Wine tasting is a pastime in its own right, but now it seems this bacchanalian pursuit is developing a pastime of its own. Bocce practically could be declared the unofficial sport of wine tasting, with more than a half-dozen South Bay wineries boasting bocce courts where visitors can bowl a few games while they sip and swirl.

Bocce's simplicity makes it ideal for wine tasting, although it does require some coordination and finesse to play well. It's a team sport, in which players take turns rolling four colored balls at a smaller white ball, called a pallino. The team with the ball closest to the target gets a point for each ball that is closer to the pallino than the opposing team's nearest ball.

Although bocce's origins are murky, the earliest forms of the game date back millennia. The game was popular across the Roman Empire. Later, Italians brought their affinity for the game -- along with their knack for making wine -- when they began immigrating to America in large numbers in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Two years ago, at the 42-year-old Fortino Winery in Gilroy, owner Ernie Fortino -- who grew up playing bocce in Italy -- got help from friends building what he calls a "state-of-the-art" bocce court out of crushed oyster shells.

Although intended primarily for visitors, the bocce court also hosts in-house tournaments. Fortino frequently invites friends to play, including Al Pastor, who lives across the road and acts as tournament director, and Henry and Susan Miranda, who liked the game so much they built a bocce court at their home.


On a recent Sunday, the quartet talked animatedly about the correct pronunciation for the jack (pallino vs. pallina), how every court plays a little differently and how competitive the tournaments get, yet everyone remains friendly.

"We're all pretty mellow because of the wine," Susan Miranda said.

The tournaments have only one other requirement aside from normal bocce rules: "You can't play (on a team) with your spouse," Susan Miranda said.

"If you do," husband Henry added, "sleep with one eye open."

The Mirandas and Pastor gathered courtside in the cool shade of a eucalyptus tree to demonstrate the game. As Pastor pulled the balls out of a bag, he noticed the pallino had been replaced by a baseball.

"Wait until Ernie hears about it," he warned. When he did, Fortino cursed and, in his prominent Italian accent, said, "It's not like you can just buy a pallino."

Still, the game went on, and baseball seemed an apt metaphor for what his friends call Fortino's "American Dream" story.

Just a few miles away at Clos La Chance in San Martin, several children had taken over the bocce court in the winery's mulberry grove while their parents enjoyed wine, live music and great views of vineyards, mountains and a nearby resort golf course.


Jack McGraw, a fifth-grader at Valley Christian in San Jose, did a fist-pump after a particularly good bowl. He plays about once a month when his parents go wine tasting here or at Byington in Los Gatos.

Former Newark resident Brenda Christensen had played a round earlier in the day with friends, celebrating her return to the Bay Area. She moved south earlier this year and was back for a visit. But, she said, "No matter where you go, it's the same. I'm at home when there's bocce ball."