San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge rises to greet you at the top of our Central Coast. Over the course of the next 500 kilometers (300 miles), the weather transitions from moody to mild, which makes for excellent diversity in both wine and surf. Grapes here are among the oldest in the state, planted by Franciscan monks as they made their way north on El Camino Real (“the royal road”, now Highway 101) in the late 1700s.