The Thomas Kruse Winery

Open: Year-round

We welcome visitors to our special place. Our small winery is nestled up against the east foothills of Gilroy along a rural country road. The setting is friendly and relaxed. You can bring a picnic lunch and enjoy the quiet peaceful surroundings. You can taste wine and take an informative tour. Tom takes delight in showing folks the vineyard, and, depending on the time of year, he explains pruning, bud break, verasion (when the grapes turn color) or harvesting.

In the fall the grapes are picked and the wine is made. As winter approaches, activity centers around getting the finished wine into barrels for aging and bottling some of the previous years' wines. And because we are small and low tech, it's easy to relate to the whole winemaking process here, just like it has been made for centuries. Some customers even stay and help us with the bottling or the labeling. It's a very people friendly place.

This is our home as well as our business and we feel lucky to be connected to the rich farming heritage of this valley. The roots of winemaking in Santa Clara Valley date back to the 1700's when the Franciscan padres planted and harvested grapes along the mission trail, Later European immigrant farmers settled here and planted many more grape varieties as well as orchards of apricots, prunes, and cherries. The good soil and long warm dry season make an ideal location for growing most anything. We inherited an old apricot orchard with this property from which we make a small amount of apricot dessert wine that tastes incredibly just like the apricots.

We offer our quality wine at really affordable prices, and more than that, more even than an enjoyable afternoon in the country, there is also a connection here - a personal one that visitors take with them. Some of our customers we have known for over 30 years; some are second generation - grown children who remember coming here as little kids with their parents; some have moved to distant parts of the globe and still tell us their stories.