Note: This is the final post from our trip in August 2024, which I did not complete at that time. I forgot about it until I was preparing to write my first post from our current adventures in June of 2025. So, I did the final editing and figured I’d send it now. Better late than never and all that. There are a few winery recommendations and some fun pics from Pismo Beach.
I promised in the previous post to share a bit about our stop in Morgan Hill on the way to Pismo Beach.
Morgan Hill, which is just south of San Jose, lies between the farming communities of the Central Valley and the fast growing high tech towns of Silicone Valley. Unfortunately I don’t have photos from our stop there; it was intended to be a break in our journey before we reached our final destination, Pismo Beach. Instead, we found the area quite interesting and intend to return in 2025.
Most of the area around Morgan Hill is agricultural, and grapes have been grown in the region for over a century. However, the relevant AVA, Santa Clara Valley, was only established in 1989 and the wine making industry there is still pretty young. At this time there are approximately 60 wineries and tasting rooms spread over a large geographic area. There are two wineries in the Morgan Hill area I can recommend. The first is Light Post, which operates a tasting room in Morgan Hill, but has production facilities and vineyards located elsewhere. I would also recommend J Winston, which is very relaxed and welcoming in addition to featuring some pretty good wines.
We also took a day trip to Los Gatos, an inner ring suburb of San Jose on the west side, and I fell in love. The streets of the downtown residential area are lined with charming old houses, flower gardens and mature trees. From this area, it is a short walk to the business district, where shops, tasting rooms and restaurants occupy renovated historic buildings. We visited Gali Wines, which I would definitely recommend, and had a wonderful lunch at Italian Brothers Restaurant, featuring some of the best gluten free pasta I’ve ever had.
From Morgan Hill, we headed to Pismo Beach. The Oceano Dunes were featured in the previous post, but the city of Pismo Beach is also worth exploring.
