- Certified Organic
- 100% Zinfandel
- Eaglepoint Ranch Vineyard (Mendocino County)
- The vineyard is 2,000′ elevation above Ukiah and the grapes are 40+ year old vines
- The soil is decomposed sandstone with veins of “timber red” laoms and upland pasture soil types
- Hand-harvested
- Native yeast fermentation
- 50% of the fruit was foot tread before loading into the Champagne press. They were pressed with a champagne cycle and just the cuvee fraction was used. Fermented in stainless steel and bottled slightly sweet to finish in bottle
- The wine was aged for 6 months in bottle and then riddled and disgorged with no dosage
- 4000 bottles produced
- 12.5% ABV
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.
-Skurnik