The Crane Assembly is an artisanal producer making luxury cuvées from an eight-acre vineyard in southern St. Helena. One of the partners behind The Crane Assembly is Dave Phinney, who founded Orin Swift Cellars in 1998 and is now an international winemaking star. Phinney is the winemaker who made the wildly successful Zinfandel blend called The Prisoner, and he continues to produce moderately-priced, flamboyantly named wines from California, Europe and South America under his Orin Swift label. The Crane Assembly vineyard is thought to have been originally planted in 1885 by George Beldon Crane, making it one of the oldest vineyards in Napa Valley. Crane’s original plantings are still being farmed on four of the acres, and the partners behind The Crane Assembly note that those acres have been in continuous production for well over a century. Besides Phinney, The Crane Assembly’s partners are Darryl Browman, Bryan D. Sandoli and Kevin Fox. The Crane Assembly so far makes two Cabernet Sauvignons. The wines are generally available only through a mailing list.