{"title":"Riding Monkey","description":"\u003cp\u003eDieter 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDieter 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMore on how they farm and work in the cellar in our \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/natural-wine-producers-primal-wine\/riding-monkey\"\u003eRiding Monkey producer profile\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"grapes-of-wrath-cinsault-riding-monkey-natural-wine","title":"Riding Monkey (Gr)apes of Wrath Cinsault 2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eRiding Monkey's (Gr)apes of Wrath is 100% Cinsault sourced from Nolan Ranch in the Alisos Canyon AVA, Santa Barbara County. The fruit is farmed organically on a property that grows 18 varietals across more than 100 acres. Alisos Canyon was officially established as California's 249th AVA in August 2020, the same harvest year as this wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWinemaker and co-founder Dieter Cronje split the fermentation: 50% whole-cluster carbonic maceration for 10 days, and 50% in open-top fermenters with daily punch-downs. Both lots were then aged together for 5 months in neutral French oak. No sulfites were added at any point.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe result is a light-bodied, chillable red with a smoky raspberry nose, bright sour cherry on the palate, and a finish marked by hibiscus and white pepper. Tannins are deliberately soft, keeping the wine lively and food-friendly without grip.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a collaboration release between Riding Monkey and Reverse Orangutan. Serve at a slight chill, around 55-60F.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Riding Monkey","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39600606052551,"sku":"RIDIWRAT20C","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/products\/grapes-of-wrath-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1780186285"}],"url":"https:\/\/primalwine.com\/collections\/riding-monkey.oembed","provider":"Primal Wine","version":"1.0","type":"link"}