A glossy brochure and marketing campaign once drew visitors to a cluster of wineries tucked into a corner of industrial San Carlos. These proclaimed the Midpeninsula Wine Trail an easy way to get your wine fix without trekking to Wine Country.

But the trail’s taken a hit in recent years, and has substantially fewer stops than in its heyday. (“You’re a few years too late,” said Spencer Townsend, an owner and winemaker at Russian Ridge Winery, when I told him I was working on a story about it.)

That’s because before the pandemic, there were nine wineries and one cider maker, while today, there are only four wineries remaining: Woodside Vineyards, Flying Suitcase Wines, Russian Ridge Winery and Domenico Winery and Osteria.

Still, each is well worth a visit in its own right, and the four-st

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