Cruse Wine Co. is a small winery in Petaluma thoughtfully crafting table wines from unique vineyards in California.  Owner/winemaker Michael Cruse was named winemaker of the year in 2016 by the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle. 

Against a landscape that often feels dominated by either top-shelf Cabernet or acidic European emulations, the Cruse wines aim to reimagine what “table wine” can be: fruity, quaffable, affordable. And more than anything, they’re intensely loyal to their California origins.

If Ultramarine (another of Michael Cruse’s brands) is the wine of the moment, Cruse Wine Co. is a vision for California wine’s future. 

 California didn’t need another cult wine, after all. One virtue of Cruse Wine Co., whose wines range from $25 to $38, is that blue-collar spirit — it’s house wine, table wine, corner store wine.

But its achievement is equally the wine style. In an era that favors angular, savory, European-inspired wines of restraint, Cruse Wine Co. is all about fruit. 

From Heintz Vineyard Syrah, to Mendocino County Tannat, to Sierra Foothills Chardonnay, to a number of ancestral-method sparklings, called pétillant naturels (a.k.a. pet-nats), the Cruse Wine Co. wines all bear a signature profile. Though structured, the wines feel open and inviting, even when young. They often convey a chewy, chalky texture. More than anything, they’re exuberantly fruity. 

 To Cruse, that’s how you express California: sunshine and ripeness. He’s got a narrative, “classic California, but with a wart.”