Pandemic Update

We hope that this post finds you and your family healthy and safe.  

Not if, but that we survive is because we connect. We do not exist in a vacuum, life does not thrive by itself, or in quarantine. We will be here when you venture outdoors again, but for now the tasting room will remain closed until further notice. Our Declassifiedevent is postponed tentatively until April 18. Notwithstanding the closure of the tasting room, member-packages and orders will be shipping this week.
 
In lieu of tastings we have re-opened our online store:

• Purchases of six-bottles ship for $1 (contiguous 48 states)
• Purchases of twelve-bottles receive a 10% discount and ship for $1

The incentives apply automatically at checkout.

Thank you for continuing to support small family-run businesses like ours.  We look forward to reconnecting with you in person when it's safe to do so in April.

Sincerely, 
Juliana & Sean

PS. A note on the nature and promise of hope. 

As poetry month is nearly upon us amidst this pandemic, we thought we’d take a moment to highlight the poetry of survival, of hope. There is of course Emily Dickinson’s “’Hope’ is the Thing with Feathers, That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all . . .” and then there is the poetry of Rudyard Kipling’s masterpiece If and The Survival, and William Ernest Henley’s Invictus– but these seem better suited for war-time analogies – and so it was Edith Wharton who caught our eye this morning as we were looking for something suitable to share … We want to leave you with these last thoughts on Spring, on hope, on survival, on connectedness. Because soon we will back outdoors together, relishing the warmth on our skin, the shouts of wild children and the murmurs of strangers meandering arm-in-arm along the city streets.
 
When you and I, like all things kind or cruel,
The garnered days and light evasive hours,
Are gone again to be a part of flowers
And tears and tides, in life's divine renewal,

If some grey eve to certain eyes should wear
A deeper radiance than mere light can give,
Some silent page abruptly flush and live,
May it not be that you and I are there?
                                               --Edith Wharton
 
We are here. We will be here. We will see you in Spring.

Crosby Roamann Declassified 2020

Hello from Napa Valley! It is a gorgeous, extended winter here in the north bay. The mornings are still cool and occasionally overcast, but the sun is shining almost every day and the afternoons are distinctly warm. 
 
This time of year, we have the privilege of introducing you to our new wines – so many new wines! And see below for news on Crosby Roamann Declassified– our annual OPEN HOUSE on March 21st, 11-4 – we will be planting a tree for every bottle sold this year – read more below!
 
Crosby Roamann New Releases
 
2018 Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley. Whole-cluster pressed and fermented on native yeast. Aged for six months in one-third new French oak, the balance stainless steel, with three final months all in stainless steel prior to a light pad-filtration and bottling by hand at the winery. Six barrels, 115 cases produced. $24; Members only.
 
2017 Merlot, Napa Valley. Fully-destemmed to stainless steel. Fermented on native yeast thirty-two days prior to pressing in our old, hand-crank basket press. Aged in one-third new French oak for twenty-two months, and bottled by hand at the winery with neither fining nor filtration. Two barrels; 51 cases produced. $45; Members only.
 
Produced & Bottled by Sean W. McBride New Releases
 
The newest wine in our repertoire, 2017 Annie’s Pinot Noir, a blend of Gremlin Vineyard, Los Carneros, Sonoma County (60%) and The China Block, Filigreen Farm, Anderson Valley (40%). Both lots fermented on native yeast fourteen days; we pressed by hand, and the wine aged twenty-four months in a mix of stainless steel and neutral French oak. Neither fined nor filtered, we bottled by hand at the winery. Five and a half barrels; 131 cases produced. $32; Members only.
 
We are also very happy to announce the first of our 2018 single vineyard Pinot Noirs – 2018 Jewel of Skyland, Santa Cruz Mountains, Pinot Noir.  This one-acre, dry-farmed vineyard in the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains is planted to three different clones of Pinot Noir, creating a rich, layered, and balanced wine. We fermented the fruit in open top containers on native yeasts for fourteen days and pressed by hand. The wine aged for twelve months in 25% new French oak. $35; Members only.
 
2018 The China Block, Filigreen Farm, Anderson Valley, Pinot Noir. 100% Biodynamic fruit from the south block of Filigreen Farm, fermented on native yeast fourteen days, pressed entirely by hand, aged in one-half new French oak twelve months, prior to bottling by hand at the winery unfined and unfiltered. Four and a half barrels; 110 cases produced. $38; Members only.

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Crosby Roamann Declassified – March 21st, 2020
 
It’s that time of year again when we open the winery for Spring Cleaning. We will have an extremely limited number of wines starting at $24/case. Additionally, a small number of hand-signed art labels will be available. This is a ONE-DAY ONLY EVENT – while supplies last. This year we will plant a tree for every bottle you buy. Buy a case, plant twelve trees, save the planet on a Saturday. 
 
11am-12pm Members only
12-4pm Doors open
Event closes at FOUR PM.
 
We will have wines to taste, as well as some small bites. Please RSVP if you know you will be joining us. Groups of ten or more must make a reservation!
 
Stay Connected
 
We are on the road a lot this time of year, visiting New York, Illinois, Colorado, and Texas. Watch out for new events by following us online @crosbyroamann and @seanwmcbride

Holiday Magnums

Happy Holidays!  

Whether it'll be roast goose or takeout Chinese, we are so thrilled to be able to offer you a combination of two magnums to grace your holiday table this year -- our 2012 Merlot and 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville; Fedex 2-day shipping included. Member discounts applied automatically at checkout. Details below.

The 2019 harvest is complete and resting gracefully in cellar. We are excited to begin to share some details with you about these wines. We have been working diligently to produce wines of substance and balance without losing the transparency and purity of fruit that we hope mark our wines in the best of vintages. 2019 was classic, reminiscent of 2012; perhaps 2007 as well. To name just a few, the Cabernets, from three vineyards in Coombsville, Yountville, and St. Helena, are taut and luscious. Come taste with us from barrel in cellar this winter by making an appointment here.

Until then, enjoy these two wonderfully aged Napa Valley wines. At seven years of bottle age, they are just peaking. Don't miss them!

2012 Merlot Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley 1500ml -- Magnum

This single vineyard wine comes from Jaeger Ranch on Big Ranch Road. The fruit was manually sorted and aged thirty months in a combination of French and American oak barrels, 50% new. The wine is balanced by sweet blackberry flavors and a tart raspberry sweetness that lingers on the finish. 164 cases produced.

2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Napa Valley 1500ml -- Magnum

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville comes from young vines grown in a deep composite gray clay soil with tiny, bright blue berries. We harvested by hand on the afternoon of October 22, and manually sorted and fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel for twenty-eight days. One barrel of Merlot from the Oak Knoll District was blended in (10%), and the wine spent thirty months in French and American oak barrels, 60% new. We produced ten barrels of this wine. The wine is layered and refined, with notes of blueberries, mild dried herbs, vanilla and confectioner’s sugar. 207 cases produced.

Two Magnum pack $320, Fedex 2-day included.

Warmest wishes this holiday season,

Juliana & Sean

Fall Release & Harvest Update

Dear Sean,

We are truly excited to announce our Fall/Winter 2019 release. This release includes single vineyard Chardonnay from Carneros, biodynamic Pinot Noir from the Anderson Valley, and the new release of our signature Crosby's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2016. Members please see following section for details on your next shipment.  

New Releases

Our  2017 Chardonnay from the Loma Blanca vineyard was hand-picked at dawn, whole-cluster pressed and fermented in 25% new French barrels, then aged 12 months in oak. Plus, two delightfully different and thoughtful Pinot Noirs from two different blocks of the biodynamic Filligreen Farm, 2017 China Block and 2017 Old St. George. Our 2017 China Block fermented on native yeast, with 50% whole clusters, and was pressed entirely by hand in our old hand-crank press. The wine completed malolactic fermentation naturally in barrel, and aged twelve months in French oak barrels, 33% new. Just three barrels; 74 cases produced. Our 2017 Old St. George is selected from old-clone Pinot Noir grafted onto 65-year-old Saint George rootstock. This block ripens more slowly than the rest of the vineyard and is always picked last. We fermented the 2017 vintage on naturally occurring yeasts in concrete, with 50% stem inclusion, and we pressed entirely by hand. The wine aged in 50% new French oak for twelve months. Just two and a quarter barrels; 60 cases produced.  

And lastly, our 2016 Crosby's Reserve, a true beauty in a bottle, and proof that the best things come to those who wait. Crosby’s Reserve is a barrel selection of Cabernet Sauvignon (90%) and Merlot (10%). The Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from two gorgeous small vineyards in Coombsville, then sorted and de-stemmed by hand into new French oak barrels for extended maceration. The 2016 fermented in a combination of stainless steel (35 days) and new French oak for 56 days. We pressed entirely by hand in our old hand-crank press, and aged the wine 24 months in all new French oak. On the palate -- blue fruited with blackberry jam,  dark cocoa and roast coffee bean. You can read more about each of these wines on our website and store. 

We are still holding shipments until the first week of October in most cases depending on where you live, but we're back open and ready for your orders.  

For Members

Our standard membership box will include 2 bottles of 2017 Chardonnay, 2 bottles of 2016 Crosby's Reserve and 1 bottle each of the 2017 China Block and Old St. George Pinot Noirs.  Collectors will receive 4 bottles each of Chardonnay and Crosby's Reserve and 2 bottles each of the Pinot Noirs.  Reds-only members will receive 2 bottles of Crosby's Reserve and 2 bottles each of the Pinot Noirs.  And finally Pinot lovers will receive 3 bottles each of the 2017 Filligreen Farm Pinot Noirs. 

Boxes will be shipping the first week of October weather permitting. If you'd like to make changes to your allocations, please choose from what is available on the website.  On the members-only page you can make these changes or email Juliana.  You will also find some additional items available once you log in.  

Harvest 2019

And finally, we are back in the vineyards and busy in the cellar! Sauvignon Blanc is in the egg, still fermenting.  The Gremlin Vineyard Pinot Noir has finished fermentation and is going through malolactic in barrel. In tank, we have Merlot from Dunaweal Lane, China Block Pinot Noir, two new blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon (more on them later) from old vines above Yountville and St. Helena, as well as Pinot Noir from Jewel of Skyland in the Santa Cruz Mountains. 2019 Harvest is going to be big overall, but has all the signs of a classic California vintage, and we are rolling through a bit earlier than in years past. 

You can follow along on all the Harvest pictures on our Instagram page.  It's a magical time of year! 

We look forward to introducing you to our wines at our table or yours. 

Cheers,

Juliana & Sean

Maybeck's SF Wine Dinner

We are so excited about a dinner collaboration with Maybeck's restaurant in San Francisco on June 25th, details below, RSVP here. If you're in town, this is one you won't want to miss!

While summer may not officially start until June 21, for all intents and purposes  its already begun. There are so many things to celebrate this month, from kids out of school to Father's Day.  Wine country is calling, so come up and see us. We hope to see you soon!   

Happy summer,

Juliana & Sean

Store closing soon, T-shirt coupon included.

Our online store will be closing soon for the summer. Only three weeks remain for shipping, so come check out and stock up on some Summer Sippers like our 2017 Rosé and Sauvignon Blanc ... or ship home a couple bottles of the newly released 2017 Gremlin Vineyard or Kim Giles Vineyard Pinot Noir. 

**Members of the Inner Circle -- Now is the time to login and order some swag for the summer. A ton of cool stuff is available in the Members Only section of the website, including new T-shirts, Magnums, and glassware. Purchase 2+ bottles and apply the coupon code below to receive a free T-shirt with any order. Shipping included on all Member orders.
 
Coupon code: Tshirt2019

Cheers!
Juliana & Sean

May Day Letter

We're pretty excited to announce the release of two new wines, our 2017 vintages of the Sean W. McBride Pinots from the Kim Giles Vineyard in Napa's coolest most southern region hugging the San Pablo bay, and from the Gremlin Vineyard in Sonoma's Los Carneros region just outside of the quaint town of Sonoma.  Both are sustainably farmed, micro-sized vineyards, and completely different in flavor profile. We couldn't be more excited to release these, more info on each of the wines below.

As the days are getting longer and definitely warmer, these are the last few weeks we can offer shipping on our wines until the late Fall.  Mother's Day, Father's Day, and summer barbecues are just around the corner...it's a great time to stock up if you don't happen to be lucky enough to live nearby.  What goes better with a barbecue or sitting poolside than our 2017 Rosé and 2017 Sauvignon Blanc....unless you'd prefer to hole-up inside with your air conditioning and a beautiful bottle of 2014 Merlot or 2015 Crosby's Reserve.  No judgements, we promise.

Cheers!

Juliana & Sean

Members Only

**Exciting announcement for existing members.  Check out the member's only page here with your login.  You'll see some fun new stuff available only for you.**

The Inner Circle includes two levels of membership, our Premier and Collector wine clubs, both with exclusive access to our limited production, high-quality Crosby Roamann and Sean W. McBride wines.

The Inner Circle membership is a one-year commitment to biannual club releases in the spring and fall. In addition to receiving access to our new releases and limited-production wines, each club level enjoys complimentary tastings at our Crusher District winery in Napa, an annual member gift and invitations to Inner Circle dinners and event, and special pricing on all orders beyond membership.

Produced & Bottled by Sean W. McBride

We are very exicted to announce the release of our first set of Pinot Noir wines Produced & Bottled by Sean W. McBride, from four distinct blocks of three different vineyards and three very different appellations. So, without further ado, a little description of the wines that you can now find in our tasting room, select restaurants in New York, Florida, and California, and very shortly from our website.

2016 Gremlin Vineyard Los Carneros Sonoma County Pinot Noir --

Sourced from Lauri and Steve Busch's small vineyard surrounding their property outside the town of Sonoma. The property was purchased in 2014 and the Busch's began the difficult process of rehabilitating these very old vines -- we're not sure what the clones or the rootstocks are, but we sure can tell from the size of their monstrous trunks that the vines have been here longer than anyone else. The vineyard is now maintained sustainably, and we have become the sole producers of their grapes. The grapes were fully destemmed and fermented on native yeasts. We pressed entirely by hand, and racked to 33% new French oak barrels for the completion of malolactic. The wine spent 11 months in barrel prior to racking to steel and bottling unfined and unfiltered. What we love about this wine: its our most voluptuous and flamboyant of the 2016 vintage, with cherry cola and vanilla and a sweet clove note on the finish. Three barrels; 72 cases produced.

2016 Kim Giles Vineyard Napa Valley Pinot Noir --

Kim's vineyard overlooking San Pablo Bay is located southeast of Carneros on the road leading down to American Canyon, sort of in a no-man's land between the better known parts of Napa Valley, which is how we like it. The vineyard is actually just a mile down the road from our winery in the Crusher Wine District of Napa Valley. Kim grows Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and keeps bees on the property. We picked this vineyard ourselves, by hand, and partially destemmed the fruit to open top barrels for native primary fermentation. We pressed by hand, and racked to one single neutral French barrel for a natural malolactic fermentation. The wine aged for 11 months in barrel prior to racking to steel and bottling unfined and unfiltered. What we love about this wine: it has a crazy roast chicken and rosemary savory flavor to it, unlike anything else we produce. We think its the native yeast. One barrel and a quarter barrel; 34 cases produced.

2016 Filigreen Farm “The China Block” Anderson Valley Pinot Noir --

Sourced from the biodynamically farmed Filigreen Farm on the southwest flank of Anderson Valley, our selection of Pinot Noir is surrounded by the oldest stand of Chinese bamboo in the continental U.S. and is therefore named "The China Block." The 2016 vintage was fermented on native yeasts, with 50% whole clusters, and was pressed entirely by hand in our old hand-crank press. The wine completed malolactic fermentation naturally in barrel, and aged twelve months in French oak barrels, 20% new. We performed one racking to stainless steel for one month prior to bottling, unfined and unfiltered. What we love about this wine: the interplay and balance of blackberry acidity with sour cherry sweetness. Five barrels; 141 cases produced.

2016    Filigreen Farm “Old Saint George” Anderson Valley Pinot Noir --

Also sourced from the biodynamically farmed Filigreen Farm, the “Old Saint George” is selected especially from heritage clone Pinot Noir grafted onto 65-year-old Saint George rootstock. This block ripens more slowly than the rest of the vineyard, and produces wines of greater flavor sophistication and higher acidity. We fermented our one-half ton of the 2016 vintage on naturally occurring yeasts in open top neutral barrels, with 50% stem inclusion, and pressed entirely by hand. The wine aged in a single one-year old French barrel, and was racked to steel prior to bottling unfined, and unfiltered. What we love about this wine: everything, we just wish we had more! Wonderfully balanced with bright dark fruit notes. Our best Pinot of 2016. One barrel; 23 cases produced.

Crosby Roamann Declassified

You’re Invited to Crosby Roamann Declassified ... Our ONE DAY ONLY Spring Fête With Bottles Starting At 99¢

This is a family friendly event. The grill will be on, and vinyl will be spinning. Saturday March 24 from 12

Declassified is our opportunity to blow-out the odds and ends that never make it to the bottling line. We have numerous one and two case lots of wine bottled with artsy labels and other one-offs available for one day only. Visit us in the tasting room Saturday March 24 from 11-4 to grab our smallest production wines.

The Impossible Does Not Exist

This year, begin with love.

The Crosby Roamance package includes one bottle of the sultry 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon with a beautifully hand-blown heart-shaped glass dish from Simon Pearce. Optional, also included with a blank Valentine’s Day woodcut card. This wine is spectacular, and is sure to make that special someone in your life coo with pleasure; it makes a fine arrow in Cupid’s bow.  We have extremely limited quantities as usual … Purchase the Valentine’s Day Special here.

This year, “the impossible does not exist.”

Now that the rains have come to the valley, and an iridescent pale green grass covers the hills, it’s time to focus our attention on the new year. The winery is cold, and the sky is covered with a tumble of low, nebulous clouds. It’s quiet except for the sound of the bull-frog croaking in the rosemary bush outside our front door. How can we share the exuberance we feel about 2018? What we think is that we must make 2018 a year in which “the impossible does not exist.”

Everything changes.

There will be a few biggish changes at the winery in 2018. As many of you who know, in 2013 we produced our first Pinot Noir … we did it sort of on a dare and a whim and were surprised and delighted by the results.

That first Pinot Noir became a fast favorite. It was a riper style Pinot, with soft and lush fruit tones and a warm texture, and we were happy to see that people responded to it so immediately. But it wasn’t just the fact that people enjoyed it; there was also so much that went into making that wine that was important and different from what we had done before, which has informed and changed our winemaking in the years since.

Among other things, it was one of the first wines we pressed entirely by hand – an arduous process that we felt had immediate and recognizable benefits – and philosophically, it was a wine that we let go, a wine for which we didn’t have concerns about concentration or depth … just about transparency and umami. It was a turning point.

That’s the backstory. We tinkered with Pinot Noir again in 2014, but it wasn’t until 2016 that we ventured out of Napa Valley for the first time and produced a series of four Pinot Noirs from across California, including two wines from Filigreen Farm (a biodynamically farmed vineyard in Anderson Valley, Mendocino County), one wine from Carneros, Sonoma, and one wine from Kim Giles Vineyard overlooking San Pablo Bay in southern Napa. As these wines blossomed in barrel it became apparent to us that this was really a new venture. Something other.

This new venture is still in development; the wines have been bottled and are waiting for labels. They are delicious and delightfully different expressions of Pinot Noir, and we are very excited to share them with you – we just don’t know how to yet, or what to call them.

The more things change …

Which brings us back to our chilly winery and our Cabernet Sauvignon. Because in this whole process, as we thought more and more about Pinot Noir, from idiosyncratic places like Filigreen Farm and Kim Giles Vineyard, we came to understand Cabernet Sauvignon in a deeply new way. And not to make too fine a point about it, one might say that Crosby Roamann had “come out of itself” … that only in struggling to understand the other, does one come to recognize oneself. Because after 2013 – when we  finally came to see Crosby Roamann through the lens of a Pinot Noir that we produced reluctantly  – everything changed.

We started to experiment with native fermentations in each wine. We produced skin-fermented Sauvignon Blanc. We fermented Pinot Noir in new, open-top barrels. We experimented. With the Cabernet Sauvignon, we adopted a number of new techniques … closed-top barrel fermentation with daily rotations of the barrels, hand pressing of the must, extended maturation on the lees, with a total elevage of 30 months in all new French oak barrels. We forgot about the wines, only to rediscover them later. We had some issues. We learned some valuable lessons.

If you’ve been to the winery and talked to Sean, you know how passionate he is about Cabernet Sauvignon and how special this grape and these wines are to him. Our focus at Crosby Roamann is producing the single finest Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that we can. It is not hyperbole when we say the wines we are releasing today and over the next couple years are the best wines we have ever produced, and we are terribly excited to share them with you. They encompasses the very best of what Napa Valley is – rich, concentrated, and complex.

Valentine’s Day Special 2018

One bottle 2013 Cabernet Sauvignonwith a beautifully hand-blown heart-shaped glass dish from Simon Pearce. A blank Valentine’s Day woodcut card is included (optional). Shipping included.

Price: $99.00 

Which brings us full circle. As in previous years, we are offering a special Valentine’s Day package – a single bottle of our 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon from Rutherford, Napa Valley, with a beautifully hand-blown heart-shaped dish from Simon Pearce. This wine is spectacular, and is sure to make that special someone in your life coowith pleasure.

With love from Napa Valley,

Juliana & Sean