Alfaro Family Vineyard & Winery

This is one friendly, customer experience driven business!
We visited the famous Corralitos Market nearby, who recommended Alfaro Winery!
Greeted by the owner (we later found out) Mary Kay, she invited us to a separate wine event with live music and $ 10, 8 glass tasting with complementary cheese and crackers ! Often the unplanned travel experiences turn out to be the best! We travelled from Orange County to visit some out of the way wineries, and found a winner! We even joined their wine club, which we usually pass on when visiting wineries. Wine tasting was made special by the employee Jill! Kudos to Alfaro for a great visit!

Alfaro was our third stop of the day. The rain could not cover up the beauty of the landscape. I could stand under the covered area and look out toward the vines forever. To add to the ambiance of a Passport Day, the winery had a wonderful musician serenading the customers with his guitar music. There were also cheeses and snacks laid out for everyone to taste.
Although the setting was amazing, the wines did not wow. Out of our four stops, this was the only one in which we did not leave with any bottles of wine.

Had a great time today. Great wines and even had music. Pet friendly. Nice cheeses and biscotti to nibble. I will be back soon when the sun is out and Richard is serving up some of his artisan pizza.

I came here for my birthday on Saturday and I had the best time. The wines are a great price point and really good. The tasting was $ 10 which included 3 white wines (the Gruner and I believe two Chardonnay) then we went on to taste the amazing Pinot Noirs (3 different vineyards) then the dragon slayer red blend and the Zinfandel. The views are incredible and the staff were so friendly and helpful. Big bonus is the snacks and heated outdoor bar area. I will definitely be back and I will pack a lunch next time so I can sit and enjoy the patio.

Have been going here for several years and have been a wine club member.
They have expanded the patio nicely, but have also become all business. It was always nice to go to taste and walk away with a few bottles. In the past prior to becoming wine club members we would have the tasting fee forgiven if we purchased a bottle or two.
This is no longer their policy, we purchased 6 bottles, and our wine club membership is currently on hold, and they still charged us a tasting fee. This is just bad business.
It has come to making $, and not building a worthwhile relationship.
There are several other excellent wineries in the area to choose from.

This winery is a must visit when you’re on the Central Coast. Alfaro is a bit of a trek, it’s a 5 – 10 minute drive when you get off Highway 1 and head inland. But your efforts will be rewarded! Cruising down Hames Road reminds me of Napa Valley wine country: fresh ocean air, back country roads, views of rolling hills, open fields, and plenty of farm animals.
We weren’t disappointed by our very knowledgeable and engaging pourer, Donna. She gave us a little background about the Alfaro family’s farming heritage and their popular vineyard wines (mainly Pinot Noir).
There is a $ 10 tasting fee for 8 pours, refundable upon joining their wine club and complimentary for members, including 4 of their well-​made Pinot Noirs. Personally, I liked the 2013 Trout Gulch Vineyard Estate better than the other 3, and did end up buying the Trout Gulch Pinot Noir at $ 35 ($ 28 for members). The pours are pretty generous for a tasting and Donna was so nice she even slipped in an extra tasting of their 2013 Corralitos Vineyard Chardonnay!
For a personalized wine tasting experience, Alfaro is a great winery that is worth the detour!

Wonderful selection of wines — I particularly love their Chardonnay and the old vine zin. The tasting menu is long and they also have food on-​site :) service is friendly and welcoming, and the view is pretty. Prices are ridiculously fair and the wine is phenomenal.

This was the third stop and I’m glad it was the last on our travels. We visited on a Santa Cruz Passport day. They had music. Pizza was available for purchase. They also had some cookies, biscotti and brownies to snack on.
There were 6 of us. We had pizza and the wine tasting. I’m not sure if it was the wine, ambiance or company but I had a really good time.

If you love pinot noirs come here. My coworker is a wine member here and invited us to come with her this past weekend when it was a wine member event day although the winery isn’t closed off to members only. It’s a very cute place and gets packed on these events but still has space to move around. The view is tranquil and wines are pretty tasty. Pinot noirs here are really good but I must say their chards and the zin I had was pretty damn tasty.
Workers here are very helpful, nice and welcoming. Atmosphere, wine, everything was great (just a little chilly that day). Overall I’d come here again and definitely buy a bottle or two.

I walked there last Sat for a tasting and to check it out. It is very close to my house, so it was easy. The grounds are beautiful and they have a gorgeous deck with a view of the vineyards. I was so inspired, I joined their wine club (which I HIGHLY recommend — more info on their website). I chatted with some employees and the owner, sat outside and enjoyed a glass of the Viognier. Later, I finally decided on buying a bottle of the 2012 «A» Estate Pinot Noir and one of their perfectly-​sized wine glasses.
SO happy I went and will be returning with friends and family for more tastings (now, being a Club member, IT’S FREE!). As a fellow Corralitos-​area resident, I encourage you to support this local winery. They are wonderful.

Can I give 6 stars???
Firstly, the wine is great. I love pinot, and if you love pinot, visit here. They also make a great viognier, syrah and sangio… IMO.
Secondly, the view… gorgeous… sit, sip and have a great lunch that you grabbed down at the Corralitos Market before arriving. The perfect combo.
Third, Richard and Mary Kay are the nicest people you’ll ever want to meet. I was at the wine club release party a couple weeks back, and Richard was performing heroically, turning out fresh, wood-​fired pizzas to the masses. And there were masses! I was amazed by the turn out for the event. But I shouldn’t have been… this is an undiscovered gem in the SCM AVA.

AMAZING EXPERIENCE!!!
Richard went above and beyond to give my husband and I a private tour on a day when the winery was normally closed~not to mention it was a holiday!
We spent almost 2 hours riding through his vineyards on an ATV, tasting spectacular wines and chatting with the most interesting man. (The Dos Equis guy has nothing on Richard!)
His passion for food, wine, environment and community is top notch and shows in his product. Prices are surprisingly low for the quality as well. We signed up to be wine club members and are looking forward to our first shipment.

Stopped by here on impulse last weekend because we had to be in Watsonville. It was near closing time and quite busy, but we were served timely and everyone was friendly. They had nice snacks out and a great patio (which apparently allows dogs-​noted for next time). The wines were okay and not too pricey (in the $ 20 – 30 range), but they don’t refund the tasting fee with purchase. Although, we were not very impressed with any… we did buy a bottle of a nice chardonnay.

Pretty cool place. The wines were just par though. The people were very nice and gave us extra tastings of what we liked. The Syrah is actually pretty good.

The grounds are beautiful!!! It’s nice to see a Winery with actual Vineyards, not just a tasting room, so points added for the experience! The owners were pouring the tastings, which made the experience more meaningful. Both were very nice. And might I add, we got about 8 pours, that is a lot! and were all quite good! My sister and I went during the Vinter’s Festival, the whole set up was very nice as well. They had a musician, excellent o’dourves (smoked salmon, various cheeses, grapes, etc), and well, pours for days! I recommend this as a stop for anyone doing wine tasting in this area!

A group of us stopped here as the second winery we were going to visit on the Coralitos Wine trail. The winery is relatively young and is owned by the Alfaro family which previously had a local bread business which was quite good.
I wish the consistency of their breads made it through to the wines. There were some that were quite good and others that were not. The Pinots stood out more than the whites. Consistently, the Rose was not a favorite.
Like other wineries in the area, they charge a $ 10 tasting fee. I believe they refunded the tasting if you joined the club.

Our family has a home up in Corralitos and we recently started coming up here for the summer. We noticed the advertising for wineries and thought we’d try one a weekend, just to see if we could find one we truly enjoyed. We went to this place today and it was… ok. The wine tasting consisted of 7 wines for $ 10. No one really talked to us, except to tell us what they were pouring in the glass. Then we were left to ourselves. Other people came and went and the owners hung around them and struck up conversations… we were pretty much neglected at the end of the counter. Three married ladies in their mid 30’s from San Francisco — I thought we’d be a great bet for new wine club members. Apparently not! We went to Windy Oaks last weekend and I think maybe we’ll just stick with them from now on. But, the wine was tasty! We did buy two bottles!

Simply FAB. Alfaro Family Vineyard is everything a local Santa Cruz Mountains winery needs to be. The owner is incredibly passionate about his work and drove us over his lovingly cared for property in his pick-​up truck. It was an adventure to remember! Fun fact: he’s so passionate about the local environment that he re-​fenced his property so that the deer can go through it, without being able to access his vineyards.
I had a great time touring the vineyard and an even better time tasting the wine. There was a wide variety of wines available for the tasting, and all of them were both tasty and very reasonably priced. Everyone we met here was a great conversationalist and really made me feel comfortable and relaxed. I wish I lived closer so that I could come taste wines every Saturday for their open tastings!

If you’ve been to the Winery and have not joined the Wine Club then SHAME ON YOU! On the other hand, if you haven’t, that just leaves more wine for me.
Someone wrote, I forget who, that there was «Magic in the wines from Corralitos» and that about sums it up about Alfaro wines. Only about 10 years old, the Alfaro Family Vineyard & Winery spans 75 acres –previously an apple farm– and boasts the largest planting of Pinot Noir grapes in the Santa Cruz mountains. Other vineyards on the property include Chardonnay (one named after the wine maker’s daughter), Merlot, and Syrah (one named after the wine maker’s son). As a wine club member, I can honestly say that I have not had a single Alfaro wine I did not like, but some are better than others.
Being partial to white wines, I am currently in love with the newly released 2009 Gimelli Vineyard Viognier. It’s perfect with spicy food, curries, and fish. And I can’t wait for the Gruner Veltliner vineyard to produce it’s first bottle –it’s an Austrian varietal not common in California– but I’ll have to wait until 2013 to try it.
Either way, a drive into the Santa Cruz mountains is a great way to spend any weekend afternoon. Call me, I’ll meet you there, you won’t be sorry!

Not a HUGE wine nut so I won’t be dropping all word people like to drop when describing wines. I do enjoy a nice win though and Alfaro offers a bit of everything. I enjoy reds most of all and my wife and I fell in love with a Pinot called «Gary’s» when we had a bottle at a well known steakhouse in Los Gatos. We liked it so much we asked for the cork. From there we looked up the winery and have since joined their wine club (it’s been like 3 years now). Thier new tasting room is very nice, always enjoy seeing the changes everytime we go. Staff is friendly and helpful as are the owners. Very down to earth!
I should note that Alfaro is the ONLY wine club that we have found worth to join. Glad we stumbled on this little gem!!!