California Mission

There’s a lot more to celebrate about Calaveras County than one little jumping frog.

There’s the fact that “calaveras” in Spanish means “skulls”, making it without question the most bad-ass county name in America. There are the gigunda Giant Sequoias in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, considered one of the first tourist attractions in California. There’s the county seat, San Andreas, which shares its name with both a famous earthquake fault line and a hellishly violent video game. And there’s this trio of Twisted Oak Tempranillos.

Take this award-winning Twisted Oak 2005 Tempranillo – and take it cheap. When it hasn’t been winning the Gold Medal at the Riverside International Wine Competition, or Best of Show, Sierra Foothills at the California State Fair, it’s been livening up sausage, tapas, game, pot roast – anything with big, spicy, smoky, or, uh, grilly flavors. Your nose will love the vanilla, cinnamon, and clove aromas, while your tongue will fall passionately in love with the raspberry and blueberry flavors. You know how those Latin lovers can be.

The old Spanish influence on this part of California extends literally into the soil, with liberal plantings of Spain’s noble grape dotting the Calaveras countryside. Luckily for you, Twisted Oak has gotten their hands on some of the tastiest dots. The Twisted Oak 2006 Spaniard pays the most obvious homage to the old country, right there in the name. As it happens, the 2006 growing season was a great one for local Tempranillo, so the Spaniard does the Spanish throne proud. Cherry, berry, and pepper combine with notes of Spanish leather in a flamenco of flavor on your palate. It’s OK to shout “Olé!”

A whole different set of cultural referents goes into the name of the Twisted Oak 2005 Murgatroyd, and a whole different set of wines: Tempranillo makes up just 22% of this Cab-heavy red. But its bright plum and blueberry nose, and raspberry, currant, and vanilla flavors are shot through with spice and herbal character that sings of the semi-arid hills of old California. The result is a wine that you could see Spanish monks partying with, long before either Hanna or Barbera came onto the scene.

Don’t get us wrong: Calaverans love a good frog jump. But there’s a lot more to them than that. This Twisted Oak Tempranillo trio is the perfect way to celebrate a triumph in the frog-jumping ring. And if your entry didn’t win, it probably tastes great with frogs’ legs.

2006 Spaniard:

• Varietals & Vineyards: 23% Tempranillo, Twisted Oak Winery, Sheep Shack Vineyard 43% Tempranillo, Spaniard Block, Twisted Oak Winery 20% Graciano, Willow Block, Twisted Oak Winery 14% Garnacha, Oruga and Colina Roja Blocks, Twisted Oak Winery
• Harvest Date: September 19th and 27th, 2006 for the Tempranillo, September 6th, 2006 for the Graciano, October 20th, 2006 for the Garnacha
• Oak Program: 65% new French oak 10% new American oak, 25% 2 year old French oak
• Residual sugar 0.01%
• pH 3.55
• Titratable acid 0.56 (grams per 100mL)
• Volatile acid 0.068 (grams per 100mL)
• Alcohol 14.6%
• Brix at harvest 25.7’
• Age before bottling 19 Months

2006 Mergetroid:

• Varietals & Vineyards: 24% Cabernet Sauvignon from Vallecito Vineyards 22% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Tanner Vineyard 23% Petit Verdot from the Tanner Vineyard 12% Tempranillo from Silvaspoons Vineyard 10% Tempranillo from Rolleri Vineyard 9% Grenache from the Boeger Vineyard
• Oak Program: 10% new American oak 10% new Hungarian oak 80% 2-year old American & French oak
• RS 0.01%
• pH 3.59
• Titratable acid 0.61 (grams per 100mL)
• Volatile acid 0.062 (grams per 100mL)
• Alcohol 14.3%
• Brix at harvest: Yea right
• Age before bottling 23 Months

2006 Termpranillo:

• Varietals & Vineyards: 68% Tempranillo, Rolleri Vineyard in Angels Camp 20% Tempranillo, Spaniard block, Twisted Oak Winery in Vallecito 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, Vallecito Vineyards
• Harvest Date: September 14th, 29th and October 10th, 2005
• Oak Program: 30% new American oak 10% new French oak 60% neutral oak
• RS 0.02%
• pH 3.72
• Titratable acid 0.51 (grams per 100mL)
• Volatile acid 0.071 (grams per 100mL)
• Alcohol 13.7%
• Brix at harvest: 24.2
• Age before bottling 12 Months

Rules and restrictions:

• Wine sold by winery (or a retailer in your state where necessary)
• You must be 21 or older to order
• Whoever receives the package must be 21 or older
• If you're drunk when the package shows up, you will not be allowed to receive it
• Wine cannot be delivered to a P.O. Box
• We highly recommend you use a business address as your shipping address

Thanks to stick-in-the-mud buzzkilling state legislators, wine may only be delivered to the following states:

• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• District Of Columbia
• Florida
• Georgia
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oregon
• South Carolina
• Texas
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

If your state's not on the list, you're out of luck... for now. Keep up with the ever-changing laws over at ShipCompliantBlog.com, and/or sound the alarms with your state assembly person through FreeTheGrapes.org. Meanwhile, all Federal, state and local laws are complied with in providing this wine.