It all started soon after the Millennium, when a few residents organised a walking "Open House Tour" of a few wineries near Westwind Barn. The idea was that a small group of hikers, cyclists, and maybe even automobile drivers, could drop by these wineries for a visit during a specified afternoon. The next year, it became so popular that it was decided to invite the winemakers to come to a central location rather than have the public visiting each of the wineries. Westwind Barn was the logical spot, and the Winemakers were invited to show their stuff at tables on the lawn there. And thus it grew, each year with a few more vintners, until it became necessary to move the event to Town Hall Following are an early video and some photo albums of pictures taken at some of those events - click on one of the links in the index below (  ) and enjoy !

The Events

The Vines and Wines of 2008        (20 Min Youtube Video - Our 3rd event, held at Westwind) The Vines and Wines of 2015 The Vines and Wines of 2016 The Vines and Wines of 2017 The Vines and Wines of 2018 The Vines and Wines of 2019 The Vines and Wines of 2021 The Vines and Wines of 2023     The Vines and Wines of 2023 - Video Highlights (Just under 4 minutes)     The Vines and Wines of 2023 - Video Documentary (About 45 minutes)

On How The Tradition Just Sort of Grew

"Rural Atmosphere" – and Los Altos Hills. In the early years, around when the Town was founded, this term was closely associated with the ability to keep horses and ride them on trails around town. As the "Valley of The Heart's Delight" morphed into "Silicon Valley", the term "Rural" also started to encompass pursuits like wine-making. This triggered some community-sponsored "events"... 2001 Westwind & Wineries – a free event, held at the barn, featured 4 or 5 winemakers and a tour of the barn, a chance to meet the horses. 2003 Westwind & Wineries – still a free event. Participants walked to 6 nearby vineyards, with tastings at each stop. Attendance was limited to the first 100 people to make reservations. Participants were asked to show their appreciation by donating to the barn’s 4-H Handicapped Riding Program. Contributions enabled the Riding Program to buy an additional pony. 2007 Westwind & Wineries --- still a free event. Held entirely at the barn. 20 winemakers, who grew their grapes or made their wine within Town borders participated. More than 30 different wines were on offer. Attendance was about 200 people. Again everyone was encouraged to make contributions to the Barn. 2015 renamed Vines & Wines, the event was held at Town Hall under the oak, drawing 23 winemakers and 250 people. Tickets were $20 each. A few months later, the volunteer Planning Committee hosted an appreciation party for all the winemakers in the cellar of Jerre and Nancy Hitz. It was a great opportunity for the winemakers to become better acquainted. 2017 Vines & Wines was held at Town Hall and again featured 23 winemakers and accommodated 250 people. Toward the end of the afternoon, a thin veil of smoke had drifted over the Town from the Tubbs Fire burning in Napa and Sonoma counties. A spontaneous suggestion for Event Chair Duffy Price prompted winemakers put extra bottles of their wine on a separate table. Participants or winemakers could choose any bottle to take home by putting $20 into a big glass jar. $2,000 was collected and donated to victims of the fire. In 2019 and 2021, Vines & Wines was again held under the oak, with attendance growing toward 300, counting winemakers, volunteers and participants. All of these celebratory events have been sponsored jointly by Hills2000 --- Friends of the Hills and the Town of Los Altos Hills. Revenue over expenses is donated to Westwind Barn, the Handicapped Riding Program, Hidden Villa or local nonprofits.

But Before That - The Pre-History (A Cautionary Tale - or A Word of Encouragement?)

And finally to wrap up - a little bit of the earlier history and a "whatever became of..." story Back around in 1975 or so, an early example of a classic Los Altos Hills vintner... the Vice-President of Marketing for a hi-tech Silicon Valley start-up, (pioneering in its field, very successful)... This guy gets the bug and decides he needs to bring some balance of nature into his life. He decides to go into "doing wines" to offset the time he spends in a 747 flying the oceans of the world to market laser devices. He jacks his Los Altos Hills home up off its foundation, rents a "Bobcat" earthmover and digs a cellar under the house. Starts a winery... He has four kids - one of them (I knew him as the youngest of the boys next door...) prefers beer to wine as a student, but grows up and gets the bug and goes on to study wine-making in France... The "amateur" winemaking outfit expands and grows to into a real business for which the residential premises on Page Mill Road are too small to support a full-blown winery. So they move the whole outfit to Livermore and create a whole new winery there - but keep the name. It is still called "Page Mill Winery". Here is a 10 minute video interview of Dane Stark, second-generation proprietor of what eventualy grew from the original under-ground winery on Page Mill Road in Los Altos Hills.