About Us

In the 1930s, famed engineer and pilot William Hawley Bowlus, whose pioneering sailplanes are in the Smithsonian, used to fly gliders off the ridges of Monterey’s majestic Carmel Coast. Eight decades later, his grandson and great-grandson unknowingly came to the same mountain slopes and established one of California’s most exciting vineyards. Perched seven miles from the Pacific Ocean, Albatross Ridge is an extraordinary site. Albatross Ridge exists on the very edge of what’s possible in cool-climate-viticulture, producing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir of uncommon beauty and grace.

In 2006 the father and son team of Brad and Garrett Bowlus began planning a return to their family’s farming roots. Their vision was to find a remarkable piece of virgin land, where they could plant just two grapes: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. A place where, as Garrett says, “We could grow the style of wines we like to drink.” After searching from Oregon to Santa Barbara, they found what they were looking for high on Monterey’s Carmel Coast. Brad and Garrett began planting the vineyard in 2008. With the help of renowned “Dirt Doctor,” Dr. Alfred Cass, Brad and Garrett oversaw every stage of the vineyard’s development. Albatross Ridge’s 25 acres of vines feature four clones of Pinot Noir and two clones of Chardonnay. It was only after planting the vineyard, when Brad and Garrett were searching for a name for the site, that they discovered an old book on local Monterey history. On its very last page, they found something as remarkable as it was improbable—a photo of Hawley Bowlus launching his Albatross sailplane off the same high mountain slopes where they founded their vineyard. “It was such a serendipitous discovery,” says Brad. “It affirmed everything we had been working so hard to achieve.”

Today, the Bowlus Family harvest their grapes at relatively modest Brix. In the winery, they ferment the vineyard’s different blocks and clones in very small lots. While Albatross Ridge harvests earlier, due to the vineyard’s unique conditions, which include one of the longest growing seasons in all of California, the grapes still taste beautifully ripe. Equally important, these same conditions naturally limit crop size, and result in extremely small yields that average well under 2 tons per acre. Albatross Ridge makes just a handful of wines, with an exclusive focus on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, as well as small amounts of pétillant naturel rosé. Gently made with a minimalist approach, these sophisticated wines have quickly established themselves as cool-climate Central Coast benchmarks, recognized for their beautiful structure and pure varietal flavors.

Meet the team

Proprietor

Brad Bowlus

Wine Grower

Garrett Bowlus

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Brad Bowlus

Brad Bowlus grew up hearing stories about his grandfather, William Hawley Bowlus, one of the world’s most respected early aviation engineers. Soaring Hall of Famer Hawley Bowlus, as he’s known among glider geeks, was the superintendent of construction on Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis. As a pioneering sailplane designer (who has three planes in the Smithsonian), Hawley taught Lindbergh and his wife how to glide, and was the first American to break Orville Wright’s soaring duration record in an American-built sailplane. “My grandfather and father were both engineers, builders, doers, innovators and farmers,” says Brad. “Their example has always given me the courage to do new things and to be bold—ideals that I’ve strived to pass on to my children.”

This approach was evident throughout a noteworthy career that culminated in Brad’s 14-year tenure as the CEO of PacifiCare Health Plans, where he helped to reinvent the healthcare system in California, making it more responsible and accountable. “My approach has always been straightforward—I believe in working harder than everybody else, and taking complete responsibility for every decision and result.”

Brad is also a lifelong wine lover, with a special affinity for the great wines of Burgundy—a passion he has long shared with his winemaker son, Garrett. “During my last few years at PacifiCare, Garrett began actively pursuing his love of winemaking, studying abroad in Burgundy, and interning in Oregon at Northwest Wine Company and Bergström. It was a path that fascinated both of us, and the more we talked about it, the more we recognized an opportunity to do something exciting and meaningful together as a family.”

Brad and Garrett began searching the entire West Coast looking for unplanted land capable of supporting a grand cru-quality site. “We knew that we wanted to focus exclusively on small-production, estate-grown Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. We also knew that we wanted to find the perfect site and begin from the ground up, so that we could control every aspect of the viticulture.” In July of 2007, the Bowlus family found what they were looking for high on the Carmel Coast, and began planting Albatross Ridge early the following year. After the vineyard was planted, Brad and Garrett stumbled across something remarkable as they were looking through a local history book searching for a vineyard name. “On the very last page, I learned that my grandfather used the site of our vineyard to test his sailplanes in the 1930s.”

In the years since, Brad has used his business and managerial acumen to help guide Albatross Ridge as a family-run winery. “Garrett is our winegrower and winemaker. Garrett’s wife, Cassia, manages our tasting room. My daughter, Brittney, is our director of operations, and her husband, Brian, oversees our information technology. Though we are a family business, family members earn the right to participate. All of us have an absolute dedication to growing and making the most exceptional wines possible, and to providing the highest levels of customer service. My role is to support these efforts in every way that I can, and to provide the vision and strategy to establish Albatross Ridge as one of the most exciting new wineries in California.”

 

Garrett Bowlus

Though Winegrower and Winemaker Garrett Bowlus has studied abroad at the University of Dijon, done prestigious internships in Oregon, and has taken numerous classes in viticulture and enology through UCLA and UC Davis, he is predominantly a self-taught winemaker. With a great palate and a natural gift for winemaking, Garrett has developed his own thoughtful and gentle approach—an approach designed to show the beauty, elegance and varietal purity of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Albatross Ridge.

“Most winemakers study winemaking and then apply the lessons they’ve learned to the varieties and vineyards they end up working with,” says Garrett. “Our family set out to establish a vineyard in one of the most distinctive and special winegrowing locations in California. I helped to plant the vineyard with my own hands, watched it evolve and mature, and then I learned how to make the wines the vineyard wanted to create.”

In addition to overseeing the design and planting of Albatross Ridge, including the selection of all clonal and rootstock materials, Garrett is in the vineyard daily, where he personally guides the farming, working side-by-side with Vineyard Foreman Mariano Herrera. As part of his belief in making wines that are an authentic expression of Albatross Ridge, Garrett farms the vineyard 100% organically, and by hand. “Because our goal is to nurture the full potential of each plant on our steep, windy mountain site, we essentially treat each vine like a bonsai. This means that we do as many as a dozen hand-pruning passes each vintage in order to do things like shoot thinning, cluster thinning, leaf pulling, and much more. We apply a remarkable level of handwork because it makes a huge difference in wine quality.”

To preserve the diversity of the vineyard’s many small blocks, and the vivid, aromatic character of the fruit, Garrett harvests Albatross Ridge’s 25 acres of vines earlier than many other wineries, at roughly 20.0-22.5˚ Brix. In the winery, Garrett does approximately a dozen individual Pinot Noir fermentations each vintage, with some as small as ½ a ton—all to make just two Pinot Noirs. To naturally accentuate the complexity of the vineyard, while adding to the fresh-cut rose aromatics of the Pinot Noirs, Garrett incorporates small amounts of whole clusters on a block-by-block basis. Because Albatross Ridge picks at lower Brix, Garrett will often do two to three punch downs a day to develop body and color. Free-run wine is kept separate from the press wine, and the final blends are almost entirely free run wine—though occasionally Garrett will add a very small percentage of press wine as a spicy blending component. To preserve their vineyard character, after being aged for at least 11-12 months in barrel with no racking, the Pinots are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The Chardonnay from Albatross Ridge receives the same intimate attention to detail. All Chardonnays are barrel fermented sur lie, with minimal stirring. In addition, like the Pinot Noirs, the Chardonnays are fermented using native yeast. “One of the many benefits of harvesting at lower Brix is that we never have stuck fermentations.” However, because Garrett picks earlier, he applies a very light press for the Chardonnay (55-60 cases per ton) to avoid any green flavors from the stems and seeds. New oak is used judiciously, and is almost always below 25% for Chardonnay (and 35% for Pinot). To ensure that the oak integrates perfectly, and does not overwhelm the elegance of the wines, all barrels are extra tight grain. Garrett particularly likes to use one-year-old barrels because of the lovely way they frame the fruit character of Albatross Ridge.

“Due to our extremely unique growing conditions, which include our elevation, exposure, and diatomaceous, limestone and shale soils similar to those found in Burgundy, our grapes taste beautifully ripe at lower Brix. Our goal is to capture this fruit character, without losing any of the dazzling aromatics and graceful structure that you achieve by picking earlier.”

For Garrett, this means trusting the vineyard and trusting the process. “Our family was meant to plant this land, and I was meant to make wine from this vineyard. From meeting my wife, Cassia, while working at Bergström in Oregon, to discovering after we planted the vineyard that my great-grandfather used to fly his sailplanes off this same land, there has been a sense of destiny leading us to make wines at Albatross Ridge. While I may have taken the road less traveled to get here, when I look at my daughter playing among the vines, I know I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”