Our Vineyards

Perched in the foothills of the Santa Lucia Range roughly 14 miles from the ocean and some 25 miles from Paso Robles, the area is a unique region with viticultural roots going back more than two centuries. First recognized as an ideal grape-growing region by the missionaries of Junipero Serra, the establishment in 1771 of the Mission of San Antonio de Padua also saw the planting of some of the first vineyards on the continent. These vineyards, planted in the eponymous Mission varietal and providing fruit as well as the necessary raw material for sacramental wine, remained in cultivation until the gradual decay of the mission system in the mid 1880s. Relatively isolated and sparsely populated, the region was largely neglected by viticulturists for decades. In recent years, however, the San Antonio Valley has undergone a long-deferred renaissance as growers and winemakers have come to rediscover the area’s suitability for growing robust, fully mature fruit.  Over the last decade, the valley has seen a marked spike in plantings, and a corridor of vineyards has sprung up along Jolon Road. In the process, the Lockwood area has attained a growing reputation for producing intensely flavored, complex wines of the sort more often associated with Paso Robles than with Monterey. Now the home of one the state’s most recently recognized AVAs – the San Antonio Valley appellation – the Bradley-Lockwood area is on the verge of adding an exciting, new facet to the wines of Monterey County.