From the lofty heights of Montebello Mountain the grapes make the journey down to the historic ranch where they are examined, pressed and crushed in the shadow of the original Picchetti homestead house. Under the gaze of the ever watchful and vigilant peacocks, sweet juice is magically turned to wine.

It all began when Pierre Pourroy went to work for a local vineyard, owned by Jean Narcisse Aubry. Pierre fell in love with one of his daughters, Marie Louise and the two were married in 1891. Pierre and his brother, Eloi worked for Aubry and eventually saved enough money to purchase and plant their own estate in 1901.

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The brothers along with their wives planted the Zinfandel vines in 1910, and built our Tasting Room barn in 1912. Not deterred by Prohibition, they planted the Cabernet Franc in 1920, and the Carignan in 1924. Work was finished In 1923 on a large family home, designed after architecture in northern Paris. The Villa was to be named after the hill where the brothers grew up in Paris, but the craftsmen misspelled the name and left off the first 't', giving it the name Monmartre which can be seen today on the side of the building. In 1955 Pierre would retire from winemaking.

It may have been a bit of romanticism at the start, but Coterie's founders, Shala and Kyle Loudon, were hooked the first day they worked at a small winery. Shala, whose family has a history with wine in Italy, and Kyle, a lifelong foodie, envisioned a future inspired by their pasts. Plenty of points test your resolve when you create a winery from scratch, but the spiritual sway of the land and wine are strong in California. These feelings run deep.

Shala and Kyle believe in a little of the unconventional. They believe in making wine primarily by hand, without the homogenization imposed by too much technology. They offer the wines of Coterie primarily through a members list, directly from the winery, and at a small number of fine restaurants, rather than through wide distribution. They take special pride in receiving accolades that are volunteered, rather than soliciting scores, reviews, and awards. Furthermore, they don’t engage much in publicity; they are honored that the winery has a special clientele.

Every winemaker pours a little bit of their self into their handcrafted wines. From the soil, vineyard, grapes and the actual end product, the wine. Six generations our family has cared for and improved the estate and has heavily shaped what the Fernwood Cellars brand has become today.

Matt Oetinger, the only child of Linda Pond and Lew Oetinger, established Fernwood Cellars and built the winery on Redwood Retreat land. He became the fifth generation of his pioneering family to work on and enhance the land through a successful agri-business. After graduating from U.C. Davis with a degree in Biology, Matt served as vineyard manager at Clos LaChance Winery in Morgan Hill, CA. He continued to pursue his passion for winemaking and eventually dedicated all his time and energy to the evolution of Fernwood Cellars.