Farm Cottage - Pinot Noir - Santa Cruz Mountains, CA - 2022

The vineyard: The 2022 Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir consists of 3 vineyards from within the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA. Trout Gulch, Alfaro Family and Lester Family vineyards all have their unique clonal materials, site elevation and soil composition, which help showcase the Santa Cruz Mountains as a whole in this bottling. The winemaking: Harvested on 9/6/22, 9/13/22 and 9/15/22, consisting of a blend of 25% Lester Family Vineyard Pinot Noir, 50% Alfaro Family Vineyard Pinot Noir and 25% Trout Gulch Vineyard Pinot Noir. The finished wine was fermented with 50% whole cluster and aged in neutral french oak. The wine was bottled on 8/12/23.

Alc- 13.3%
pH- 3.5
Bottling date- 8/12/23
Aging- 11 months
AVA: Santa Cruz Mountains

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Winemaker Ryan Alfaro grew up on his parents' vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Being immersed in the family business his entire life, it was no surprise he developed a passion for wine.

Ryan enrolled at UCLA to study Environmental Studies and Geography. In the midst of his undergrad education, he was able to study abroad in Dijon, France through UC Davis' Viticulture and Enology program. Upon finishing his undergrad studies at UCLA, Ryan decided to further his education at University of Auckland, New Zealand, completing a Post-Grad in Wine Science.

He was privileged to work under renowned winemaker Adam Tolmach for a vintage before returning home to become head-winemaker at Alfaro Family Vineyards.

While honing his skills at Alfaro Family Vineyards, Ryan decided to create his own label, Farm Cottage Wines. The 2019 vintage marked the inaugural year of Farm Cottage Wines.