The wine is dark in color, floral, and earthy. It has a scent of rain-soaked pine needles and olives in oil. The texture is meaty and tannic. Although it is a pure California Syrah, it is reminiscent of Northern Rhone wines. The grapes are from the very cool Charles Heinz Vineyard near the village of Occidental in Sonoma County, where Syrah is said to ripen at the very end. This plot is grown with traditional clones and organic Massale selection. The 2019 harvest date was October 18th. This is the return of Syrah, which has not been made since 2016! The grapes were gently pressed by foot and fermented in concrete tanks with whole bunches for 16 days. When fermentation stopped, the juice was pressed and the free-run load was transferred to large old barrels for aging. Malolactic fermentation was spontaneously encouraged, and after adding a small amount of sulfite, the wine was bottled in August. "Cruse Wine Co." and "Ultramarine" are the California brands that are currently attracting the most attention from around the world. Michael Cruse, the owner and winemaker of these two brands, majored in biochemistry at UC Berkley, and after graduating, he learned winemaking from a scientific perspective at SutterHome and Starmont. He has never received any formal winemaking education, and taught himself wine science through trial and error and on-site experience, and founded Cruse Wine Co. and Ultramarine in 2013. Just three years later, he was selected as Winemaker of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle, and was in the spotlight as a maverick in the California wine industry. The "Cruse Wine Co." brand produces wines with the pure fruitiness and transparency that are unique to California, and a strong structure, while the "Ultramarine" brand produces fragrant, handmade sparkling wines from a single vineyard and a single vintage, inspired by Champagne's Recoltant Manipulant. Even star-ranked restaurants in the United States only allocate a few bottles per year, and many sommeliers and wine buyers are desperate to get their hands on this popular wine. As if symbolizing California wine in an age of diversity, they create complex, unique, and fresh wines without being bound by traditional styles or grape varieties. They actively use word-of-mouth and social media as marketing tools, and are making a leap into the world as an up-and-coming winemaker who will lead the next generation.