December 5, 2017 – Santa Cruz’ Rexford Winery is opening a tasting room in Carmel Valley Village, in the space previously occupied by Holman Ranch. Rexford already has a tasting room on Ingalls Street in Santa Cruz and owners hope the second location will help them reach more people.
“My son and I essentially run the whole winery and really enjoy being in the tasting room on the weekends,” says Joe Miller, adding that son Sam will handle the Carmel Valley location.
Joe, a retired UC Santa Cruz astrophysicist, and Sam, a jazz guitarist, share winemaking duties and the elder Miller has been teaching courses on wine appreciation for 40 years. “We do a lot of our sales directly from the tasting room in Santa Cruz and we think we can reach a different crowd with the second tasting room,” says Joe. “We think there is a real advantage to having the winemaker there; filling in the background on the wine means a lot to people.”
Grapes used in Rexford wines come mostly from vineyards located in Monterey County, in the Santa Lucia Highlands, Arroyo Seco and Chalone AVAs. In addition, many of their wine club members live closer to Carmel Valley than to Santa Cruz and will now have easier access to the wine.
While the opening date has not yet been set, the Millers are working as fast as they can to put in a wine bar and seating area. “We want to be ready to open as soon as our license is approved,” he says.
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