About Us
Phil & Peg invite you to visit and share our passion for wines and food.
Specializing in Burgundian and Rhone style wines from select Coastal vineyards, Pelican Ranch is a family owned. The winery itself is in the heart of the Santa Cruz Mts. Our wine cave cellar provides a constant, cool, coastal influence that allows for the making of fine elegant wines.
Our winemaking approach emphasizes proven old-world methods accompanied by successful modern strategies. This combination results in elegant and flavorful wines, which are bottled with minimal cellar treatment. Each vineyard select bottling is limited to 200 cases. The white wines are barrel fermented exclusively in French Oak; the reds are aged for 12-24 months and are bottled with minimal treatment. High profile vineyards from the Santa Cruz Mountains and beyond are the source of the twenty wines we make each vintage.
Our winery was established in 1997. We have a loyal following of wine enthusiasts in Santa Cruz, throughout the Monterey Bay Area and in the Silicon Valley.
Head of Wine Making. "Dr Phil"
Our winery was established in 1997. We have a loyal following of wine enthusiasts. The head of winemaking is Phil Crews Ph.D. Research Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Our passionate home wine maker, wine educator and UCSC science professor eventualy took his "hobby" public. Phil is a noted expert in natural products of marine sponges and in the use of bioanalytial techniques to characterize unique small molecules with therapeutic potential as new medicines. As part of his professional activities he also teaches a course title "Introduction to wines and Wine Chemistry. "
His recent research on "Wines & Smoke taint has attracted much attention. Details about his recent lecture can be found here. https://www.simbhq.org/np/ And One example of his recent discoveries can be found here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jnatprod.2c00028
Phil Says His gaol in life is to combine a love of making and sipping Pinot noir with his unversity work on discovering bioactive molecules from sponges. He notes that the wetsuit he brings along for sponge collection foraging expeditions serves three purposes. (1) It protects him from things poisonous or venomous. (2) It keeps him warm. (3) It's ideal for transporting four bottles of Pelican Ranch Wine to the expedition site - a bottle in each arm and a botle in each leg. This is essential for end of the day celebrations!
Associate Winemakers: Mitch Crews, Matt Wilson, Igor Voronin, & Jose Guzman
Mitchell S. Crews BS, Associate Winemaker from 2011 - 2019. Duing this period he was also a research scientist and specialist in marine natural products chemistry at University of California, Santa Cruz Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. He was also a UC researh diver.
Now: Staff member, UCSC Environmental Health & Safety Department
Matt Wilson (left) and Mitchell S. Crews (right) were the initial dynamic Associate Wine makers. This duo was also committed to operating guitars, spitting out lyrics that go on and on. while transforming grapes into world class wines . On stage and in the cellar they are both constantly harmonizing while also deeply engaged in maximiziing wine flavors and quality. Their committment to creating music and wines that are ready for 'prime time' is refreshing. Today, Matt leads the actions of the other winemaking staff.
Also Matt is the founder of the Santa Cruz based "Sound Store Studio." He can be reached at 831-454-8730 and is at the ready to provide his recording studio for your projects!
