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2020 Gearhead 'Candy Coated Clown'

2020 Gearhead 'Candy Coated Clown'

Region: Nevada County < California

Grapes: Roussanne, Grenache Noir

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Organic farming at the Coufos Vineyard; carbonic co-ferment, no treading or adding of Co2, for 14 days then blended and bottled, unfined/unfiltered, with nothing added (zero-zero); 12.7% ABV; 28 cases

Winemaker:  Craig West

Our buddy Noel of Purity turned us on to his buddy, Craig West, who makes wine at Noel’s Richmond facility for his upstart natural wine label, Gearhead.  Craig was a fisherman and a baker for Acme Bread, but when he met Noel and started helping him with production, he decided that this was his calling and pivoted to wine.  Now he makes tiny lots of wine from organic farming, all foot tread, many with carbonic maceration, and all sans sulfur.

Craig is scrappy like most of the new natty crew in California, and because he doesn't own any vineyards, searches high and low for organic fruit to purchase.  But he always finds the good stuff.  Like this organic Roussanne and Grenache Noir, farmed by his good friend and cellar colleague, Noel Diaz of Purity.

Craig is scrappy like most of the new natty crew in California, and because he doesn't own any vineyards, searches high and low for organic fruit to purchase.  But he always finds the good stuff.  Like this organic Roussanne and Grenache Noir, farmed by his good friend and cellar colleague, Noel Diaz of Purity, at the Coufos Vineyard in Nevada City.

We always love how colorfully Craig describes the evolution of each wine.  Here's what he says about Candy Coated Clown: "It came in heavy and I was able to get a half a ton of each and went WTF, let's co-ferment them carbo!  The label, well this is a long story: my wife met this woman on Instagram who is a painter, and she asked us about our vision for the wine's label, so I told her, 'the weirder the better' and to think of Candy Coated Clown in the movie Blue Velvet.  It came out cool, but for me not weird enough!"

We think its pretty weird-cool, like some geriatric coke binge in Palm Springs.  The wine is also weird-cool, definitely one of Craig's funkier bottles, but fun, easy and super delicious.  Psychedelic orange glou glou that tastes like juicy tangerine-apricot juice with a slightly tannic edge.  This one is best consumed the day you open it.

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