Orin Swift, Machete Red Wine California (2020)

Product Description

A dark mauve core with a neon purple rim, the wine stains everything. Opening aromatics on the 2020 Machete are gorgeous immediately: ripe pluot, carne asada, new cowboy boots, lilacs, espresso bean and wet concrete. On the palate, layers upon layers reveal themselves, from a plum galette topped with fior di latte gelato to 85% cacao dark chocolate to barbequed tri-tip and sweet oak. Puckering tannins to finish, the wine closes on a high note with a touch of blood orange zest and lingering acidity.

Producer Description

The history of Orin Swift Cellars dates back to 1995 when on a lark, David Swift Phinney took a friend up on an offer and went to Florence, Italy to spend a semester “studying”. During that time, he was introduced to wine, how it was made, and got hooked. A few more years of university led to graduation and eventually a job at Robert Mondavi Winery in 1997 as a temporary harvest worker. Deciding that if he was going to work this hard, it would eventually have to be for himself, so in 1998 he founded Orin Swift Cellars; Orin is his father’s middle name and Swift is his mother’s maiden name. With two tons of zinfandel and not much else, he spent the next decade making wine for others as well as himself and grew the brand to what it is today.