2018 Cimarron Vineyard Grenache

There’s quite a bit of Grenache in Arizona and we’ve been fortunate to see this varietal from a lot of different growers over the years. It’s a tricky, vigorous grape to grow and can often be very light in color. It tends to be lighter-bodied, especially in Arizona, but it has a nice strawberry fruit, spice, and, in better cases, a certain grace that works well in blends like Willy, Ron Bot and Earth Cuckoo. We often call it Arizona’s “Pinot Noir.” But Chateau Tumbleweed has never bottled a stand-alone Grenache until now. A brief issue with the well at Cimarron Vineyard in 2018 caused a few of the earlier ripening varietals to put out remarkably small, dark berries. It meant smaller yields for the Bostocks, but it gave us some amazing fruit to work with. This is one of the darkest, most complex Arizona Grenaches we’ve ever made and we thought it was just special enough to bottle on its own. Only two barrels produced.