85% Cabernet franc, 15% Malbec; Idiot’s Grace Vineyard in Mosier, Oregon; planted 2015; Columbia Gorge AVA; 104 cases produced; grown volcanic ash and loess over old flood deposits; brought up in steel and veteran barrels; ABV 14%.
This bottling is produced from an old-fashioned block we planted here in 2015, designed such that the vines would require no irrigation. We admire their thrift and appreciate their resilience in this arid place, but we’re also interested in the story they might tell, having had to provide for themselves in this soil. The vines are trained as tiny trees, each supported by a single juniper post without trellis wires. The lollipop shape of the mature vines provides helpful shading for the ripening fruit in our warm, eastern Gorge location, though the vagaries of each vintage leave their mark. This planting is younger than our main Cabernet franc vineyard, and there is a subversive bit of Malbec in the blend (from our two-and-a-half rows).
