2023 Farm Cottage, Chardonnay, Trout Gulch Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains.
I have long been a fan of this vineyard and enjoyed many different producers offerings from Trout Gulch, so I knew I was going to be in for a treat with the latest Farm Cottage Chardonnay from here, but wow, it was even better than I had imagined with a Chablis like mineral intensity. This 2023 is stunning stuff with a hint of reduction and a fine chalky essence, it starts with a burst of lemon, white peach and crisp apple fruits and has a steely core of mineral, a touch of saline or sea shore, clove spice, verbena and subtle creaminess and vibrant, but balanced acidity. Ryan Alfaro’s Farm Cottage Wines, as mentioned in my prior review, is a great new addition to the local scene in the South Santa Cruz Mountains. Trout Gulch, planted in 1980, gets loads of cool Pacific air and is uniquely set only a few miles from the ocean with an almost Clos effect from the redwood trees lining most of this 16 acre dry-farmed hillside vineyard. Sitting at 750 feet above sea level with well-draining sandy loam soils, the cool climate Trout Gulch Vineyard, with Heritage Wente clone Chardonnay and Mt Eden clone Pinot Noir selections, really is a jewel in hills above Soquel in the Southern part of the Santa Cruz Mountains. In the current lineup, Ryan has this wine, along with a Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot from a combination of sites, a Lester Family Pinot, This Chardonnay, a Trout Gulch Pinot Noir, an Estate Pinot Noir and his Northern Rhône inspired Syrah, all of which are top notch small batch offerings. The Alfaro’s, father and now son, who have been leasing the Trout Gulch site for many years, making small lot bottlings and selling grapes to top producers, and finally purchasing this vineyard outright a few years back and this wine is a fantastic way to celebrate that achievement.
The Farm Cottage Trout Gulch Chardonnay, as winemaker Ryan Alfaro notes, was pressed directly to stainless steel tank to settle for 24 hours before the wine was racked off solids and into stainless steel tank where natural fermentation occurred. The primary fermentation to dryness took 11 days then the wine was racked into neutral French oak for malolactic fermentation and aging, wit the 2023 seeing about 9 months of elevage.The Alfaro Family Vineyards, as noted here, was founded by Ryan’s Dad Richard back in the early 2000s, in Corralitos is a must visit for those seeking out great values in both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, as well as specialties like the winery’s Grüner Veltliner and the new 100% estate Malbec. Ryan worked his dad in the cellar in recent years, after doing a stint with California legend Adam Tolmach at Ojai Vineyards and studying wine in New Zealand. He has brought a lot of new passion to the family business and has, as noted here, put a lot of hard work in to get to this point, with Ryan’s personal project Farm Cottage Wines being a natural extension to these efforts at this small Corralitos estate. Ryan, who has now taken over the winemaking duties at the Alfaro estate, does these small lot offerings under his Farm Cottage label with a distinctive style that employs more whole cluster in the winemaking with the Pinots and the Syrah, with native yeasts and mostly neutral barrels, with the results so far being very well received. The future looks great for Ryan and his own wines, and he looks to surprise us all further with some other rarities coming down the pipe. All of the wines come in at low natural alcohols, due to the close proximity to the Monterey Bay and the cold water influence here, and as good as the Pinots are, the Chardonnay though is a real sleeper and should not be missed!
($42 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive