Ruthe Roberts Wine Collective

Had a great time tasting and learning about small batch wines here last week. We each got to select 4 wines to taste from a long list. Great that everyone in our group could customize their tasting. The owner was there and she was very knowledgeable about the wines, winemakers, and overall very funny, too. What a gem! We went home with a lovely port. Do not miss this chance to enjoy small batch wines in an unpretentious setting!

Had so much fun;) Ruthe is wonderful and did a great job educating and hosting us. She changes the sections monthly — first weekend is the new selection. Her husband also plays guitar on occasion. We will definitely return!

The RR Wine Collective is about as interesting as wine tasting gets in present-​day Silicon Valley. Long gone are the times when one could hope to tour rows of Santa Clara vineyards sprouting from the valley floor, as one can still do in other AVAs in the state — Arroyo Seco, Anderson Valley, Santa Ynez, Dry Creek, or Napa. To be sure, there are vineyards in the surrounding foothills and nestled in the coast range mountains, destination locations like Ridge, David Bruce, or Fogarty, and some other local wineries (Big Basin, Cinnabar) also have rooms set up in downtown Saratoga. The nearby Michaud/​Martella tasting room, for example, showcases some real gems of artisan winemaking. But at the Collective, things are decidedly different, in an appealing, niche marketing sort of way. RRWC seeks out limited amounts of small-​batch wines from regional wineries and winemakers and offers visitors 5 tastes for $ 10, which you chose from a deliciously retro paper-​and-​pencil menu that you fill out as if it were a middle school pop quiz (take that, Google). The kicker is that there aren’t grades and no wrong answers, just a personalized blend of sparkling, white, red, and sometimes «other» wines — like an intriguing blush wine (Pinot Noir blended with Chardonnay) sampled on a recent visit this summer.
Small batch wines from winemakers you’ve never heard of aren’t necessarily better than the branded or bigger ones. They do have a way of surprising you, though, and the joy of discovery seems to be a big part of the wine collective experience. I fell in unrequited love with the red wines conjured up by a mysterious Marina, CA winery, Comanche Cellars, including a sensuous Santa Lucia highlands Pinot Noir and a bombshell Sangiovese/​Syrah blend, «Maverick,» that exuded the winemaker’s unbridled enthusiasm and attractive attention to fine-​grained winemaking detail.
The other neat thing about the Collective is that the owners have created a no-​nonsense, casual atmosphere that is the polar opposite of wine country pretense. There are three-​ring binders with tasting notes and wine-​maker bios, which you are welcome to use — or not. No hard sells here, at least none we encountered, and both the women and men in our party felt equally at ease. It was late in the day, maybe 30 minutes before closing, so there was something relaxed in the air, like a bar shortly after last call, a wistful sense of time passing and a weekend ending, where one feels like twirling the contents of a wine glass in search of solace and alcohol-​enhanced reassurance that all is just possibly right in the world, and that, when you close your eyes, suspend disbelief, and just swallow, you will taste the fruit of the earth, you will pick up a hint of spice, enjoy a nuance of oak, and savor a suggestion of spring blossoms in bloom. You will be reminded that grapes are still grown in the ground, not simulated on a screen, that wines are still crafted one batch and barrel at a time, not outsourced to another continent, and that droughts and wildfires and climate change and tech start-​ups and rising rents haven’t stopped Californians from making great wine, even if you can’t necessarily afford it except as an occasional treat. For whatever else Silicon Valley is and might yet be, at least there are places like RRWC where $ 10 still goes a remarkably long way. Perhaps in the collective there is yet untapped and inexhaustible amounts of human and natural strength.

Husband and wife team have selected very delicious and unique wines from smaller wineries and present them here in a fun and friendly environment. We purchased more bottles here than anywhere else in Saratoga.

As I was walking up Saratoga I discovered Ruthe Roberts Wine Collective where I learned a lot of new information from Ruthe about a great small production wineries that reside in the Saratoga hills.
I did the tasting menu which for $ 10 is a steal because you get five tastings that you choose. I enjoyed Comartin Cellars wines including a great sparking champagne from Rack and Riddle that the purveyor makes special varietal of.
I also enjoy a great knowledge of the wine region and looked forward to maybe hosting a little holiday get together in her space as it would great to stop in and enjoy a great bottle of wine with some breadsticks.
I highly encourage you to go to Ruthe to experience new wines and find yourself relaxed and happy.

My wife and I became members at Ruthe Roberts Wine Collective a few months ago. This place is great! It is a wine tasting room, with the featured wines changing frequently, so that you can try wines from many different local winemakers.
Many wine club memberships will lock you in to only one brand of wine, but this collective features so many different wineries, there is always something new to try. As a result, we have tasted, enjoyed, and purchased many wines that we would not otherwise have known about. Also, the owners are very flexible with wine club shipments, thus if a wine featured in my shipment isn’t to my liking, I can always substitute it out for another selection.
They also frequently have a «Meet The Winemaker» day, whereby a local winemaker will be at the store featuring a selection of their wines for tastings along with the other RRWC featured wines for that day. It is always fun talking to the winemaker, as they are usually pretty passionate about their wines and they like to get feedback from customers. Also, it gives them a great opportunity to get their name out there in the community.
There is a nominal tasting fee for non-​members, and free tastings for members & their guests. Bring along some snacks to eat while enjoying the wine, or purchase some cheese or other snacks from the shop (pretty small selection). The wines that they feature are quality selections, yet the prices are reasonable — also members get a discount.
Friendly clientele and great staff. We often will spend a weekend day wine tasting at other Santa Cruz, Los Gatos, and Saratoga wineries, and then will stop by this shop on our way back to see what is new on the tasting menu.
If you are local to the Saratoga, CA area, and you enjoy great wines, this place is a must!

Great wine shop, run by amazing people! My girl friend and I had stopped by a different tasting room earlier in the day and were recommended to check out Ruthe Roberts Wine Collective next. Tucked in a bit from the street, Ruthe offers wines from a variety of wineries who don’t have tasting rooms or aren’t represented at nearby retailers.
Ruthe and her husband are great, knowledgeable people! We had a great time chatting with them during our visit. More businesses need proprietors like them. They take the meaning of local to heart!
Because they are a smaller tasting room and have such a variety of wines to offer, they always have different wines to offer. Tastings are $ 10 for 5 pours, from a list of roughly 8 wines.
Next time you’re wine tasting in downtown Saratoga, be sure to stop by and meet Ruthe!

A really nice boutique wine tasting room in Saratoga. Friendly owner, though I think the kitsch value of trying wines you can’t get elsewhere is a bit overstated. It means that the bottles are really expensive, and you may not get to enjoy recommending/​sharing the wines you like with friends. Between the tasting fee and the costs of the bottles, this is a pricey weekend outing, but a nice one nonetheless.

RRWC is awesome for wine selection, and I love that it is local wines! Ruthe is really nice and very knowledgeable about her products. Tasting is a bargain too. And you can get a better quality bottle for the same amount you might pay at a liquor store or grocery where you’re not even sure if you’re buying something good (at least, for me, as a person who likes wine but doesn’t know a lot about it, and no one at the big stores knows anything either). Definitely recommended!

Our friends Will and Brooke introduced us to this wine collective, and we are forever grateful.
When we don’t feel like making the drive to Napa, RRWC is a great alternative for wine tasting. Ruthe is so much fun to talk to. She makes the whole experience so much better.
This is a great way to taste from wineries that don’t have their own tasting room. One of our favorites is the Cab Franc from Big Dog that’s in Milpitas! Who knew there was a winery on that hill? We wouldn’t have known had it not been for Ruthe! This is why this place is so special.
The wine club is affordable and flexible. I highly recommend joining because you’ll find yourself here often to try the new wines.

I visited Ruthe Roberts Collective Wine for wine tasting for the first time without realizing the difference between wine tasting at a winery and collective wine. Nevertheless, I had a good experience because I was able to taste different wines from different vineyards all at one location.
For $ 10 you can select up to five types of wine. I’m personally more into wine then sparkling, but I really liked the sparkling I tried which was the Bubblie Redheaddie Sparkling which was light and refreshing.
Ruthe puts together a different tasting menu every month, and that gives her customers an opportunity to visit often to try something new and be more adventurous.
If you’re in the Saratoga area, definitely check it out. Cheers.

For those of you who like to wine taste, and love to discover uncommon and wonderful wines (she has great taste and I’ve never tasted a wine I didn’t like there!), Ruthe Roberts Wine Collective is a «must experience.»
Why, you wonder? After all there are so very many tasting rooms in the Bay Area. So what makes this tasting room a «must experience?»
Well, even before we get to the wines, there’s that friendly inclusive smile that Ruthe extends to you the moment you walk in the door, and the friendly conversation that makes you feel like you’ve known her since you was a kid, but that’s not what you’re there for. That’s just one of many reasons that once you’ve visited, you’ll want to make it a regular stop on your life path.
Ruthe has a concept that I have not experienced anywhere else that I think is really cool!
There are many boutique wineries around the Bay Area and beyond that produce in small quantities and that do not have their own tasting rooms.
Ruthe brings a collection of wines from these boutique wineries in for you to taste and purchase (another challenge if you discover a wine like that and want to purchase it again).
Another feature that sets her above other tasting rooms in the neighborhood from my perception is the fact that when you walk in, rather than being told that these three to five wines are on the tasting of the day, Ruthe has an entire menu of wines available for tasting in any particular month, and you get to select the five wines that you’d like to taste.
More and more people are dropping in to pick up a bottle of wine (and possibly dinner at several restaurants in the shared courtyard) on their way home from work, or coming for a tasting and lunch to be enjoyed at one of the tables in the courtyard.
I could go on and on. One noteworthy feature I will add before I wind up (because you really have to experience all this first-​hand), is her penchant for discovering other complimentary products and bringing them in to make available to purchase (sometimes with tastings).
If you like to explore interesting cheeses, she’s got a «cheese of the month» offering and I personally have great fun bringing a wedge home to «play» with in the kitchen. (You cannot believe how amazing a bit of crumbled Pecorino truffle cheese is in scrambled eggs!)
And a recent inclusion of confections from a little shop in Scotts Valley had me so excited I requested another order and purchased several for friends. Can you imagine white chocolate coated Key Lime Pie marshmallows made from scratch by the clever woman who owns the shop? They go really well with the Bubbly Blondie!
Enough! You can see she’s ignited my passion and all the words in the world cannot do more than tempt you in. The experience must be first hand!

Ruth is very nice, atmosphere is inviting and the wines are very good, what more can you ask for!

This tasting room is definitely a needle in a haystack. It features a variety of local small producers from the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation. The owner is friendly and helpful with regards to the wines. She also oftentimes has the winemakers in to showcase their wines and talk about their business practices. The Wine Collective is a definite welcome addition to downtown.

This is a little tasting room off the beaten path… Definitely stop in and give it a try. They offer tastings from a selection of wineries, and it is always changing. I liked everything I tried here and they were super friendly to us and talked to us as we tried the wines.