Macanudo and Flint Knoll Winery Reunite for Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll No. 2

General Cigar Co.’s Macanudo brand has once again teamed up with Napa Valley’s Flint Knoll Winery for a cigar that uses tobacco aged in wine barrels to create what the company describes as a one-of-a-kind smoking experience.

The same blend used for the debut release returns, meaning a shade-grown Connecticut-seed wrapper from Ecuador, and then a Connecticut broadleaf binder that underwent a barrel aging process using the French oak barrels used to create Flint Knoll’s 2019 Royal Appointment Cabernet Sauvignon. The blend is rounded out by a filler that includes Brazilian mata fina, Dominican olor, an undisclosed varietal from Nicaragua’s Jalapa region, and Dominican piloto cubano.

In a press release, General Cigar Co. said that the 2019 growing season in Napa Valley saw optimal conditions, which resulted in “a complex, fruit-forward wine with intriguing spice,” adding that “those notes left their mark on the French Oak barrels which in turn influenced the tobacco through a proprietary aging process.”

The first version of the Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll, which came out in October 2022, used barrels for the 2018 release of the Royal Appointment Cabernet Sauvignon.

“By aging the binder leaf in our French Oak barrels, the complexity and spice of our 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon comes to life in a distinctive new smoking experience that’s spicier than the original release,” said Aaron Michaelis, proprietor of Flint Knoll Winery. “Those who enjoy Macanudo Estate Reserve No. 2 should expect a cigar with notes of creamy vanilla, toasted almonds, dark currants and cedar.”

The Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll No. 2 is being offered in two sizes:

• Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll No. 2 Toro (6 x 54) — $19.99 (Box of 10, $199.90)
• Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll No. 2 Churchill (7 x 52) — $21.99 (Box of 10, $219.90)

“Together with Jhonys Diaz, Yuri Guillen and our blend development team at General Cigar Dominicana, we created a new method of aging binder leaf in wine barrels for Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll,” said Justin Andrews, new business development manager for Scandinavian Tobacco Group, in a press release. “It was a time and labor-intensive process, one that had us test binder varietals and aging durations. We ultimately achieved the complexity and nuances we were looking for in the smoking experience.”

The cigars are scheduled to ship to stores on Oct. 2. The company has not announced how many cigars are being released for this release.

Images courtesy of Scandinavian Tobacco Group/General Cigar Co.