Sones Cellars

Very personal experience with amazing selection of wine and cider. The building serves both Sones cellars and Tanuki Cider but the owner serving us had great knowledge in both. The owner saw us looking at the menu outside of business hours and invited us in for some Santa Cruz history and delicious tasting. His knowledge and appreciation of cider and wine was superb. It will be a repeat visit when we are in the area and a recommendation for anyone heading this direction.

I truly enjoy wine tasting here! Their white wines have such a unique profile and they recently added ciders to their menu! While it's true that they don't tell you much about the wine, the conversation is a lot of fun and everyone who comes in to taste there is very sociable. The people who work there are very friendly and happy to talk about anything. I can be somewhat of a wine snob myself, but this is Santa Cruz after all - just kick back and enjoy yourself!

We did the wine tasting and there was no explanation of the wine, the wines were poured in the same glass without rinsing (mixing red and white) and the pours were so little that it was hard to actually explore the flavors.

Worth a visit. We had a chance to chat with one of the wine makers (husband and wife) and learned a lot about their wine making approach and how diligent and passionate they are. The white blend is unusual and interesting. They have refined it over the years and it now does come out quite well. All wines we had were at least good, several remarkable and reasonably priced. The place is friendly and down to earth.

Wonderful place to bring family and your pooch for a lovely evening. Great wine, great host. I'll be back.

Cute tasting room! He sources his grapes from lodi, santa cruz and Morgan Hill. The tannat was great and the first time I've ever tried it ! Thanks Michael:)

It's a fun tasting room with very tasty wines! They have a red blend (Hedgehog Red) and a white (Hedgehog White) on a refill basis which change periodically.

Kind, knowledgeable owners. They've got a house blend called Hedgehog, and you can purchase or bring your own bottle to be filled. I adored their white on a hot summer day!

Such a cute little winery! I typically come to this area to visit MJA, but decided to branch out and give Sones a try. The staff member who welcomed us was very sweet and helped move our table so that we could sit in the sun. The space is very small but charming (and dog-friendly), with little hedgehog decorations everywhere. We asked to do a tasting and were given five carafes to share amongst the three of us. The white wines were both excellent, but I particularly enjoyed the Zinfandel. Would return!

Staff was super friendly and inviting. Wine was ok but it was very cool how they serve it. Also they have 3 wines that they make small production of and when you buy them they give you refillable wine bottles. You can come back and buy more wine bring your bottle and just have it filled up. All in all great experience.

I have nothing but nice things to say about Ben. Ben is the cousin of the owners and made our experience awesome. The decor is super cute (along with the hedge hogs) and my friends thoroughly enjoyed their wine. Both signed up for a membership which is super low key. They also bought two "growler" type bottles of the hedgehog blend that consists of two zins.. bring back the "growler" and refill for 12 bucks...it is a great deal! They also throw wine making parties where once in a while someone's blend of zins is the next hedgehog blend.. super easy going atmosphere and the hot dog guy is right outside....cannot go wrong! Wine tasting is 5 dollars for 6 tastings.. check it out!

Two words - petite Sirah. Go try it. Favorite was 2009 Santa Cruz mountains saveria vineyard PS. Super peppery awesome structure, great tannins. Very knowledgeable and friendly staff. Great overall experience.

Meh....can't say I'm much of a fan. I guess the wines are okay, but nothing really stood out to either me or my husband. The Hedgehog wine is a cute idea (you can refill bottles of it) but it's not the best quality stuff out there. The tasting fee is pretty cheap (I can't remember for sure, but I think it was around $3 per person) so that's good. When we were in a couple weekends ago, the chick pouring was pretty friendly and all, but she was wearing her sunglasses the whole time. No biggie, but it seemed kinda unprofessional. The artwork hanging throughout the tasting and barrel rooms is quite nice.

Not much to say about this place. Small tasting room right in front of the machines and barrels, but very friendly service. I'm personally more interested in the paintings on the walls than their wine.

I came here on one of those wine passport things a while back, and it was one of the more surprising and fun cellars to visit. I didn't know much about Santa Cruz wines so this was a great start since the staff was very knowledgable and open to all your questions. I particularly enjoyed their white wines, and embarrassingly still have a few bottles that are probably overdue for drinking. The prices are very, very reasonable and the experience is fun.

Some folks have raved - others not so much I agree with those that say " it isn't remarkable" There wasnt one great wine of the 5 we tasted The white pinot -SB//PG blend was very good , not great. The old vine 2012 was also good, but not great. The other 3 reds were unremarkable and some not worth tasting. Overall not really impressed and the female server was totally distracted with a guy sitting by the bar - paid almost no attention to our party of 4 - i had to get up several times to get the next tasting - you aren't going to engage customers that way

This winery is pretty good. I go for the bring-your-own-bottle red refills. The wine tasting experience is comfortable and affordable and they always have a little nibble to accompany the wines. The winemaker here does a solid job of making drinkable and affordable wines.

Great wine and great time! Thank you for staying open a little later for us!! We enjoyed our conversations and learning about your wines. I absolutely fell in love with your holiday mulled hedgehog wine!! Hope to see ya on the next trip!!

$3 dollar tasting fee = 5 stars in my book. They had 1 white and 4 reds to try. I am not a fan of reds but the white blend was pretty good. Plus, they had lots of cheese and crackers laid out as appetizers while you sipped on your wine.

My bf and I are locals & we love love love coming to sones. The people here have become a family. Sean & Ben are amazing and so knowledgeable. We love when we also get to see Michael who is the wine maker. The wine is great, the community is amazing, & the wine is inexpensive. One of our favorite places in Santa Cruz.

My wife and I came in here on a whim, and we are so glad that we decided to! The two of us are beer people, but after having some beers across the way we stopped in and sampled some of the wines they had to offer. We really enjoyed all of the wines that we tasted, I sadly don't remember each one, but we ended up buying a bottle of one of the traditional corked wines, and then bought a bottle of the hedgehog red, which you buy in a refillable container right from the barrel. I may not know a lot about wine, but I know what I like, and I know that I like this place! The wines are exactly the style I like them to be, fruity with a little bit of pepper. This place would be worth 5 stars just on the wine alone, but owners make a nice place all the much better. While we were there we discovered that the lady doing all of the serving was one of the owners, Lois. It was pretty busy so we didn't get to chat as much as I would have liked, but she was very nice and made the experience fantastic. I wish we lived closer to Santa Cruz so we could get their wine more often, like I said I am not much of a wine drinker but I would drink these wines a lot more often.

Their wine is delicious. We will often get a bottle at Shoppers Corner but it is much more fun to get it from the cellar. Give yourself 45 minutes to do a tasting before you decide which bottle to bring home. The best Santa Cruz secret is their Hedgehog. You buy the refillable bottles for both their red and white blend. These make a fantastic hostess gift to bring to a dinner party and make sure you have a few on hand to have for your own party.

Sones is my favorite winery in town. Granted i haven't been to all of them but of the ones i have been to, this is the place. It's a family owned and run business, which is refreshing. The ladies working the beautiful wood counter are VERY knowledgeable without being pretentious (very rare indeed) and are really down-to-earth and nice. They always make time for you and like to chat it up a bit. And their wines! I love every bottle there. No joke. Each one is beautiful and perfect. I have to watch myself when I go there because I could buy everything they've got to offer. I don't even like white wine all that much and I feel the urge to snag a bottle or two. I love the fact that they serve cheese and crackers here too. It's something small and easy to do but makes a big difference. This whole place just gives me good vibes. Add tasty wines to boot and I'm all set.

Great wine, especially the Pinot. The Hedgehog is one of the best marketing ideas I've seen in a while, you buy a silk screen printed bottle and refills are super cheap every time you bring it back. We're in the wine club and do the minimum 2 bottles every 6 months. Well worth it. They always have dogs there hanging out. Heather K. is the only low star review and I see she is labeling her own wine in one of her pictures so I'd say its slander against her competitors.

Great place. I visited last week when we were wine tasting alone the central and northern coast of California. Lois, the owner and wine maker, was wonderful and spent quite a bit of time with us, explaining the wines and the process. And I loved petting her dog as we chatted. :-) The wines were great, as well. We walked out of there with three bottles. I will definitely go again next time I am in the Santa Cruz area.

We went to Scotts Valley Art & Wine Festival. Sones Cellars was one of the wineries pouring today. They specialize in Syrah and Zinfandels. I'm not usually a Zin fan, but theirs is very jammy and complex, yet easy to drink! You can tell that they love and care about their wines and they are super friendly and down-to-earth type people. They are also on the Santa Cruz Passport.

6 years later and Sones is still one of my favorite wineries. The people, if possible, are even friendlier. The petit syrah is ah-mazing. So is the syrah, which I tasted today. And, now that I'm all grown up now (ha!) and really, really enjoy red wine, this place is one of my go-tos.

What a lovely coincidence it is that I was the first to review Sones back when they first opened, and now it has become my FAVORITE Santa Cruz winery! I truly love this place: consistently good wine, friendly people, nice little couches to sit on in the sun... it's fabulous! Even on days that they get really busy, the pourers manage to keep smiling and provide great service, and the owners/winemakers are often hanging around as well. I have several good friends who are wine club members, so I've also tagged along to a couple of their events, which are equally well done. It's only a $3 tasting fee, refunded if you buy a bottle (which you'll want to do.) I'm not generally a fan of Petite Sirah, but theirs is always really nice. If you haven't checked out Sones yet, you really should!!

I was in that area March 2015 and decided to stop by, frankly the unique art on the walls made me come in and check it out. Very friendly unpretentious ambiance, the server even had her puppy who was adorable and made the tasting even more fun! I also spent some time looking at the paintings on the walls, they seem to be an interpretation of famous art. As for wines you try 5 for 5 dollars, very affordable and I really liked the Fashionably late Zin. This Zin was a great example of late kind Zins, sweet but not too much, with nice notes. Plus they have Hedgehog red, which comes in a refillable bottle. Go ahead and give it a try, you will love it :)

We checked out Sones Cellars during SCMWA Passport day last Saturday (A super cool event, if you have never been, btw) We tasted many wines we liked, but took home a bottle of the Cancion del Mar (white wine blend). The blend includes Viognier, Pinot Gris, Torrontes and Sauvignon Blanc - mouth watering! Check it out, you won't be sorry that you took the trip!

Other than the fact that this location is an hour and a half from where I live this place is great. After being told by another tasting room that it was to close to 5 pm to start a tasting, we found this place right around the corner. After chatting with Lois for about 5 minutes Michael came up from the back and we chatted about the wines and a series 3 E-type Jaguar. I truly appreciated the the time with the owners, and the hands on approach to wine making. The entire experience was great the wines especially the zin, hedge, and syrah were excellent. I have returned several times since the initial visit and each time the counter is held down by Mindy. Mindy is exactly the type of person that you need behind the counter. She is fun and quick witted, has a ton of knowledge about the industry, and seems to know everyone by name. I would recommend this place in a heartbeat.

The Hedgehog wine is fun! Love filling the bottle out of the barrel...and refills are discounted! The white blend is delicious (Cancion del Mar, I believe), a definite must-buy. Relaxing tasting, super nice woman. Good times! We'll be back, at the very least to refill our bottle!

Here for a private going away party. :) I've been here over the years and I have found them to be friendly and affable. Came here for a private event during the summer - many of the staff were friendly and helpful. While I have no particular favorite wine, I do like bringing friends here for tasting. Hubby tends to wander off across the way for beer. $3 for tasting isn't bad at all.

The best local winery in Santa Cruz! The owners are very hands on and really care about the wines and the people who enjoy them. I have been a wine club member for a while and am an evangelist for this winery. Seriously if you are on the westside and looking for wine check them out. I love the Petite Syrah and the Cancion del mar!

This was the 2nd of 5 wineries I stopped at this weekend. So at this point I can give a sober assessment. I loved the wine. The loved the staff. I don't think I tasted anything I wouldn't buy.

They had some pretty good wines. Nothing fancy here - a small bar in a large storage locker, but they do a good job and their people are friendly. Their hedgehog table wine is great and you can get growlers of it. I would recommend stopping by this place.

Sones sits in a small plaza off of Ingall road in SC. It's a small establishment and you are eagerly greeted by a very friendly lab mix Harry? I think that was his name. What made the difference for me was the incredible friendliness of the staff. Michael and his wife own the place and he is the winemaker. His knowledge was impeccable and probably should be since he is the mad scientist behind all his own blends. I love that they have a wine called Hedge Hog Red that comes in a reusable bottle and I can't tell you how many locals stopped in to get a $12 refill on that wine. What a great idea but doesn't surprise me since we are in Santa Cruz. I bought a bottle and will bring it with me for a refill the next time i'm in the area. The wines were good. We usually are used to the big Napa style reds so trying some different wines locally grown in the surrounding area was a nice departure and opened up my taste buds to change. After the usual tasting ($3 waived for purchase )who can beat that). Michael went into his barrels and we did a serial tasting of some of his Syrah and even a Cab that he was working on. I was impressed and he had me at barrel tasting. I was giddy from all the attention and purchased 3 wines to try at home. This is a place I will definitely be returning to. Thanks again for the great experience. I just wish the wifey could've enjoyed it with me. She will get her turn in November.

Really a fan of this small but growing winery and their tasting room. The wines are tasty, the winemakers and tasting room staff friendly, and the prices are affordable. I would like to support these people.

We visited Sones today (Checked in!) and picked up 2 bottles of the 07 San Lucas Zin and 3 more bottles of the 06 French Camp Sirah. We were super bummed to find out that they are officially sold out of the 07 Wiedeman Zin, but the 08 will be released shortly and from what we can tell will be just as great as the 07.

one of my new favorite wineries (up there with castle, monticello, & freemark abbey). i agree with mary m. this tasting room is in a great convenient spot along with 5 other wine tasting rooms (including bonny doon) in the same lil shopping center. we also appreciate the $3 - 5 tastings in this area..... they poured about 5 wines: la sirena, pinot, zinfandel and maybe 2 petite syrahs. & we enjoyed them all. though we're not big on whites, la sirena is a nice aperitif on a nice, warm sunny day. we went home with a nice bottle of their pinot (not your typical pinot....its definitely got a big red feel to it, since it got my hub's attention).....

Mmmmmmmmmmmm! Dreamy delicious wine and the pourers are always friendly. The white blend is delicious and the syrahs are wonderful. I love the Hedgehog wine and look forward to returning as soon as I can.

Fun atmosphere, paintings hung around the place are enjoyable, and overall the female pouring the day we visited was friendly and conversational. I can't seem to recall her name. One of the wines included in the tasting is out of a wine barrel with a tap. It's called the Hedgehog Red. If you buy a bottle of it, you can take it back and refill it for $10. The particular blend of this red wine varies from year to year.

I fell in love with Sones on a wine passport day three months ago, where they holed up in the courtyard of michaels on main with ten other wineries as they awaited the opening of their very own tasting room. even with so much wine around that day, their white blend greatly stood out to me. we visited them again this past weekend at their in-the-works tasting room on the westside, and i can't wait to open the bottle of La Siena i bought! :o)

Great energy at this place. The tasting room host was very knowledgable and passionate about Sones Cellars six varietals. All three Petit Syrahs where very unique and delicious in there own way. Their Zin has great acid, but shots off towards finish. Great service great wine and great time!

It's a little hole-in-the-wall location, but the barrels of wine are RIGHT THERE, and the tastings are generous. I found most of the wines to be delicious, and they have a "crowd-sourced" wine (Hedgehog Red) that they pour right from the barrel. While you're there, swing by Kelly's French Bakery (in the same parking lot) and grab a sandwich to accompany your drink!

Came here this past Sunday. Love the wall art. So colorful and makes you stare at it. If I had the $ I would buy some of this art. Onto the wine, the lady that assisted us was very friendly and nice. I enjoyed hearing her chit chat with people and she also talked to us as well. She told us where to get pastries since we were hungry from the small appetizer lunches we had (we thought the place served regular lunches) and she pointed us to Kelly's Bakery. The wine tasting was cheap $3! And it went towards a wine purchase. I got the mix white wine one. They are a smaller winery and so I can't fault them for not having a lot of selection. But I enjoyed the wines they have and liked that it was a cheap fee and went toward a purchase. Would come back again.

We really wanted to like this place. such a little bar serving generous tastings, crackers and cubes of cheese, and an adorable refillable wine bottle that you could bring back for a discounted refill. The woman serving was friendly, but the wine just didn't satisfy either of the four of us. It lacked fragrance, burned with every taste, and lacked true flavor. The two stars are for the service, the cute refillable bottle (no wine, but I bought the bottle to store olive oil), and the idea of a refillable wine bottle was very Santa Cruz-esque and green. But the quality wine was just NOT there.

Sones has a white wine blend that is out of this world. I don't recall the name unfortunately.

Wonderful little tasting room run by a husband-and-wife winemaking team. They are the nicest, sweetest people ever and they truly put their hearts into their wine, along with a lot of skill. Not a snooty or stuck-up place--they treat all customers equally even if you don't look like you are about to plop down a few hundred bucks on wine, and they are happy to give you information about their wine and the processes that go into making it. Their tasting fee is a mere $3 (refundable with purchase) and their wines are delicious (and not outrageously expensive either). There are many other nice tasting rooms near there too, so you can hit several at once.

Amazing wine and wonderful people. I first tasted their wine at the fundraiser, "Grazing on the Green". Their red wine is full bodied and their white is crisp and light. I have always been so impressed with their wine. I have been a wine club member for a few years and always look forward to the releases. This a MUST in your Santa Cruz winery tour!

Best Santa Cruz winery experience! Excellent wines, excellent service! I almost want to keep it a secret...

This place is amazing! Lois is so sweet and knowledgeable! She will sit and talk with you and answer any wine questions without pretension. The wine is delicious as well! Can't wait to return!