About Us

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    Cottonwood Canyon Vineyard & Winery is a small ultra-premium winery specializing in Chardonnay, Syrah and Pinot Noir. Founded in 1988 by the Beko family, Cottonwood Canyon joins traditional Burgundian wine-making practices with American ingenuity to produce age-worthy and memorable wines.

    The now 78-acre estate was 15-years-old and planted to 46-acres of Chardonnay when we purchased the property. To our good fortune, the estate was one of the original California vineyards planted in a north-south direction which allows for maximum sun exposure yet opens the vineyard to cooling Pacific breezes. The proximity of the Pacific Ocean, just 19-miles-away, creates a heavy marine influence. The vineyard gets cool ocean breezes throughout the day. Morning and evening fog trapped by the surrounding 7000-foot San Rafael Mountains, to the east of the estate, has the greatest influence on the grapes.

    Located in the Santa Maria Valley, just ten minutes east of the town of Santa Maria, we are at the northern-most edge of the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail in Santa Barbara County’s Wine Country. Cottonwood Canyon sits on an expansive sandy-gravelly mesa with steep canyons created through eons of erosion. Our Estate vineyards sit on the flat, open expanse with our first designated vineyard, Sharon’s Vineyard, nestled at the bottom of one of these canyons on an ancient river bed. Elizabeth’s Vista and Hillside Select vineyards are located on the south eastern edge of the estate at the edge of a loamy canyon.

    Our season usually begins with bud-break in mid-February and ends with the mid-October harvest. This long, very cool growing season results in a high skin to liquid ratio, creating very high acid levels in our fruit. This, in combination with our “hands off” wine-making philosophy, results in a very age worthy wine program unique to Cottonwood and most French Burgundies. However, Cottonwood has climatic advantage over Burgundy. With moderate temperatures throughout the growing season, we are able to achieve higher sugar levels while maintaining the naturally high acidity so critical to long-lived wine.

    The estate is currently planted to 18 acres of Pinot Noir, five-acres of Chardonnay and three-acres of Syrah. The vineyard continues to be managed row-by-row and vine-by-vine. The long honored and labor intensive tradition of hand -harvesting continues with the expertise of Vineyard Manager, Federico Arredondo.

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