About Us
Explore Our Apple Ranch
Indigeny Reserve opened in 2012 and quickly rose to be one of the best tourist attractions in the Sierra foothills. We are a lush 160-acre preserve and apple ranch surrounded by beautiful mountains and breathtaking landscapes. When you visit, you’ll have the ability to explore our property through hiking and biking trails, have a picnic on our grounds, or even take private tours of our distillery and learn more about our sustainability and conservation efforts. Of course, guests will be able to sample our local organic hard cider, brandy, and citrus-infused liquor. Our grounds are open from 8am-6pm, gates are closed from 6pm until 8am.
Meet the Family
Indigeny Reserve was founded by Jay and Judy Watson. Jay is the former owner-operator of a communications business and is often found greeting visitors and leading the facility tour. They’re joined by their sons, Joe, the orchard manager, cider maker, and our chief lab technician, and Ben as the machinist and fabricator of most of our equipment used to process our ciders. The family has come together to create a 160-acre apple ranch that now boasts 11,000 Granny Smith, and 7,000 Honeycrisp trees and many more varietals, with tastings and experiences worth the visit to Sonora, Ca.
Locally Sourced and Hand-Crafted Cider & Brandy
We harvest roughly 300,000 pounds of apples each season, with u-pick options to take apples home. Once gathered, the staff begins the process of creating cider by placing the apples to rest in a 34-degree room. Outside the cold storage, we keep all our 12-ounce cans waiting to be filled and packed. Indigeny Reserve recently won an international design award in Japan for our packaging. If you’re interested in the process, you can take a private weekday tour of our brandy production side, including our distilling room with a double-pot copper still and our barrel room where the brandy ages in 55-gallon American oak barrels.
See Our Apple Ranch for Yourself
Our grounds are open from 8am-6pm and welcome to all. There is plenty of space to put together a picnic and eat under one of our trees, play a round of disc golf, or even sample our beverages in our tasting bar. We offer informative private tours that show off our barrel room and educate visitors on our sustainable approach to crafting hard cider. If you want to stop by and see for yourself, we ask that you schedule your private tour for a day during the week. We look forward to seeing you!