Cruz downtown. Â It was a quiet Sunday afternoon but the owner was very friendly and hospitable. Â
We have a young baby, so by law we can't carry her into the tasting room or patio. Â So we had to go in and out of the place to watch the baby while tasting the wine. Â It may not be very convenient when it gets crowded.
Despite the good service, the wine on the other hand wasn't very good. Â Even the owner admits on one of the choices, but it does offer quite a variety of choices.
I've been coming here for quite a while now it seems, since the original owners opened this place up, and have been loving it ever since.
Great selection of Santa Cruz Mountain wines and their weekly flight is usually fantastic, with a detailed discussion with the owners and sometimes wine maker.
It's worth it to join the Vinocruz tasting club. Never walked away without a full case of wine en towe.
When an establishment closes for several weeks for renovations and does not update its website, it officially fails the Internets and receives a score of zero. I was in a hurry to get some wine for dinner, so thank god Soif was a couple blocks away (though their selection is strongly Euro-focused, and doesn't have nearly the range of Santa Cruz Mountains bottlings as Vinocruz will carry). According to the sign on the door, Vinocruz re-opens August 20th.
Protip: Despite a Front St. address Vinocruz's closest pedestrian entrance will be on Pacific Ave.
I love this place. Â Fantastic selection of primarily local wines, and they've recently started to expand a bit to other areas (without losing that Santa Cruz focus). Â JP is great at guiding me on purchases to match my occasion and budget. Â Often he recommends things which I would not have known about but turn out to be spot on. Â I really enjoy their regular wine tastings (sign up for their email to get notified of these) and I almost always go home with a bottle from the winery. Â Sometimes the tastings can get a bit crowded (it's a small space), but you can always pop outside to the tables to get some fresh air and space. Â I bring friends here and refer people all the time, which says a lot.
Review Source:Have you ever had one of those experiences where you are treated so poorly, you take a sneak peek around to see if Candid Camera is shooting a special, and the joke is on you? Â Me neither, at least until last weekend when we sat down at one of the two outdoor tables for the flight tasting.
If being treated with complete indifference, and lack of social skills isn't a big enough turn off maybe the brusk "don't ask me questions glare' from the overly uptight owner will give you a giggle.
Apparently being a wine-loving local isn't enough. I went thru my check list: brushed my teeth, out on a date and dressed nicely, bought wine, have ability to pay, and still treated like a vagrant.
Skip the 'tude and head to Bonny Dune on the west side..nice service, nice local wine, and a smile at no extra charge.
I really appreciate that Vinocruz showcases Santa Cruz mountain wineries! Â The owner is fabulous. Â He's a very kind man with great local wine knowledge. Â The location is a little hidden behind Lu Lu's and right next to the entrance to the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. Â I actually kind of like that it's a little set back from the sidewalk. Â Vinocruz also has a nice little outdoor patio area too. Â I would encourage all wine lovers locally and out of towners to check this place out. Â It's a great venue to meet at before or after a day of shopping on Pacific Avenue, or even a great place to meet for a glass of wine before dinner down town. Â I would also say this is a great place to hang out after work, etc etc...you get the picture. Â PS - It's also a great place to find and buy local wine. ;) Â Trust the owner! Â I found his wine suggestions to be spot on for my taste.
Review Source:As a huge fan of Santa Cruz Mountain wines, this place is like a little slice of heaven. Â While I love actually visiting local wineries, meeting the winemakers, and taking in the scenery, Vinocruz hits the spot when I need my wine fix in the heart of Santa Cruz. Â It's sort of like a "best of" list of all my favorites (Sones, Alfaro, Soquel), as well as some smaller wineries that I'd never even heard of because they aren't generally open to the public. Â
The owners have always been super friendly and helpful in suggesting wine that might be to my liking. Â Prices tend to run from about $15 up to closer to $50 for the oh-so-delicious Heart o'the Mountain Pinot Noir, but a lot of their really impressive ones hover right around $25, perfect for a unique bottle to serve to friends without breaking the bank. Â
Tastings change weekly and will run you $9 for five wines, waived if you purchase $60 of vino or more (tempting every time!!). Â They also do tasting wines by the glass and the occasional $5 per glass special, so you'll often find a mix of loyal Vinocruz patrons and those that have stumbled across the shop for the first time hanging out chatting about wine, Santa Cruz, and life in general. Â I frequently bring friends here, especially for the winery events on weekends, and we've never been disappointed.
Vinocruz is a gem of a local business!
Great selection of hard-to-find and as-yet-undiscovered-by-me wines from the Santa Cruz mountains.
I also like their ever changing tasting flight, where there are around 5 various wines to try for about $8-9. Â And if you love one, you can buy a full glass as well.
Not sure who the fellow who gave them the horrible review is, but his experience doesn't match my times at VinoCruz in any way. Â The owners have always been courteous, helpful, and just as friendly when I window shopped as when I bought.
We love Vinocruz. Â From the moment we entered, JP was attentive and knowledgeable. Â He made great suggestions- lots of local wines that we had never tasted. Â They have a broad selection of wines and are well-informed about them. Â We signed up for their weekly emails and have taken part in one of their weekly tastings- Ridge- fantastic event! Â So great to have this wonderful business in our community.
Review Source:If you like being treated like a bum by a pretentious, condescending shop owner that is better off selling clothes than wine, I suggest you go to vinocruz. If this guy doesn't think you're going to spend some money, he'll peer over at you while you peruse, little does he know I could very well spend quite a bit in his little (and most likely low rent) hidden store front.
Also, you have to wonder about a store owner that has just met you yet talks smack about the "other" wine shop down the street that is taking his ideas / wines. Wonder how often he talks about that? I'd guess quite a lot.
I personally would rather risk taking the advice of a shelf-stocker at Trader Joes and take my chances on what I'm going to get, than feel like I'm being judged. Stop by yourself and you'll see what I mean.
Why such a bad review? Because I checked out the yelp reviews out of curiosity, and I couldn't believe the good reviews - maybe they looked like high rollers on the way in? I have several friends that have also had sub-par experiences, so I'm not alone.
It is really great to have a local wine store and tasting room that also showcases the best of local vineyards. We've been loyal customers of VinoCruz since the day the store opened. When we have guests in town we always stop by Vino Cruz to taste some wine and show off to our friends the great vintages that come from these parts. (I am sick of being forced to trek up to Napa in search of good wine!).
I consistently get good recommendations from JP--not only for wines that I would like myself, but also when I am having an event or party. Â The selection is broad with the majority of their selections seeming to fall in the $15 to $30 range.
All in all it is a great experience. They have a nice outdoor patio for tasting but I haven't seen anyone there enjoying it yet.
Small shop with a table as a tasting area, but I got a bit of a sterile vibe when I was there. I've been wanting to come here for a while and was disappointed to not have a stellar experience.
Cost to worth it ratio: 3 (wines $20 and up, tasting $9)
Highlights:
- Local area wines: I like this angle, as it gives exposure to local wineries as well as pare down the region as a buyer. In addition to the well known names, I was thrilled to see a small winery we visited in Cupertino (at a guy's actual house) being sold here.
- Tasting: 5 wines and I liked at least half of them which is great. A dessert wine was even poured as part of it which was unique.
Lowlights:
- Staff interaction: We had the wines poured but didn't get the warm, friendly, nice, story-telling experience everyone was raving about. Upon paying for our bottles we picked out, we didn't understand how the waived tasting worked and I paid separately than my hub because I had a gift card and paid for 1 bottle of wine and he paid for our other 2 bottles of wine. We thought our tasting fees would be waived, but when I went back to ask, but they told us we needed to spend $60 on one card and looked away. $9 isn't a big deal, but customer service wise, I would have appreciated them going the extra mile and offering to take one off, knowing that we were together, paid over $60, and went back and asked about it. That bothered me and I unfortunately left the shop with a sour feeling. We buy a good amount of wine regularly and our friends who took us here come in here often so I'd assume they'd want to encourage customers to return.
This visit for me unfortunately wasn't the greatest, but I'd like to think it was an off day for them. We have friends that speak highly of this place and know the owner and more importantly we liked the wines, so I'll probably give it another shot.
Fantastic wine shop and tasting bar! In summer, they open a deck where movies are often projected onto the wall on Saturday nights. What really makes it great is the owner, J.P., who knows his wines inside out.
Although the Santa Cruz Mountains is one of California's oldest and most acclaimed wine-producing region, most people don't know much about it. Frustratingly, most of the small estate vineyards are only open for tastings on a quarterly basis (yes, that's right -- only four times each year) and we kept missing those dates (we live down in SLO County).
But now with Vinocruz, we don't mind. The tasting line-up changes almost weekly, it seems. (We know, because we signed up for their funny e-newsletter, which almost always teaches us something we didn't know already about wine.) Love the mod stainless-steel tasting bar, too.
I've been a California wine fan ever since I moved here in the '90s. I've visited most of the state's wine countries, even the obscure ones. And I've never been tempted to join a wine club until visiting Vinocruz.
I just hate that we live 3 hours away from this awesome place!
We love Vinocruz...nothing like a good local business that promotes locally produced items, in this case wine. Â JP is great...he knows wine, and he has successfully navigated the minefield of area wines to pick out the best ones, leaving out the dogs. Â The tasting table changes constantly...we often make Vinocruz the starting point for our date nights, and we learn about new area wines with each visit. Â Nice cheese platters with the tastings, and the tasting fee is reasonable, and waived with a wine purchase. Â Every downtown should have a place like this.
Review Source:Great place to try out a wide variety of the local wines from the SC mountains appellation. Â Every week they open a different series of local wines and for $9 you can try something new, see what you like. Â JP and Erica are friendly, knowledgeable and fun, as are the majority of their clients at any given moment...
Review Source:This has become one of our standard weekend stops. I'm happy to see more and more people discovering it. We love the variety of wine we can taste here--and all of it is Santa Cruz mountain appellation. A good way to discover some new favorites. The wine club is fantastic, since you're receiving a variety of wines from different vintners.
We enjoy talking with JP, the very affable and very knowledgable proprietor. We also enjoy chatting with the other people who are tasting. It's convivial and fun.
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
