Burns, John

John Burns (1811-1880), born in Scotland, was one of our county’s first commercial vintners. Burns, with a partner named I.C. Willson, found some suitable wine-grape land on the western slopes of the coastal mountain ridge he named Ben Lomond. Son James Burns (1860-1942) assisted in establishing the vineyard. In the 1880s, the land was sold to an investment group led by F. W. Billing.

• Late Harvest (1983 book), chapter 1 "The Origins of the Santa Cruz Wine Industry".
• Harvesting Our Heritage (2017 book), pages 20-22.

According to Santa Cruz: The Early Years (1980 book), p.173, Burns named the mountain after a wine-grape-growing region in Scotland.