Crane Creek Vineyards

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Mar 20, 2010

2010 - Spring

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Feb 14, 2010

Norton Wine Review: Our first attempt at securing Cane Creek Vineyard’s Hellbender was not to be since they were already sold out in late summer, but were hoping to have more available later. O.K., I know you are wincing from this Hellbender term, so understand that this wine is named for the rare, locally found, orange-red, 20" long, largest salamander in the western hemisphere. So mid-November I drove again over two hours one way through beautiful back roads to see if Hellbender was back on Cane Creek’s menu (and it was). Hellbender is produced on a small nineteen acre vineyard at 2100’ elevation with only one acre set aside for these fourteen year old non-lyred Norton vines. 225 cases annually can be produced if all goes well with the harvest. This is a no excuses dry 100% Norton wine with a typical Southern slight sour taste. Immediately one would conjure negative thoughts with such a description, but realize that most Southern wines, be they Merlot, Cabernet Franc, etc., have “sour” overtones because, in the opinion of the proprietor, of the regional clay soils. This is a nice Norton that doesn’t portray being overly oaked in spite of the fact that this 2007 wine had been held in Pennsylvania Oak barrels (very similar to French Oak according to the vintner) for over 25 months. Weather, setting, host, visitors, a stunning black bean soup, two well behaved dogs, and a pleasantly different Norton made for a great day. I will “lay down’ this case of Hellbender for four or five years to see what time will bring to this interesting animal. *[Note posted online three months after visiting Cane Creek Vineyard: Results of the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition which was the largest competition of American wines ever, with over 4,900 wines submitted and a panel of 60 judges. There were 480 wines entered in the Native American Red category and Cane Creek’s 2007 Hellbender Red (Norton) took the gold medal.]

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Sep 18, 2008

Favorite Wine: Traminette

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Oct 06, 2007

They charge you for wine tasting? We bought 6 bottles and were a little offended at this charge.

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Sep 26, 2007

You ha to pay for sampling. This was in insult when we left with 6 bottles of wine.