WINES
Hillcrest Terrace winemaking is strongly influenced by the style and character of fine European wines that pair extremely well with food. The wines are generally made from carefully-selected grapes grown in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We work closely with the growers to secure fruit that will produce a well-balanced wine true to the variety and without excessive alcohol. Absolutely minimal cellar handling is used to preserve the full character and complexity that the grapes can provide. Racking and bottling schedules do not follow rigid timelines,
but are adopted to fit the development of each wine. For example, some Chardonnays
may have extended lees and oak barrel aging, while others may be
unoaked and racked early, depending on the grape characteristics and the wine profiles as they evolve. Top-quality oak barrels are used judiciously so that oak flavors are never pronounced and at most provide a subtle background to the intrinsic aroma and flavor profile of the wine. We do not fine or filter our wines. The wines are exposed minimally to air during production and aging, and they can be expected to continue to improve with several years of bottle aging, though all Hillcrest Terrace wines can be drunk with pleasure on release.
WINEMAKER
Joe Miller, long-time Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, is the winemaker at Hillcrest. He has taught university courses on enology and wine appreciation for more than 30 years and began making wines in the '70's. Many of the students in his wine courses went on to start wineries of their own or to work in other aspects of the wine industry. He has traveled extensively in the wine-producing regions of France, Italy, and Australia, meeting with many of the finest wine producers there. His winemaking approach has been strongly influenced by decades of exposure to the fine wines of France and Italy as well as California. Based on this experience and more than 35 years of hands-on winemaking, he depends on his sensory evaluations of our wines as they go through all their stages to guide him in winemaking decisions. Joe has full control of the winemaking, from grape selection to bottling and release approval, of all Hillcrest Terrace wines.