Red Blend, 2018. Masked Rider

Our selection was fashioned by the Bronco Wine Company, founded by Italian immigrants in 1920. At the helm was the family's matriarch, Theresa Franzia. She did the only thing she knew how to do in her native Italy, grow grapes and make wine. The wine was not as popular here as it was in Italy. Hence, she planted grapes in the Central Valley of California with the sole purpose of supplying other Italian immigrants on the East Coast who had no access to grapes for homemade wine, which was almost a rite of passage in Italy.

The rest of the family joined in and while Prohibition was the devil incarnate to established wineries a few years later, the law did allow private citizens to make up to 200 gallons of their own wine. This amounts to 87 cases per year, a rather sizable sum. The number of home winemakers during Prohibition grew exponentially since they couldn't legally buy it in the stores. This, of course, was a boon to the Franzia's and as a result, they prospered while the other arms of the liquor business scrambled. By the end of Prohibition in 1933, they were listed as one of the few survivors and became the 7th largest winery in the United States.

Their vast holdings allow them to create wines of extraordinary value as our selection will attest. It provides all the excitement we expect from a Cabernet base wine with power and glory to spare.From the wild currant and black cherry to the soft finish, it's a winner.

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