In 2022, General Cigar Co. partnered with Flint Knoll Wines, a Napa winery, to produce cigars that featured tobaccos aged in spent wine barrels. The first cigar was the Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll Toro. A year later, the company released the Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll No. 2.
Now, the Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll No. 3, a 7 x 52 Churchill, is preparing to ship.
All three cigars have used the same basic blend: an Ecuadorian Connecticut-seed wrapper over a Connecticut broadleaf binder and Brazilian mata fina, Dominican piloto cubano and olor, and Nicaraguan Jalapa fillers. The differences have been the vitola and the wine used. For Estate Reserve No. 3, the company aged the binder in barrels that produced Flint Knoll Royal Appointment Cabernet Sauvignon 2021.
Each cigar has an MSRP of $19.99 per cigar and production is limited to 1,300 boxes of 10 cigars. General Cigar Co. says it will ship to stores on Oct. 10.
Note: The following shows the various Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll vitolas. Some of these cigars may have been released after this post was originally published. The list was last updated on Feb. 12, 2023.
- Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll Toro (6 x 54) — $19.99 (Box of 10, $199.90)
- Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll Churchill (7 x 52) — $21.99 (Box of 10, $219.90)
- Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll No. 3 (7 x 52) — $19.90 (Box of 10, $19.99)*
*Not pictured.
While both the Estate Reserve No. 2 and 3 are 7 x 52 Churchill, the two cigars have a different color scheme for their bands.
“2021 was a special year for Napa Valley wine,” said Aaron Michaelis, founder of Flint Knoll Winery, in a press release. “A lack of rain and lower temperatures brought us an ultra-rare vintage, and you can taste the subtleties in the tobaccos aged in the same barrels.”
I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.