Martin Ray Winery

The origins of the Martin Ray winery go back to 1852 when Charlers LeFranc founded the Almaden Winery. Paul Masson married LeFranc's daughter and ran both the Almaden Winery and his Mountain Winery. He changed the company name to the Paul Masson Champagne Company, before finally trading the Almaden Winery for a 26,500 acre ranch near Gilroy and selling the remainder of the company to Martin "Rusty" Rayin 1936.

In 1942 Ray sold the winery, vineyards and inventory to Seagrams, but he retained the company title and changed the name to the Martin Ray Winery. With the proceeds of the sale he purchased the adjoining mountain and continued to produce the finest quality 100% varietal Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. In the late 1960s he formed a partnership to develop the surrounding area, but the partnership soured and Ray ended up losing control of the winery and all but 5 acres to what became Mount Eden Vineyards. He named his remaining 5 acres Peter Martin Ray Vineyard after his stepson. Production continued, after his death in 1976, into the early 1980s, headed by Peter and his widow Eleanor. In addition to estate grapes, they purchased high quality grapes from Stelzner (Stag's Leap) and Winery Lake (Carneros) vineyards.

The label was defunct until 1990 when it was acquired by Courtney Benhamin Sonoma. They continue to make a range of wines under the Martin Ray label "with the goal of creating wines whose quality would make Martin Ray himself proud" but very few of the wines are from Santa Cruz Mountains fruit.

External Links

The modern Martin Ray Winery website