Just a little north of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in the town of Santa Cruz is a very cool and trendy warehouse area housing the Swift Street Courtyard wineries. Here you can taste wines, grab a lunch or head to the beach for hiking, nature, or picnicking. The Santa Cruz Boardwalk is nearby. Have tried one of the world’s oldest roller coaster rides?
Top Wineries & Tasting Rooms – Swift Courtyard
- Odonata Wines – Small family run winery
- MJA Vineyards -Wine and Coffee
- Rexford Winery – 700 cases of interesting wine
- Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards – Operating since 1975
- Silver Mountain Vineyards – 30 years of winemaking
- Sones Cellars – Petite Sirah and Zinfandel
Dining and Lodging Recommendations
See Restaurants See Lodging To drive to Santa Cruz and the Swift Street Courtyard take Highway 17 towards Santa Cruz. Take Highway 1 north for two miles and take a left turn on Fair Avenue. Take a right turn on Ingalls Street. The Swift Street Courtyard will be on the right.
Winery Descriptions, Driving Directions, Tasting Room Hours
The focus at MJA is MJA Napa Valley Cabernet and Sauvignon Blanc and Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir. Yes, even though the tasting room is in Santa Cruz the winery owns vineyards on Howell Moutain the Napa Valley. Visitors can also shop coffee here.
Joe Miller, long-time Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, is the winemaker at Rexford. Joe was a former home winemaker and upon retirement decided on adventuring into commercial winemaking. Try the Pinot Noir. The winery is across the street from the main group of wineries here on Swift Street.
Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards has been operating since 1975. The winery was located deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains and has now moved to the Swift Street Courtyard.
The winery and vineyards are located in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The vines are organically certifed and the winery is solar powered. The winery has a tasting room at its mountain location and on Swift Street.
Sonce Cellars makes small amounts of wine and specializes in Petite Sirah and Zinfandel. The grapes are sourced from various vineyards throughout California. The winemaker is Micheal Sones, who is also currently a winemaker at nearby Bargetto Winery.