Birichino | Santa Cruz

Based in Santa Cruz, Birichino was founded in 2008 by friends Alex Krause and John Locke. Alex and John met whilst working with the legendary Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard and share a passion for perfumed, elegant but slightly mischievous wines; in fact, Birichino (pronounced biri-kino)is Italian for ‘mischievous’!

The Birichino style is very much in the vein of ‘New Wave California’. The focus is on drinkability, fruit expression, elegance and lower alcohol levels. Oak is rarely seen, whole bunch is embraced, native yeasts are in and filtration is out. Alex and John source grapes from reputable growers, who farm very old vineyards in mostly maritime-influenced or higher altitude areas such as Monterey or Santa Cruz Mountains but they also work with some extremely old vineyards in Lodi. Their Cinsault from the Bechthold vineyard is made from the world’s oldest Cinsault plants. These wines represent exceptionally good value, given their pedigree.