Funny how life presents us with surprises at the most prosaic of moments. Tom Kruse’s search for a dining room table and chairs was derailed by his fascination with a wine press.
Winemaking may have chosen him as much as he chose it.
I first talked with Tom late in summer before harvest was fully underway. The Thomas Kruse Winery is an open, airy building that catches the afternoon breezes from all directions. He sat in the middle and shared his surprise at becoming one of the old timers.
Nicknamed “The Chicago Boy” and featured in one of Sunset’s first books on California wines, Tom has been a winemaker since the 1960s, when the resurgence in what were called dry table wines picked up momentum.
Back then your choices were red, rosé or white. Rarely did the names of varietals appear on the label.
He learned the steps of the process from a few key books and from his Italian neighbors, taking annual adventures in how to plant, graft, trellis, irrigate, measure, harvest, crush, ferment, press and bottle. The first wines were made from purchased grapes.
The original vineyard was on two acres below Hecker Pass where the southeastern foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains slope down to the tip of southern Santa Clara Valley.
As a geologic area, the hills have outcrops of serpentinite, basalt, limestone, ribbon chert, sandstone, shale and greywacke (a high-sounding name for a dark, dirty rock.) The soils containing these decomposed rocks provided excellent conditions for the vineyards planted in the region.
During the next few decades, very expensive residential development began eroding the adjacent family farms, providing the impetus for Tom and his family to move east. Just not as far back as Chicago.
Today, the vineyards of Thomas Kruse Winery stretch across 12 acres in the Santa Clara Valley at the base of the eastern foothills. His varietals include Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Zinfandel and Cabernet, and his wines are reminiscent of the country wines of Europe.
Following the tradition of his former neighbors, Tom freely shares with others the winemaking knowledge he has learned along the way.
