First Crush Winery

Pictures of Suison Valley, CA where the grapes are sourced

Frank pouring us a taste of the Star Spangled

My glass of VisZINary

Over weekend I took a long weekend vacation to Cape Cod and stumbled upon the Cape's newest winery! My grandfather recommended we visit the winery, located in Harwich, and see if we could sample some of their wines. I was pleasantly surprised to find such a clean and vibrant winery and meet the Proprietor/Vintner Frank Puzio. He showed us around his winery and then poured samples for us in his tasting room. 

The vision and concept behind First Crush Winery is truly unique for its active winemaking cooperative practice. The video above describes Frank's passion and the winery's atypical co-op system in great detail!

 As you learn from the video, the wines are produced and bottled in Harwich while the grapes are sourced from quality growers/personal friends in California. He explained to us on our tour the grapes are located in Suison Valley, California which border the Napa County boundary closest to the Stag's Leap District. Grapes are taken from both the Hillside and the Valley vineyards to create their high-end blends. Frank along with 300 plus co-op participants crush, ferment, nurture and bottle on-site in their Harwich facility.

The wines are barreled in a modern vat system, which allows Frank to easily manipulate the oak and avoid off barrel flavors and evaporation. First Crush's red wines are aged in new French and Hungarian oak and feature a lower sulfite level than most other wines.

As I was tasting the line up of wines, I felt like I was transported away from the Cape and onto a vineyard in California. I was so impressed with these wines that I knew I needed to carry them in my store. Thank you to Frank for allowing Palumbo Liquors to be the exclusive retailer off the Cape to carry your Fusion, Viszinary and Star Spangled wines!

Off of the Cape we are the exclusive carriers for First Crush.

The 2012 Fusion Cabernet Sauvignon is consistent to a Bordeaux tradition by blending 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 10% Malbec. The Cabernet grapes are picked from the two different sections of the vineyard. The Hillside gives this wine its intense bold flavors while the Valley Vineyard offers a fruit forward to Fusion. As a result, this wine is full-bodied, rich with concentrated flavors of black cherry, plum, currant and spice. The finish is incredibly smooth with balanced tannins influenced by new barrel French oak.

It was a close race but the 2012 VisZINary was my favorite wine of the portfolio. Composed of 75% Primitivo Zinfandel and 25% Petite Syrah this a dark, rich, jammy explosion of black cherry, pepper and spice flavors. Barreled in new barrel Hungarian oak, this wine in full-bodied yet soft on the finish. My mother is not much of a red wine drinker, but she fell in love with this wine! The fruit forward approach with a subtle vanilla finish makes this Zin a fan favorite for all wine drinkers. 

Lastly, the 2013 Star Spangled Sauvignon Blanc was the biggest surprise to my taste buds. I cannot recall tasting another Sauvignon Blanc that I can compare to the Star Spangled wine. While exuding a distinctive crispness and refreshing taste, there is a sweetness and aromatic quality to this 100% Sauvignon Blanc. On the nose there is a sweet bouquet of grapefruit and tropical fruits, particularly guava. The finish is crisp and lingers on the palate when the wine is not overly chilled. 

I cannot say enough good things about First Crush Winery and I urge you to come visit Palumbo Liquors (Medfield location) to try these first-class wines yourself!