2020 Once Upon a Time in Mendocino, Carbonic Pinotage, Mendocino County, Open Hand Ranch

A 100% Pinotage from Mendocino's coolest vineyard.

There’s a new sheriff in town.

Dressed in a wide-brim hat, chaps, and his trusty six-shooters, they've met an unlikely match with a speedy advantage. But they ain’t afraid to take chances when the stakes are high. We love Spaghetti Westerns and 70s California so here’s the showdown you didn’t know you needed.

This unique wine is 100% carbonic macerated Pinotage sourced from one of the very few Pinotage plantings that exist in California. You heard that right. This delicate but super crushable wine is even lighter than its Beaujy sibling, Little Secrets. On the nose, coast through dark fruit notes of blackberry and plum. Strawberry compote intertwines with cherry twizzlers and sweet tobacco lingers on the palate. Unfined and unfiltered, this wine has a clean and bright but smoky finish. Just trust us on this one. It’s fucking good.

So what the hell is Pinotage and where does it come from? This varietal is near and dear to our winemaker, Bertus, as it is the most poppin’ red grape and the second most planted varietal in South Africa. Pinotage was originally bred and crossed in 1925 in the gardens of scientist Abraham Perold, Stellenbosch University’s first viticulture professor. Perold wanted a wine that tasted as bomb as Pinot Noir but grew as well as Cinsault so he went full send and crossed the two. Stellenbosch is a hoppin’ wine region in South Africa’s Western Cape region where Pinotage is still primarily grown and typically blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. While it may be challenging to find Pinotage outside of the motherland, in California it grows in Mendocino, Lodi, El Dorado, and Saratoga.

Pinotage can be made into rosé, sparkling, or red. Naturally, at Tank, we went red but carbonically macerated the hell out of it. A quick refresh: carbonic maceration is when whole clusters of grapes are sealed into tanks and pumped with CO2, removing the oxygen and triggering intracellular fermentation (aka fermentation happens inside the skins). The result? Red wines are light in color, low in tannin, and have soft, fruity characteristics. This one's giving us melted-down cherry Icee vibes, y’all.

We only made 72 cases of this western dime so hop on it quickly. Remember, out here in the west, sometimes you get and sometimes you get got.

Sold Out

Story time is over.