About Cinnabar Winery

The Winery

Cinnabar Winery produces award-winning wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains, California’s Central Coast, and other distinguished growing regions such as Sonoma County, the Red Hills of Lake County, the Clements Hills (above Lodi), and Santa Clara Valley.

The Tasting Room is situated along the “Saratoga Wine Trail”, offering daily wine sampling, gift and decorative accessories, custom gift baskets, regional festivals, corporate events and lifestyle seminars.

The History of Cinnabar Winery

In 1981, Tom Mudd founded Cinnabar Vineyards & Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains above the village of Saratoga.

A Stanford grad, he received a master’s degree in environmental engineering in 1977 and a Ph.D. in civil engineering in 1980. From 1977–82 he was a research engineer at SRI International (Stanford Research Institute).

Exposed to the wine business in the early 1970s, he planted a one-acre mountain vineyard in 1974, took viticulture and enology courses at the University of California Davis, and made wine under a home label until he established a commercial winery.

Tom’s quest for vineyard property mirrored the scientific methodology he employed at SRI — he conducted a thorough search of parcels suitable to growing quality wine grapes.

When it was time to plant the Cinnabar vineyards, Tom sought cuttings with a proven record under local conditions. The first planting had bloodlines traceable to France’s elite classified growths: the cabernet sauvignon was derived from cuttings taken from Chateau Margaux while the chardonnay descended from Burgundy’s Corton-Charlemagne.

Twenty-two acres of estate vineyards were planted in the summers of ‘84 and ‘85. The winery building and three caves were completed in 1987, the latter providing a year-round temperature-controlled environment (58° F.) for aging Cinnabar wines. Eight acres of estate vines were added in 1991.

In the late 1990s, however, most of the pedigree vines were replaced with certified clones and rootstock better suited to the cool mountain conditions.

Cinnabar sold its Saratoga estate with the passing of founder Tom Mudd in 2007, but his commitment to producing complex wines with an uncompromising standard of excellence remains in the capable hands of President Suzanne Frontz and Winemaker George Troquato.

Interesting Facts

The Name

In the fourteenth century, alchemists believed they could miraculously transform ordinary metals into silver and gold with the help of the mineral cinnabar. Consequently, this purple-red derivative of mercury was highly coveted by medieval nobility. Time has proven them wrong, but that conviction endured in the heart of Cinnabar founder Tom Mudd (1942–2007) as he captured the magic of alchemy in his handcrafted wines.