About Farm Cottage Wines
Farm Cottage is Ryan Alfaro's own label, made at his family's winery, Alfaro Family Vineyards in Watsonville. He has been around the business since the day he was born; his father Richard founded it in 1997 after selling a bread company and deciding to find another use for yeast.
Ryan studied environmental studies and geography at UCLA. The label began when his father handed him a single ton of Pinot Noir to work with, and the results were good enough that the two agreed he should start something of his own.
He is part of what the trade has started calling a resurgence in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a group of younger winemakers pushing at experimental cellar work and regenerative farming rather than settling into the region's mailing-list habits.
The vineyards are named and specific. Trout Gulch, planted in 1980, is sixteen dry-farmed acres near Aptos at 750 feet on sandy loam, under four miles from the sea, planted to Wente Chardonnay and Mount Eden Pinot Noir. Ryan Spencer is seven steep acres of Syrah between 450 and 800 feet, densely planted at over 2,300 vines to the acre. The Lester Family blocks in Corralitos, three miles from the coast, supply Pinot Noir - the same Lester estate that appears separately in this catalog.
The wines are made with native yeast, some ferments run entirely outdoors where the temperature drops to around 40 degrees overnight. There is no tasting room of its own.
One ton of Pinot Noir from his father, and a label that helped start a Santa Cruz Mountains resurgence.
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Named, specific vineyardsTrout Gulch, Ryan Spencer and Lester Family blocks, each described down to elevation, soil and clone.
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Dry-farmed Trout Gulch fruitSixteen acres planted in 1980 to Wente Chardonnay and Mount Eden Pinot, under four miles from the ocean.
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Native yeast, outdoor fermentsSome ferments run entirely outside, where nights drop to around 40 degrees.
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A second-generation labelMade at Alfaro Family Vineyards, his parents' winery, which is also in this catalog.
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Widely stocked for its sizePoured on local restaurant lists and carried by merchants well beyond the region.
"The Alfaro next generation, working named sites with a lighter hand."
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Wines change with each vintage
For an accurate list of current-release wines and library bottlings from Farm Cottage Wines, please check the winery'Santa Cruz Mountains producers typically rotate vintages and offerings seasonally.
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