Chrissy Wittmann and her team of winemakers collaborate with this family of growers, visiting each vineyard site throughout the year to carefully assess the style and quality of every lot to make the best possible wine from each vintage.
The Prisoner Wine Company acquires grapes from more than 100 vineyards throughout California’s premier grape-growing regions, partnering with phenomenal growers who are dedicated to cultivating unique varieties. Now complemented by a white blend (Blindfold), Chardonnay (The Snitch), Cabernet Sauvignon (Cuttings), Zinfandel (Saldo), Merlot (Thorn) and a Red Blend (Dérangé), The Prisoner Wine Company’s winemaking philosophy remains the same: To collaborate with a family of growers throughout California’s best winegrowing regions to craft wines of exceptional quality and unexpected character. Since launch, The Prisoner soon became recognized as one of the most innovative Napa Valley wines, leading the resurgence of California red blends and earning “cult wine” status. The Prisoner Wine Company’s eponymous first wine was inspired by the drinkable “mixed blacks” made by the Italian immigrants who originally settled in Napa Valley. Similar to the artwork on The Prisoner label, The Blindfold label depicts atrocities of war between France and Spain during the artist’s time.
BLINDFOLD PRISONER WINE SERIES
The label artwork is based on one of the prints from the "Disasters of War" series by Spanish artist, Francisco de Goya. The Chardonnay in Blindfold is sourced from Sonoma County, the Chenin Blanc from Mendocino, and the Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, and Viognier from our growers in Santa Barbara. Director and Winemaking, Chrissy Wittmann partners with growers who are dedicated to cultivating unique varieties in the most recognized regions throughout California. The fruit from this wine is sourced throughout California’s Coastal wine regions. The finish is rich and creamy with flavors of lemon zest and caramelized sugar A luscious entry of toasted hazelnut and mandarin are balanced by bright acidity and minerality. The resulting wine shows inviting aromas of honeysuckle, grilled white peach, and apricot. It’s a blend made primarily of rich Chardonnay, complimented by Rhône and other white varieties that give the wine lift and aromatics. Blindfold is a full-bodied, richly textured wine with The Prisoner’s signature mouthfeel. While we found many wines to admire, we are sure we missed other gems.Blindfold is the white wine interpretation and companion to The Prisoner. We divided our attention between wines and producers we have known previously, producers new to us, and specific bottlings we didn’t already know. Kudos to Rhone Rangers for providing eco-friendly paper spit cups instead of the plastic cups so common at other tastings. We skipped the rosés, not because we don’t love them, but because we didn’t have time. We tasted 30 white wines first, and then we tasted 50 reds. During the tasting, we enthusiastically tasted as many wines as we could within the 5 hours (3 public and 2 trade/media) the event was open. This year, about 138 wineries presented approximately 520 wines. This was the 11th year that the Rhone Rangers, a group of about 200 American producers of wines using 22 varietals traditional to France’s Rhone Valley, have shown off their wines at this public tasting event. Like many lovers of Rhone style wines from America, we have just returned from the 2008 edition of the annual Rhone Rangers tasting event at Fort Mason in San Francisco (March 18). The Rhone Report: About Rhone and Rhone-Style Wines and Winemakers is part of an ongoing series.
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