Budge Brown is a farmer and successful self-made businessman enjoyed 48 years of marriage with his wife Arlene. When she lost her battle with breast cancer in 2005, he was devastated and used this devastation for the good. Budge Brown was determined to do whatever he can to help find a cure for breast caner and set forth. He doesn’t want what happened to his wife to happen to anyone else. “My wife died for no damn good reason. It’s time to do something about this,” stresses Brown.

Budge Brown intends to see that Cleavage Creek makes a difference. 10% percent of the gross dollar amount of this operation is being donated to cutting edge research to fight breast cancer. That’s gross, not net—a huge difference when determining the amount of money that will be contributed (Gross is the profit from the transaction without deduction. Net is the profit from the transaction after deducting cost of goods and cost of the sale i.e. manpower, taxes, rent, etc.). To date, Cleavage Creek and Budge Brown have donated over $72,300 to breast cancer causes. That is over the course of just 5 years while growing this label.
Vineyards:

One of Cleavage Creek's two vineyards is located in the Napa Valley appellation on the back side of Howell Mountain in an area called Pope Valley. This hillside vineyard is approximately 20 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and a new Zinfandel clone. The hillsides are facing north east to greet the morning sun and are cooled by the shadow of the mountain.

Cleavage Creek's second vineyard is the Mt. Oso Vineyard located in the new AVA region, Tracy Hills. The vineyard has approximately 20 acres dedicated to fruit for Cleavage Creek. Following in his dad's farming footsteps, Jeff Brown, Budge and Arlene's youngest son, presides over the growing practices in this vineyard.

The Labels
The Cleavage Creek look is distinctive and significant. The label of each bottle of Cleavage Creek wine features the image of an actual breast cancer survivor whose story is told on the Cleavage Creek website.

2007 Tracy Hills Merlot – Shiraz
What we found: Big nose on this wine, lots of fruit coming through; black cherry, cassis as well as some oak with vanilla. Very pleasant and appealing and made you itching for a taste.

Taste-wise, the wine delivers with a mouthful of dark fruit flavors that persist. The oak is nicely integrated and adds nicely to the overall flavor. The wine has a big fruit-flavor impact at first, but it quickly calms down as other, more subtle flavors come through.

The finish is soft, medium to long and leaves you wanting more. This was definitely one of our favorites. A bottle I would definitely try again.

- Vineyard: Mt. Oso
- Blend: 67% Syrah, 33% Merlot | Only 230 Cases Made.
- Retail: $18.00/bottle - $216.00/case

2007 Tracy Hills – Secret Red
On the nose, this wine practically begs you to take a drink – cherry, black currant, touch of licorice & black pepper and just enough oak to let you know it spent some time in a barrel.

The flavor profile from the aroma comes through as expected on the pallet. In addition, some eucalyptus is present. The wine is just hot enough that it jumps into your sinus with just enough heat to make itself known without becoming overwhelming.

On the finish, the tannins are enough to work well with a juicy steak. Also, at the tail end some chocolate-covered cherry flavor (slight) is there if you wait for it.

- Vineyard: Mt. Oso
- Blend: It’s a secret
- Production: Only 400 Cases Made.
- Retail: $18.00/bottle - $216.00/case
- Aging: predominately stainless steel fermented with an aged oak treatment for a subtle oak expression

Petite Sirah
We found the Petite Sirah tough to coax much info from the nose on this. We definitely found some oak coming through along with some dark fruit and chocolate, but hard to distinguish other aromas.

The Petite Sirah gives a pleasant, well-integrated toasty oak show on the pallet. Tannins are present, but pleasant. Again, the fruit flavors are muted. Leaning toward raisin/plum. There is a lack of complexity to the wine – no layers of different flavors came through over time. It is juicy – but not a “fruit bomb”.

The finish is medium-to-short and leaves the pallet fairly clean. This would make a great wine to share with folks who are just getting into red wines. It is one of the easiest drinking wines I have tasted.

- Vineyard
- Blend
- Production
- Only 320 Cases Made
- $45.00/bottle - $540.00/case

A great line up of wines and one heck of good cause. Personally I can't see a better bottle to take to a party, holiday gathering or give as a gift!

For more information on this great wine and even better charity please visit http://www.cleavagecreek.com. Cheers!

Van Twee - Brewmasters Collaboration with John Mallet

The 2009 collaboration brew was created with John Mallet of Bell's Brewing in Michigan and De Proefbrouwerij in Belgium. Van Twee is a "mash-up" of the porter and dubbel styles blended with sour cherry juice. It provides a rich, dark beer with fluffy tan foam head. Malty layers of chocolate and coffee trade on the palate with sour and dark fruit notes.
Pour: Van Twee pours a dark cola brown color with a moderate amount of haze, but light shinning through gives it a burgundy appearance. A fluffy tan head tops it off nicely. The head will be roughly 1.5” tall and takes its time receding. Sticky strands of lace line the glass.

Nose: It kicks off with a whiff of chocolate. Belgian yeast quickly follows and has a strong presence throughout with a healthy amount of musky, earthy notes. It's rather moderate in terms of strength, and works nicely. Subtle scents of dark fruits and various spices emerge on the tail. Alcohol is blended well.

Taste: There is definitely a nice chocolate flavor. Chocolate malts give it a sturdy base and work extremely well with Belgian yeast. The Belgian yeast is very flavorful. It's musky, funky, and a little sour. There are some light dark fruit notes and spices rounding it out. Alcohol isn't noticeable at all. It finishes funky and a little sour.

Feel: Van Twee felt a little light early on, but has graduated to a medium body with a little warming. I pulled it out of the cellar at 58 degrees and must of chilled it for a little to long. Carbonation is active and slightly showing during the entire glass. Ultimately, the feel is nice and smooth. Drinkability and flavor is good and it isn't too big in terms of abv, it is hidden well.
The chocolate flavor definitely makes it unique. It's very much worth a try if you haven't had the opportunity and enjoy darker Belgium’s.

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