Portola Vineyards

Loved this very small winery atmosphere. We were greeted by the owner/winemaker, Len, and treated to a tasting outdoors in a shady area with a communal picnic table. Most of the grapes are grown nearby and all of the wine was made by Len. This was a thoroughly enjoyable experience laced with philosophy and stories of the winemaker community in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Not to mention Bruno, the dog, who was eager to play and slightly demanding, but very sweet. Dessert wine (white port) was very unique.Portola holds Jazz concerts on Sunday evenings in the summer. I would recommend trying to buy tickets for these. Looks like a treat!

This place needs an updated post. Just went today with a group of girl friends and we were the ONLY group around 11am. Hooray!Len, the owner, was great. Very attentive and knowledgeable and the dynamics of the region and the community built among other wineries in the area. I appreciated the mini tour and all the tastings.Tastings are done outside at tables set up with table cloths and metal chairs. There was also some ice water, cups and napkins available. This place is perfect for picnicking AND you can bring your own food. Len also provided cheeses and one was a truffle cheese, which we enjoyed very much. The cheese was paired with an olive bread and a herb bread. YUM!This winery is different from many I've been to. It's less commercialized and more homey. I like that it's a low key and personable experience. Note: my friends did mention that they were expecting bigger pours (I apparently got more than they did), but we were able to revisit a wine and that was nice.Although we were the only ones there at 11am, there looked to be a full tour at 2pm. Early bird catches the worm!Tips for coming here:- Buy tix online in advance. We bought ours the week of for Sunday. - Bring food to picnic/each lunch. We bought ours from a cafe nearby and brought it in.- Water is available.- Bathrooms are available.- I parked in the shade and was fine, but when pulling out my car hit or ran over a brick that was in the ground. It was a shady parking spot, but just watch out when you're driving around.- Prepare to buy yummy wine! They have a white port! AND Apple Pay/Gpay for you modern day techies.- Jazz festival tickets go on sale in April for the year.

Came here for a work retreat, and it was great! We didn't get to see lots of grapes (since it was still week 4 of the season), but Len was a great host and had so much knowledge to share!Typically when you go to a winery, you just get bombarded with wine tasting, taking pictures, and not really understanding the whole process of making wine or the winery itself.Pro tip 1: $25/person for wine tasting! (3 kinds)Pro tip 2: To make a reservation, go on his website and email him directly. He typically takes groups from 8-15 (I think). Could be larger, up to 30!Located super close to Stanford/bay area tech companies, this is a pretty popular spot for a local retreat.Len came from tech himself, so I love his approach on his tour: very analytical and factual. He gives you the history of wine making, the process of wine making, how to grow grapes, and the culture of wine making.NOTE: His winery is certified organic, but they use pesticides that are allowed under this title. The only thing that was confusing to me was how little of the wine we got to taste- he opened 3 bottles, but poured super little portions...I was okay, but I know some other heavy drinkers wanted more!Overall, they have summer events here too! Would recommend for a cheap spot to taste wine and check out a nice backyard in Portola Valley. The cheese board was SO GOOD!PPS: You can bring your lunch here and eat!PPPS: Len has 2 dogs!

This place is awesome! The wines here are all fabulous - they are my absolute favorite - I recommend them to my friends all the time and every single one of them is incredible.The premises are also quaint and beautiful and best of all, Len is the best! He's super engaging, funny, and knowledgeable. I loved coming here and hope to be back.

We were here to celebrate a friend's birthday a couple weeks back and had a wonderful time. The property is beautiful and the owner/winemaker has done a fantastic job with the pace and his wines.Len was polite, informative and great company.He gave us a tour of the beautiful vineyard and talked us through the wine making process. It was a hot summer day but he set our tables up in a cool and shaded spot under the trees. We went through a whole lot of different reds, whites and blends. Our personal favorites ware the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Chardonnay. He also got us a couple Cheese Plates which went brilliantly with the wines. I'd highly recommend this place if you'd like some privacy and have a nice time out eating and drinking with family and friends.

Portola winery is only open to the public on Passport weekends. But the visit is worth it as their Chardonnay is wonderful as well as the Cabernet Savignon. Or you can call to schedule an appointment. They currently have an almond infused port that I particularly liked too, get while you can.

We wanted to have a team offsite at a nearby winery and found Portola Vineyards. After examining multiple south bay winery options, Portola seemed the best due to having an intimate wine tasting with Len the winemaker. After having lunch at a nearby restaurant, we arrived at Portola Vineyards with ease - vineyard was easy to find and there is plenty of parking. Len greeted us outside and showed us around the vineyard. While we walked around Len was full of passionate conversation about winemaking practices and the history of winemaking. We learned a lot and this wasn't a typical dry textbook lecture. After touring the vineyard Len took us inside the winemaking facilities and educated us about the technology and practices of winemaking. He is very funny and kind, full of insightful knowledge! As one coworker at the off-site described - "felt like Bob Ross but for winemaking" After the tour we had the wine tasting outside at the picnic table. Len provided delicious cheese and crackers, and we sampled the rosé, Pinot noir, Chardonnay, and the grape wine with almonds. Rosé was amazing. After the tasting, everyone had to buy Len's wines (especially the rosé). The rosé was dry and didn't taste like oversweetened bubblegum. It was very refreshing for a hot summer's day.I recommend this experience to team offsites and groups! If you're looking for a quiet, intimate, and casual wine tasting experience this is the place for you!

We came here for a vineyard tour and wine tasting (plus a social event) and had an amazing time! The people we met were rad, but mostly Debbie gave a killer tour-- really interesting, and funny, with lots of 'fun facts...' You can tell how much she enjoys what she does!Our wine tasting involved a guess-the-variety game... which my fiance and I co-failed. Didn't sour the event at all; it was just a glorious day!The vineyard only sells their wine super locally (three surrounding cities) and their bottles run about $38 per... So this is definitely not your traditional vineyard review. Just for the experience of being there, of meeting the vineyard dogs, and of standing amid dormant vines in the February sun, five stars easy.

Came here with the fam for a birthday wine tour and tasting. It was great to meet our neighbor Len. He was very informative and I greatly appreciate how much goes into caring for a vineyard. We were treated to a few different wines, a couple of which Portola Vineyard takes from vine to bottle and a few which they bring the grapes from different Santa Cruz vineyards to process into wine. I ended up purchasing a few bottles of their 2012 Pinot Noir.

We had a team offsite day of wine tasting. After looking at multiple options we went with one larger winery and Portola Vineyards for the last stop. Len was awesome! His property and knowledge were awesome! The wine and cheese were awesome! His two dogs were awesome! Len met us right as we exited the shuttle, spent time showing us the vineyard, sharing his knowledge and answering any questions we had. He took us on a tour of the property, showing us the different rooms used to store the wine and went into great detail about the process. After the tour we had a lovely wine tasting in a cute little picnic area with some delicious cheese and crackers. Len took the time to hang with us, as did his two adorable pups. The restroom was clean. He has chickens on his property too.Overall our time spent at Portola Vineyards was great and reasonably priced. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a smaller, more personable tour with yummy wine. Thanks, Len!