Orin Swift Machete 2020

Orin Swift Machete

Region: California, USA

Vintage: 2020

Bottle size: 75cl

Grape: Petite Sirah, Syrah and Grenache

ABV: 16%

The Machete relaxes in the glass with an opaque, inky garnet core and a neon violet rim; be careful, it stains. Aromatically, the wine opens with powerful notes of bright black plum, slate, cacao, wild sage and crushed gravel. The transition to the palate screams with its brawny presence of brooding blackberry pie and ripe blue fruits yet tempered with hints of orange peel and Amarena cherry.

Owner Dave Phinney sources grapes from over 100 sites in Napa Valley, Sonoma and Mendocino mainly from hillside locations. Phinney’s philosophy is simple: to find the best grapes he can get his hands on, let them hang long enough to become perfectly ripe, then express their character in the boldest way possible.

The history of Orin Swift Cellars dates back to 1995 when on a lark, David Swift Phinney took a friend up on an offer and went to Florence, Italy to spend a semester “studying”. During that time, he was introduced to wine, how it was made, and got hooked. A few more years of university led to graduation and eventually a job at Robert Mondavi Winery in 1997 as a temporary harvest worker. Deciding that if he was going to work this hard, it would eventually have to be for himself, he founded Orin Swift Cellars in 1998; Orin is his father’s middle name and Swift is his mother’s maiden name. With two tons of zinfandel and not much else, he spent the next decade making wine for others as well as himself and grew the brand to what it is today.

https://www.orinswift.com