June 30, 2002 – Byington Winery and Vineyards Tour

The Foothill Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America was the sponsor for this event. We met in south San Jose then toured up Highway 17 to Bear Creek road. A bit of grinding up the grades in second gear on the lovely, winding and steep Bear Creek road took us to the summit of the Santa Cruz mountains where we jogged a short distance on, of course, Summit Road. A short distance down the second section of Bear Creek road brought us to the Byington Winery.

We were taken on a very informative tour lasting about an hour. We learned about the different climates and micro climates needed for various varieties of grapes and we had a complete tour of the winery itself along with the "caves" (actually man made tunnels) built into the hill side to provide the proper environment for aging wine.

After a picnic lunch and wine tasting we resumed our trip down Bear Creek Road to the intersection of State Highway 9 just above Boulder Creek. Another twenty or so miles of mountain driving brought us back to Saratoga and the rest of Silicon Valley.

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	Cars on the tour. This was a small group with only four cars going the full distance. Three of those four were built within four years of one another: 1929 Ford, 1930 Lancia and 1933 Plymouth.
	A very nice reserved set of tables in the shade was the setting for out picnic lunch and wine tasting.
	Another view of the cars on the tour, this time showing some of the fantastic mountain scenery. The 1930 Lancia Lambda was the rarest car on the tour.
	A few acres of the vineyards that surround the winery.
	A photograph from the walk that leads up to the wedding site shows that this really is the mountains. The winery is on a small flat area on the top of a very steep ridge. A wonderful view.