Drawing on decades of experience making wine in California, France and Italy, John Locke and Alex Krause founded Birichino in Santa Cruz in 2008. They initially met in the early 90s while working at the revolutionary Bonny Doon vineyards. Randall Grahm’s creative and slightly chaotic operation challenged John and Alex “engage and stimulate as many sensory receptors as possible” through their wines, an ethos which they have carried through to their own estate today. They left Bonny Doon and started Birichino with a pick-up truck, one customer and a very vague plan; and for the first two vintages made just one wine (Malvasia Bianca), but now thankfully they’ve expanded and make great wine across California.

Tasting Note: (from the winery)
These Semillon vines are now 60 years old and yield tiny amounts of flavour-packed juice. Birichino picks on the cusp of ripeness to temper the power at low potential alcohols (between 11 and 12%). The boys feel they can capture the best of both worlds; the varieties’ pithy freshness alongside its dashing honey-drizzled texture. Wild fermented and raised in a mix of steel tank and old barrel. The 2021 blends the creamy, textured roundness of stone fruit and green fig with the zesty cut of lemony citrus and a nip of mouth-watering phenolic bite.