Producer: Cruse Wine Co. 
Region: North Coast, California
Blend: 53% Valdiguié, 14% Carignan, 14% Red Field Blend, 8% Petite Sirah, 8% Tannat, 3% St. Laurent, 1% Pinot Noir
Year: 2020  

Winemaker Notes: 

"Our taste of Northern California, this blend is 53% Valdiguié with the remainder being old vine Carignan, a red field blend, Petite Sirah, and Tannat. It is a wine of impressive vibrancy and brightness on the nose, but with a palate of late summer in California, sunny, dry, and serious. 

The wine has a bright ruby rim, with rich burgundy hues and a youthful, serious nose of crushed strawberries, bramble, and bass notes of olive and leather. The palate is late summer in California, sunny and dry, with integrated and confit’d fruits. The finish is clean and lingering with a bit of raspberry and rhubarb." 

About the Producer: 

"Cruse Wine Co. was an opportunity for Michael to showcase fruit driven and satisfying wines that are pleasurable, but seriously balanced and unapologetically California. The North Coast is near and dear to Michael, so he chose to focus on sites within the Napa Valley and Sonoma County to create his special wines. The one thing he didn’t want to do was to create another Pinot Noir or Cabernet, instead he found inspiration in varieties such as Valdiguie, Tannant, Carignan and St Laurent.

 The flagship wine of Cruse Wine Co. is the red blend Monkey Jacket (the name inspired by an old, British sailor song). This wine embodies all the things Cruse Wine Co. is meant to be, as it’s a blend of Valdiguie, Carignan, Tannat, St Laurent and mixed field blend reds and provides incredible drinkability with brightness and ample structure. In addition to Monkey Jacket, Michael also makes small lots of single vineyard varietal wines from Valdiguie, Tannant, Syrah, Carignan and Chardonnay."

Alcohol: 12.5%

*Price and availability in store may vary. Vintage date may differ from pictured.