Cory Gowan, JJ Buckley, March 2010

A dense, dark opaque purple core leading to a purple rim. Although this is a concentrated wine, it shows great balance on the nose featuring plum, purple flowers, dried baking spice, lavender, and a very pleasing aroma of freshly cut red apple all with a hint of garrigue and damp earth. Ample acidity gives it a pleasing freshness with loads of cranberry and black cherry, some ripe blackberry and a hint of dry leather and finishes long with slightly chewy tannins. This co-fermented field blend from Napa is a very tasty bottle perfect for drinking now.

About Winery

Fortitude is a special project from Etude that celebrates the hard work of independent family grape growers.  Fortitude wines pay tribute to the small family farmers who pioneered California wine grape growing and who passed their land, and a tradition of excellence, to their children and grandchildren.  Against all odds, these families have maintained a fierce independence and an unwavering passion for growing grapes of superior quality.

The idea for Fortitude took root in the 1990s and early 2000s as Tony Soter (Etude founder), Jon Priest (Etude winemaker) and Franci Ashton (Etude viticulturist) discovered small blocks of what they call "endangered" varietals-grapes like Semillon, Valdiguie (Napa Gamay), Charbono, and Carignane.  In 2004 and 2005, Etude purchased enough grapes - a couple tons of Semillon and Zinfandel from Don and Clarence Luvisi and several tons of Valdiguie, Charbono and other "field blend" grapes from the Frediani family - to launch the Fortitude winegrowing project.

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