Thinking about Mount Eden but would welcome any suggestions of"sleepers" and up and comers

While you can get a tour, according to their website Mount Eden does not have a tasting room.

http://www.mounteden.com/contactus.html

To state the obvious, I've heard Ridge provides a great tasting room experience, but have never been.

Not sure on sleepers, but I would be interested to hear as well.

Big Basin is cool, Thomas Fogarty is great, try to set up an appointment with Windy Oaks, and of course, Stefania.

There's a big difference between Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz Mountains. In the town of Santa Cruz there are two clusters of tasting rooms and another 3-4 wineries in short driving distance from downtown.

In the Mountains nothing is close to anything else. Even if it is close you can't get there from where you're at. One of my favorite parts of the tour I give is to stand at the top of the vineyard at Chaine d 'Or and point to Monte Bello about 5 miles away and then tell people it's an hour and 30 minute drive to get there.

It's really best to make appointments on places you'd like to try. Of the public tasting rooms I send people to Cooper Garrod, Ridge, Big Basin and Creekview. Martin Ranch is weekend only and also a good stop.

Note that Ridge is open weekends. They also do appointments via their website for sit down week day tastings. Seats are limited.

The http://corralitoswinetrail.com/Home_Page.php is four wineries open Saturdays. That includes board favorite Windy Oaks, as well as Nicholson, Pleasant Valley and Alfaro. All worth visiting. Stop at the Corralitos Market for lunch.