Introducing Crenshaw Cru
We made history this year...
2021 is the year that the first commercial wine was made from grapes grown in South Central Los Angeles, and we made it.
You've heard of Premier Cru. You've heard of Grand Cru. Allow us to introduce you to Crenshaw Cru.
We debuted some pre-release, non-commercial bottles of the Crenshaw Cru sparkling rosé at our recent wine-paired dinner at Post & Beam Restaurant.
It's the first sparkling wine we've made, and maybe it's just beginner's luck but it's beautiful. Watermelon pink with crisp acidity and fine bubbles that make your mouth dance.
We also did a darker rosé sparkling, of course because we're all about the dark rosé..
We also made a Crenshaw Cru Red - still, not sparkling - and when we tasted it off the press, we can honestly say it's the best Syrah we've had this year, if not our favorite red in general.
I know that's like a parent saying their child is the smartest and most beautiful child they know, or that, you know, our kittens are the most adorable kittens alive, but I mean, come on... Look at them!
I've actually had a few glasses of the Red Crenshaw Cru while writing this (from an extra bottle that just didn't fit into any of the aging vessels) which has nothing to do with my enthusiasm, I swear. The flavor of this young wine is already addictively yummy, and the color is a gorgeous deep magenta purple.
These are the kinds of wines that try my patience. So good that I can't wait to see what it will taste like in a year.
This is why I got into wine making in the first place, for the magic that can happen when everything aligns.
But why did everything align? And why am I so confident in the quality of the Crenshaw Cru wines?
Well, first of all we had the best vintage in Los Angeles in the last 20 years at least. But also because we farmed them with the utmost care, by hand, hand-in-hand with Mother Nature. These wines came from 14 vines we have tended and touched individually hundreds of times over the last 4 years, nurturing them, observing them daily, loving them, and building an ecosystem in which they can thrive.
Great wine can only come from great grapes, and great grapes can only come from a healthy ecosystem (not just a healthy vineyard).
Given the amount of care we have showered on these vines AND the ecosystem in which they grow, these may be some of the greatest wines ever. We believe in a holistic definition of greatness, one that takes into account much more than just the flavor of the wine.
And that's the point of Centralas - to show the beauty that can result from environmentally positive farming.
Now, before you get too excited, I'm sure you can understand that we will be counting these wines in the number of bottles, not cases, produced. Like a couple dozen bottles of each, if that. This is nano-production.
Because of that, we won't be doing tastings of these wines, and the prices will be high.
Wine Club members will have the option (in order of date joined) to get one bottle of Crenshaw Cru until all available bottles are spoken for. Beyond that, we haven't figured out anything, so stay tuned!
The good news is that we are currently preparing a large part of the back yard to plant about 24 more vines... so there will be more Crenshaw Cru to go around in the future.
Please join our email list and wine club if you would like be the first to know, and have opportunity to purchase, when Crenshaw Cru wines become available.