The friend I traveled to Monterey with wanted to tour a vineyard. After running in a marathon, however, we found ourselves short on time and energy. She was thrilled when we saw a winerey open on our way to the San Jose airport. We stopped at Rappazzini's somewhere around brunch time and were greeted at the door by the family Rottweiler! This big guy's portrait actually dons a label or two, and we found our canine host to be very friendly.The lady behind the counter explained that Rappazzini Winery does not have a vineyard of its own. Instead, the owners pick and choose the grapes they want from the best vineyards in Monterey County. They do not have a national distributor, so we enjoyed tasting wine we could not find in many other places. I actually really liked the Rappazzinni Chardonnay which was reasonably priced at $14/bottle. The Cab was nice, too. While I do not enjoy dessert wine much at all, I picked up a bottle as a gift. The lady served this very sweet wine to us mixed with champagne! Not a bad taste before 11 AM in the morning!
Beside the winery is a large garlic shop owned by the same people. My friend purchased some garlic salsa that she said was very good. There were, of course, other things to buy dealing with wine and the area. There was even a display of Hummels if you are into collecting. While I would advise taking more time than we did to explore the vineyards of Monterey County, if you miss out on some of these (or if you want to start tasting on your way from the airport!), Rappazzini is located right on the way to San Jose, and we enjoyed the time we spent there.