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Gearhead Wines

Princess Marsanne Pet Nat 2019

Price: $26.95
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Tasting notes

The blend defies easy categorization: neon orange in the glass, salty and grapefruity on the nose, with the high-acid Valdiguie from Lolonis cutting through the Marsanne's natural weight and texture. At 11% ABV and bottled at 1.5 brix, it is genuinely dry, fizzy, and saline rather than fruity or sweet.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
GrapefruitSaltWhite PeachStone Fruit
  • Style: Sparkling pet nat, neon orange; salty grapefruit and savory white fruit; 11% ABV; 18 cases produced
  • Grapes & Terroir: 80% Marsanne, Love Ranch Vineyard, Madera AVA, granitic schist, 1,350 ft; 20% Valdiguie, Lolonis Vineyard, Redwood Valley AVA, Mendocino; both CCOF-certified organic, dry-farmed
  • Winemaking: Both varieties fermented carbonically with no treading or added CO2; 15-day fermentation; bottled at 1.5 brix; unfined, unfiltered, zero additions, zero added sulfur
  • Serving: Serve well chilled, 40-45F; open carefully over a sink; consume young
  • Pairing: Raw oysters, grilled whole fish, ceviche, marcona almonds, aged goat cheese
  • Similar To: For fans of Cruse Wine Co. Valdiguie Petillant Naturel or savory, low-ABV carbonic sparkling wines

The Princess Pet Nat is a red-white mashup: 80% Marsanne from the CCOF-certified, dry-farmed Love Ranch Vineyard in Madera County and 20% Valdiguie from the CCOF-certified, dry-farmed Lolonis Vineyard in Redwood Valley, Mendocino. Love Ranch sits at around 1,350 feet near Coarsegold, 35 miles south of Yosemite, on thin soils of granitic schist. Lolonis, farmed organically since the 1950s, is known for Valdiguie with exceptional natural acidity driven by extreme diurnal shifts.

Both varieties were fermented carbonically with no treading and no added CO2. The Marsanne came in cold and took three days to get going. After a 15-day fermentation, the wine was bottled at 1.5 brix to complete fermentation in bottle, as is standard for petillant naturel. The result pours a neon orange and registers 11% ABV. Only 18 cases were made.

Craig West made this wine at Noel Diaz's Richmond facility under his Gearhead Wines label. Craig originally planned a straight Marsanne until he disgorged a bottle alongside Valdiguie and saw the savory-acid combination work. The wine is unfined, unfiltered, and zero-zero: nothing added, nothing removed. The label art is a princess drawing by Craig's 10-year-old daughter, who charged him $50 for the rights.

The wine's salinity and bright acidity make it a natural match for raw oysters, grilled whole fish, or a citrus-dressed ceviche. It also works well alongside salty snacks like marcona almonds or aged goat cheese. Serve well chilled.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Sparkling Wine
Wine Style:, Sparkling
Grapes:, Marsanne, Valdiguie
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2019
Alcohol:, 11%
Country:, United States
Region:, Madera County
Appellation:, Madera AVA / Redwood Valley AVA
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

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.


Important Compliance Requirements

FedEx and other carriers we might occasionally use can only deliver wine to customers who are 21 years or older. Someone must be at the address to receive the package, carriers don't just drop a package and leave. They must ensure the person receiving the wine is 21 or older.


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If a package is returned to us after three failed delivery attempts, we can only re-ship the wine upon payment of a re-shipping fee, to be determined based on the shipping address and number of bottles. Shipping wine is extremely expensive. We are sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Please make sure there's always someone at the address you enter as your shipping address.

If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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If you'd like to cancel an order after it's been shipped, we can do so upon payment of a small cancellation fee – the amount depends on the size of the order. Carriers charge us a lot of money to recall a package en-route.


Heat/Frost damage

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Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Gearhead Wines

Gearhead Wines is a natural wine label founded by Craig West, based in Richmond, California. Craig grew up in Orange County and spent years as a commercial fisherman and as a baker at Acme Bread in the Bay Area. He entered winemaking in 2016 after Noel Diaz of Purity Wine invited him to tread grapes in an open-top fermenter at Noel's Richmond facility. Craig made his first vintage that same year in his garage.

Craig sources all fruit from CCOF-certified organic, dry-farmed vineyards and does not own any vineyard land himself. He produces small lots, typically under 100 cases, with all fermentations foot-trodden and many using carbonic maceration. No sulfur is added to any Gearhead wine.

Craig makes wine at Noel Diaz's production facility in Richmond. Winemaking is largely intuitive: fermentation is monitored by smell and taste rather than strict timelines, and bottling decisions for pet nats are made based on residual brix rather than fixed schedules. The Princess Pet Nat line takes its name and label art from Craig's daughter, who drew the princess illustration used across the series.

Wine region

Madera County, United States

Love Ranch Vineyard sits at approximately 1,350 feet near Coarsegold in the Madera AVA, 35 miles south of Yosemite National Park. The soils are thin granitic schist with excellent drainage. The site planted nine Rhone varieties starting in 1994. Despite being within Madera County, which straddles the San Joaquin Valley floor, the Love Ranch location is in the Madera Foothills sub-region, where elevation and prevailing afternoon winds moderate temperatures and help retain fruit acidity.

The Lolonis Vineyard is located in Redwood Valley, Mendocino County, within the Redwood Valley AVA. The property has been farmed organically since the 1950s and has held CCOF certification since 1992. Redwood Valley experiences extreme diurnal temperature variation, with summer afternoons in the 90s dropping to the 40s by nightfall. This shift preserves natural acidity in Valdiguie, a variety already known for retaining tartness at full ripeness. Mendocino County also produces Pinot Noir, Carignan, and Zinfandel from its cooler sub-appellations, but Redwood Valley's warmer inland climate suits thicker-skinned, acid-retentive varieties like Valdiguie.

Frequently asked question

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.

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.

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.

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