After 9 very frustrating months of dealing with the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association, I’ve decided to give up. I notified them yesterday that we are pulling our membership application and asked that they return our membership check. I also let them know we will be withdrawing Chaine d’Or from the SCMWA next year.
Going forward we will not be participating in any events that the organization sponsors. I’ve also removed the link to the organization here.
It was sad and difficult to deal with the organization from the very start and with as little time as Stefania and I have we could not continue to dedicate time to the organization. It appears to me that the organization is headed in a direction to promote the small 50-75 case backyard vanity projects that exist in the mountains rather than real commercial wineries, and we are headed in a different direction.
I encourage people who are looking for information on the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA to go to:
Dave Tong’s wiki is accurate, extensive and has information on all the wineries in the area, including those like Varner, Ryhs, Clos la Tech and ourselves who do not belong to the SCMWA.