Riding Monkey

Dieter Cronje arrived in Santa Barbara County from the wine country of Durbanville outside Cape Town, trained at one of South Africa's oldest agricultural colleges and honed further through harvests in Burgundy and Champagne. He came to California to make cool-climate Pinot Noir at Presqu'ile Winery, and he stayed to make something wilder on the side. Riding Monkey is the side, and it is the project where Cronje gets to play without a safety net.

Dieter Cronje grew up in Durbanville's wine country near Cape Town, the son of a wine-loving father who encouraged him to study enology at Elsenburg Agricultural College -- an institution that has been training winemakers since 1894. Cronje deepened his knowledge through a Bordeaux exchange program and study periods in Burgundy and Champagne before landing in Santa Maria Valley, where he became the founding winemaker at Presqu'ile Winery and contributed to the original planting of its 73-acre estate vineyard. Riding Monkey began as a passion project operating out of Orcutt, a small community in Santa Barbara County, giving Cronje a space to make wines outside the parameters of his day job.

More on how they farm and work in the cellar in our Riding Monkey producer profile.

Riding Monkey (Gr)apes of Wrath Cinsault 2020

Riding Monkey

$30.00 ~~Regular price:$34.95~~

Sold Out -14%

Frequently asked questions

When is my order shipping?

We are doing your best to ship your order in 2-3 business days.

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Do I have to sign upon delivery?

Yes, someone 21 years or older must sign for the package.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

What if I miss a delivery?

Worry not, we have options, but please read carefully.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.