Showcasing Place and Heritage

Our Winemaking Philosophy

At Bargetto Winery, quality is ensured by hands-on stewardship at every stage of the winegrowing and winemaking process, from vine to glass. The foundation of our approach to winemaking is to select the very finest grapes possible. Our winemaking philosophy reflects a hand-crafted approach that includes minimal intervention in the cellar, small-batch fermentation, select barrel aging, and careful blending. Our winemaking team oversees each vital step to ensure our wines are a pure reflection of the unique character of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

We are committed to honoring our rich heritage while embracing modern techniques that elevate the quality of every bottle and support a more sustainable future for the winery and its vineyards. The result is a portfolio that reflects both place and heritage. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay exemplify the essence of our terroir and reveal elegant and complex flavors. The Italian varietals Dolcetto, Refosco, and Nebbiolo pay tribute to our family’s Italian roots. Explore our farming practices, winemaking philosophy, and approach to quality below.

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Our Sustainability Efforts

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To me, winemaking is about allowing grapes to best express themselves and the unique qualities of the environment in which they grew.
Keegan Mayo

Our Winemaker

Keegan Mayo

At Bargetto Winery, lead Winemaker Keegan Mayo guides every stage of the winemaking process. A graduate of UC Davis' renowned Viticulture and Enology program, Keegan pairs over twenty years of experience in the winemaking industry with a deep understanding of the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA and its distinctive grapes.

Keegan’s mastery of winemaking is evidenced by his consistent production of award-winning wines, both at Bargetto Winery and for his own brand. His Bargetto wines have received high praise, including an impressive 97 point score from Wine Enthusiast for our Mount Eden clone Pinot Noir. Many of the wines he produces for Bargetto regularly score 90 points or higher and have been recognized with gold and double-gold awards. Keegan’s unyielding commitment to quality and his unwavering passion for winemaking make him an invaluable asset to our family winery and the California wine industry, and a true master of his craft. In his free time, Keegan enjoys surfing, mountain biking, rock climbing, traveling, music and raising his son.

Sustainably Grown in the Santa Cruz Mountains

From the Vine. . .

Our commitment to tradition and innovation starts in the vineyard. Bargetto practices sustainable farming methods designed to nurture healthy vines and vibrant fruit while protecting the world around us.

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Our sustainable practices include using organic stylet oil in the springtime to protect the vines from powdery mildew. Our modern trellis system and our open canopy allow us to minimize the amount of spraying required while still opting for organic alternatives.

Classic European farming practices emphasize the intertwined nature and wellness of an entire ecological community, and the same holds true at Regan Vineyards. Horses are used to naturally graze weeds between vineyard rows and our resident barn owls hunt gophers and other rodents detrimental to the survival of our vines. Partnering with native species in the vineyard reduces the need for pesticides and supports a more balanced and healthy ecosystem.

Traditional farming practices such as careful cluster thinning, canopy management, and handpicking allow each vine to focus its energy on producing fruit of the highest quality and optimal ripeness to ensure the highest quality harvest. Throughout the growing season, every vineyard block is monitored by hand, ensuring grapes reach optimal balance and ripeness before harvest in our cool-climate vineyard site.

Ever Improving Quality

. . .To the Bottle. . .

Once the grapes arrive at the winery, the old and the new continue to work hand in hand. The winery integrates traditional techniques like hand punchdowns with state-of-the-art equipment that helps get the most out of every grape.

Bargetto utilizes a modern state-of-the-art German-made stainless steel Europress, which allows us to gently separate the juice or new wine from the grape skins. The gentle, precise extraction prevents harsh and bitter flavors from the skins and seeds that would otherwise move into the wine.

During fermentation, all Bargetto red reserve wines are fermented in 1.5 ton bins. These small vessels allow us to do gentle hand punchdowns during the fermentation process, which mixes the warm fermenting wine with the skins in order maximize color and flavor extraction. Every bin goes through the punchdown process three times a day.

Every Bargetto reserve wine is carefully aged in premium oak barrels, ranging from French, to Slovonian to American oak. The winemaker chooses a particular cooper and oak to match the style of each wine. For example, we age our Reserve Merlot in Nadalie Colbert tight grain French oak barrels, which match best with the rich flavors of our estate Merlot.

Blending is the winemaker’s art. Through blending, we strive to maintain the highest wine quality each vintage depending on what nature yields that year. Blending can involve crafting a wine of various varietals, such as our flagship LA VITA wine, which is a unique blend of our estate Italian varietals each year. Blending can also create a distinct style of single-varietal wine by combining different aging vessels. For example, our Reserve Chardonnay blends wine aged in a concrete egg with wine aged in new French oak barrels to refine the flavor profile.

Every wine benefits from its own aging timeline. To ensure each wine is bottled at its peak, Bargetto maintains an in-house bottling line rather than relying on a contract service and bottling all wines at once. This hands-on approach allows our team to carefully manage barrel and bottle aging, releasing each wine only when it is ready. Our bottling line runs nearly year round. White wines are bottled on a shorter time frame, normally within one year of harvest. Red wines are aged from twelve to thirty months before bottling to benefit from optimal time in the barrel. We also offer our bottling services to other local wineries so we can help support the region's vibrant and collaborative wine community.

The mission isn’t finished when the wine is bottled - it culminates when the wine is poured, shared, and enjoyed. From our tasting room and wine shop to our local restaurant partners, Bargetto wines are waiting to be discovered. Stop by for a tasting, find a new favorite, and bring home a taste of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

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