Alex Krause and John Locke founded Birichino in Santa Cruz in 2008. Drawing on a combined four decades making wine in California, France, Italy, and beyond, they are focused on attaining the perfect balance of perfume, poise, and puckishness. Sourcing from a number of carefully farmed, family-owned, own-rooted 19th and early 20th century vineyards (and a few from the late disco era) planted by and large in more moderate, marine-influenced climates, their preoccupation is to safeguard the quality and vibrance of their raw materials. Their preference is for minimal intervention, most often favoring native fermentations, employing stainless or neutral barrels, minimal racking and fining, and avoiding filtration altogether when possible. But most critically, their aim is to make delicious wines that give pleasure, revitalize, and revive.
Malvasia Bianca from sandy shale soils on the western flank of the Santa Lucia Range in Monterrey. John Locke and Alex Krause have been using fruit from this site, Loma del Rio, since their days at Bonny Doon. For this wine, a nighttime machine harvest is employed at their direction, resulting in 12 to 14 hours of skin-maceration for maximum aromatic potential. The wine is fermented low and slow in stainless steel until dry, and is kept on its fine lees without stirring for four to five months before bottling.
Malvasia Bianca from sandy shale soils on the western flank of the Santa Lucia Range in Monterrey. John Locke and Alex Krause have been using fruit from this site, Loma del Rio, since their days at Bonny Doon. For this wine, a nighttime machine harvest is employed at their direction, resulting in 12 to 14 hours of skin-maceration for maximum aromatic potential. The wine is fermented low and slow in stainless steel until dry, and is kept on its fine lees without stirring for four to five months before bottling.
