Franchere – Cascadia Red

Cascadia is inspired by the fresh, unoaked red blends of the Touraine region of the Loire Valley. Those wines are typically blends of Pinot noir and Gamay and sometimes Côt and C. franc. I have my own spin on this and I don't have an exact recipe. For example, in 2019 I bumped up the proportion of Syrah in the blend, which I figured would make black pepper more prominent – as it indeed does! So this is 84% Pinot noir, 10% Syrah, 4% Grüner veltliner, and 2% Gamay. As always, the grapes are co-fermented (i.e. not fermented separately and blended later) at cool temperatures with 50% whole clusters, then aged 9 months in tank. No additions or subtractions here, other than 30 ppm SO2 before bottling.

12.8% ABV