Ross Reedy is the winemaker for Ferrari Ranch Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA in California. He loves what he does. “I get to work with inspiring people, my job is dynamic and challenging, and I really love the wines I make,” says Reedy. He became fascinated with the craft as a teenager, while making wine at home with his father from their vineyard in Alexander Valley. By the time he was 18, he had made up his mind to pursue his passion full-time. Reedy studied Wine and Viticulture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, while simultaneously gaining real-world experience at a boutique winery in Paso Robles.
After graduating in 2005, he traveled the world- chasing the perfect grape harvest. Stints in cellars, vineyards, and winemaking labs across Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Napa Valley eventually led him back to Sonoma County, where he accepted a permanent position with Truett Hurst and VML. He is currently the Director of Winemaking for both the brands, along with consulting for some dynamic boutique brands such as Ferrari Ranch Wines, and crafting wines for private labels and retailers, including Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and Kroger.
When he’s not immersed in winemaking, Reedy can be found spending time with his family, playing guitar, and fishing.
Media Inquiries: Dave Ferrari dferrari@oneworkplace.com | https://ferrariranchwines.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about the brand?
Ferrari Ranch Wines is defined by its site and its history. Planted in 1980, it was the first vineyard in the Corralitos–Aptos area of the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA. About 75% of the vines are original, dry-farmed plantings, rooted deeply in colluvial soils and sand that give the wines their distinct minerality. Surrounded by coastal forest and influenced by daily fog, the vineyard produces naturally balanced Pinot Noir and Chardonnay—a suitability first documented by a UC Davis survey in the late 1970s.
The winery remains a family operation. The label’s five swirls reference the vineyard’s fog patterns and also nod to the family’s two children, both professional musicians. The figure on the tractor represents Dave Ferrari, who manages the property and farms the vines.
Sustainability has guided the ranch from the start: dry farming, cover crops, owl boxes, and stewardship of the surrounding wild corridor. Ferrari Ranch’s identity is rooted in its pioneering site, its old vines, and the family that has tended them for more than four decades.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
If every limitation disappeared—money, time, space, fruit—I honestly wouldn’t change the wines I’m making now. My goal has always been simple: create wines I’m excited to open at my own table with the people I love. I already get to do that every vintage.
With unlimited freedom, I’d just keep exploring. I’d push a little further into the techniques that fascinate me—longer macerations, different fermentations, unusual vessels, old methods revived—because experimentation is what drew me to winemaking in the first place. It’s still the most engaging creative work I know, and this family gives me the trust and room to pursue it.
So if the sky were truly the limit, I’d continue on the same path—maybe with a few more late-night “what if” ideas and a couple extra cases set aside for the table.
What is One Wine of the most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
If I could take only one bottle to a desert island, it would be the Ferrari Ranch Reserve Pinot Noir. We make only a barrel or two each year, selecting the very best lots from across the estate—essentially the purest expression of the vineyard.
Each vintage, the goal is the same: keep it recognizably Ferrari Ranch, yet distinct from the estate Pinot. Some years it shows darker fruit and earth; other years it leans more toward bright red fruit and floral notes. But it always carries the mineral edge our old vines draw from the sandy soils.
Blending the Reserve is my favorite challenge. It’s the wine that reflects the season most clearly, and the one I reach for when I want something honest and expressive. If I had to choose one bottle to take with me, this is the one that defines who we are. Read this Reserve Pinot Wine Review here.
Bonus Question: Why winemaking, then?
It chose me twice. First, when I was a kid crushing grapes in the garage with my dad. Those weekends of sticky hands, laughing over hydrometers, and the smell of fermenting Cabernet Sauvignon are some of my clearest memories. Every vintage we made together felt like a secret handshake between father and son. Today, every time I pull a barrel sample, I still feel him leaning over my shoulder, quiet and proud. That feeling never gets old.
Second, winemaking gave me back the creative rush I thought I’d lost when the dream of being a musician faded. Blending is my solo – tasting dozens of lots, moving components the way you move chords until the whole thing suddenly sings in harmony. It scratches the exact same itch, only now the applause comes in empty glasses and satisfied smiles instead of concert cheers.