The story of Crayon Rouge begins around the turn of the century when the Calistoga Joint Unified School District bought the Gallis Vineyard off of Highway 29 and between Money Lane. Vince Arroyo of Vince Arroyo Winery had driven by this property for many years. He noticed the vines needed some TLC. When he heard the School District had bought the property he called Jeff Johnson, then the Superintendent. The two gentlemen talked about the property needing some attention. Jeff then called Sam Turner of T & M Agricultural Services who agreed to clean up and take care of the vineyard. The three gentlemen created and carried out the idea of making wine from the grapes of this vineyard, bottling the wine, and selling it to benefit the students of Calistoga schools.
The Calistoga High School Art Department held a contest for the students to design a label for this wine. Bernardo Nobrega, an exchange student from Argentina, won the contest. He is currently studying graphic design at a University in Argentina. Bernardo and Jeff met with Vince Arroyo and toured the winery. This label has remained the same but changes color with each new vintage. Herdell Printing Co. of St. Helena has printed these labels.
Sam Turner’s company took care of the Gallis Vineyard. In 2002 they harvested the grapes and brought them to the Vince Arroyo Winery. Vince Arroyo and his winery people would then crush the grapes, barrel and age the wine for 22 months. Vince would then bottle, label and then store the cases of wine at his winery. The company which provided the bottling services is Ryan McGee Bottling from Napa. Vince Arroyo Winery bought & donated the bottles, foils, corks & barrels. Vince Arroyo & his Winery spent a lot of time & love throughout this whole process.
The first vintage of Crayon Rouge was 2004. We have had vintages 2005 and 2006. Our current vintage is 2007, which was just bottled this past August. In 2008 the grapes were lost to frost.
The CEF has sold barrels (futures) of this wine at various CEF Auctions. Vince Arroyo would store the barrels and then bottle the wine for the people who bought these futures. Vince Arroyo would invite these people over for the day and they would help bottle their wine, using the Crayon Rouge label. This would often lead to a BBQ at the Winery at the end of the day where fun would be had by all.
The Gallis Vineyard yields approximately 4 to 5 barrels; a barrel yields approximately 25 cases. The CEF is selling Crayon Rouge for $120.00 a case. If you are interested in buying a case, please call Connie Johnson, Pres. of CEF, at 942-9101. We thank you for your patronage.