Quick Take
After opening a little over a year ago, Bonny Doon Vineyard and Ser Winery announced they will close their collaborative Aptos Village tasting room, Doon to Earth, on Sunday.
After less than two years, Doon to Earth, the wine tasting room collaboration between Bonny Doon Vineyard and Ser Winery, will close up shop in Aptos Village at the end of the week. The last day of service is Sunday, April 28.
Despite offering award-winning wines from both Ser and Bonny Doon Vineyard – one of the most famous wineries on the Central Coast – the tasting room at 10 Parade St. was not profitable.
“While we’ve enjoyed every moment at our ‘home’ in Aptos, we simply haven’t realized the revenue to support our ongoing efforts of a tasting room here,” the wineries announced in an email to subscribers. The tasting room could reopen at some point in the future, “perhaps in a location with a bit more foot traffic,” it reads.
It’s the second Aptos Village business in the past week to announce that it will close by the end of the month. On Friday, French-inspired restaurant Cafe Sparrow, located in a historic building across the street from Doon to Earth, said that it will close this weekend after 38 years in business.
Doon to Earth is a tasting room collaboration between Ser Winery and Bonny Doon Vineyard, two local wineries with a long relationship. Nicole Walsh, the owner and winemaker at Ser, has been the winemaker at Bonny Doon for more than 20 years and launched her own winery in 2012. Walsh and Bonny Doon owner Randall Grahm share a love of wines that spark curiosity and often explore uncommon grape varieties and winemaking methods.
Grahm closed Bonny Doon’s tasting room in Davenport in 2019, and Walsh opened a tasting room for Ser in Aptos Village in 2020. At the end of 2022, she and Grahm combined their two projects in Ser’s space and rebranded the tasting room as Doon to Earth, a reference to Bonny Doon’s quirky, UFO/alien theme. In 2023, Walsh and Grahm released a joint wine club, which includes both Ser and Bonny Doon wines.
The wine club will continue as usual, the announcement clarifies. This Saturday and Sunday, the public is invited to visit for an “It’s Not Goodbye, but Until We Meet Again” celebration with wines at discounted prices.
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