wines
inaugural cider
mar 2023
Made from 100% golden russet apples from Iron Root Orchard in Omak, WA. Golden Russet is an heirloom American apple dating back to 1800. A beloved apple, so well-suited for sparkling cider that it was often referred to as the “champagne apple”. A fresh, clean, naturally fermented traditional method cider - the cider to our ciderkin.
Crafting an heirloom cider has been a desire of mine since I began researching organically grown apple varieties in Washington state. Very few growers in Washington focus on heirloom cider varieties since the majority of orchards are planted with popular dessert and fresh eating apples. For our inaugural cider, I was able to purchase exclusively Golden Russet apples, an heirloom American variety that at one point in time was referred to as the “champagne of apples” for its ability to produce sparkling ciders of extremely high quality. Iron Root Orchard was happy to sell some of their Golden Russets to me, and I’m excited to feature fruit grown in such a different climate, expanding our reach into the northernmost part of the state.
Made with a wild fermentation, and a traditional cider method, this is a varietal cider to treat more like a champagne, than a typical american cider. It is complex and savory, perfect for opening up on your rustic french picnic this summer. Or hold onto it for the fall for when the leaves start to turn.
When the apples were harvested at the end of October and brought to the cellar, they remained in the harvest bins outside under tarp for two weeks. In this sweating process, the apples soften up, easing the crushing and pressing process, giving better juice yields. After that, the process for making cider is not much different from winemaking. The apples were milled by hand before pressing, and once pressed, the juice began its natural fermentation pretty quickly, without the need to add any additional yeasts or a pied de cuve. The pressed juice remained in the cold room through primary fermentation and was racked 2 times to help clear up the juice prior to bottling. The Cider was bottled with a small amount of residual sugar in order to create a gentle natural carbonation.
After the apples were pressed for cider the pomace was placed in a stainless fermenter and rehydrated with water. This liquid was soaked overnight before being pressed and then fermented in stainless steel tanks to make the 2021 Ciderkin, a lighter, and lower ABV sibling to this cider.
Iron Root Orchard is a certified organic orchard and nursery situated on a one hundred year old homestead in the foothills of the Okanogan Highlands in north-central Washington. While the bulk of the apples grown there are intended for fresh eating and desserts, they also grow a large number of heirloom cider varieties. Most of the trees in the orchard are not high yield, many are wild uncultivated apple varieties- not even named.
celebrating the perpetual cuvée
dec 2022
Departing from our single ferment ancestral method style pét-nats, this sparkling wine is an ode to solera-style aging - balancing old with new, complexity with freshness. Three vintages of our field blend pét-nat come together to create a truly special wine, just in time to celebrate the new years. Trust us - a 1.5L bottle is still not quite enough (but don't worry, there are 750ml bottles releasing this Spring!)
Inspired by the aging traditions of French Champagne and Spanish sherry producers, the Perpetual Cuvée combines multiple vintages to produce a wine that favors consistency and clarity in style and taste. Beginning in 2019 and again in 2020, we held back a portion of our ancestral method Field Blend– a combination of 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay sourced from Pear Ridge Vineyard in the Columbia Gorge– to begin the process of perpetually blending a wine from year to year with each new harvest.
Continuing with this process will allow us to focus on the uniformity of flavors that Pear Ridge exhibits as a growing site. This style also helps us achieve a dynamic flavor profile closer to wines made in the traditional method that see extended periods of aging. By blending older with newer vintages of the same wine from the same place, we are able to create something that is consistently beautiful and focuses on natural winemaking methods, versus producing a wine that is homogenous by means of alteration.
This first release of the Perpetual Cuvée is a blend of Pear Ridge Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from three vintages: 2019, 2020, and 2021. The base wine from 2019 was blended with actively fermenting wine from the 2020 harvest, spent nearly two years in bottle, and was then disgorged and topped with the 2021 vintage.
While the wine will always be fermented and aged in neutral oak, it spends most of its life in bottle. Each new harvest is blended with the aging base wine in barrel from prior vintages, and each year we reserve a small amount for blending into future harvests. With this method, we are able to continually release the wine, disgorging and labeling as needed, achieving consistency and clarity.
As is typical of wines with extended lees aging, notes of fresh pastry, almond croissants, and sourdough are prominent on the nose, with richer aromas of honeycomb lending depth. On the palate, Anjou pears and crisp green apple skins, with hints of bright Meyer lemon that are balanced by warm toasted almonds and a faint crushed sea shell finish. Because this is such a special wine, we bottles in 1.5L magnums- just in time for your holiday feasts. 750ml bottles to be released April 2023.
limited production estate rosé
oct 2022
This wine has been a long-time in the making. Made with the very first fruit pulled from the Cab Franc and Malbec vines planted at our estate back in 2017, this bottle hits close to home - literally. A beautiful and complex rosé, an homage to Stonemarker, and an inspiration for more pét-nats to come.
In 2017, the same year we transitioned to organic vineyard management, we also planted Cabernet Franc and Malbec at our Estate Vineyard. In 2020, we received Organic certification from the USDA. In 2021, with the young plantings of Malbec and Cab Franc, we wanted to celebrate the vineyard’s transition and youth with a vibrant wine. The end result was a captivating, extremely limited production sparkling rosé, bottled in large format. Co-fermented in stainless steel and neutral oak, the wine was aged on its lees for 10 months in bottle prior to disgorgement. This is a truly special bottling, our first sparkling wine produced from Estate grown fruit.
Fruit notes of pear, strawberry and raspberry, citrus, and melon, with a pleasant crunchy green flavor on the finish akin to rhubarb. Enticing but balanced floral aromas, and a palate that will make you pucker just like a Sweet tart candy would. A lovely match for a lightly spiced, coconut curry or your favorite creamy chicken dishes.
To celebrate this special wine, our team hand harvested the Cabernet Franc and Malbec in August 2021. After pressing the fruit, the juice was settled in a small tank for 2 days before being racked to neutral French Oak barrels for a slow natural fermentation in our barrel
room. The rosé was bottled in magnums and spent 10 months on its lees, before being hand-disgorged in October 2022.
red bubbles
jan 2021
If you haven’t seen red bubbles before (don't worry, you're not alone), this was a logical next step for pétproject.
2020 was my fourth vintage creating pet-nats, so I was excited to try a few new things, one being, sparkling red wine. I was inspired by the many Lambruscos I’ve enjoyed over the years and wanted to make something in that spirit. Lambrusco is often made in the same style as prosecco, using the charmat method, which takes a finished wine through a second fermentation in-tank.
For our new sparkling Syrah, we harvested the grapes early and used whole cluster carbonic maceration for 10 days prior to pressing. With minimal tannin from skin contact, you get that super juicy, fruit profile.
After pressing, the fermenting wine continued its fermentation in stainless steel. Rather than bottling this wine near the end of fermentation and disgorging after a few months, we placed the wine in a pressure tank to finish its primary fermentation. This allowed the wine to self-carbonate. After a settling period we bottled the wine unfined and unfiltered from this same tank using a counter pressure bottler with no additives or SO2 during any stage of the winemaking process. The result is a light, nuanced, fruit-forward sparkling red.
Varietal: Syrah
Vintage: 2020
Vineyard: Conley Vineyard
AVA: Columbia Valley
Farming Practices: Certified Organic
Alcohol: 10%
Yeast: Indigenous
Sulfur: 0
Filter: 0
Fining: 0
Aromatics: funk, raspberry coulis
Palate: cranberry, pomegranate, rye
Format: 750mL
Cases Produced: 55
introducing piquettes
apr 2020
Made from a byproduct of winemaking that typically goes straight into the compost pile, piquettes are a simple and delicious wine-like beverage that give grapes a second life.
A piquette is a wine-like beverage made from pomace (skins, pulp, seeds, and stems) of recently pressed grapes. The pressed grapes are rehydrated with water, allowed to macerate for a time, then pressed again. This liquid is fermented and bottled quickly. The result is a beverage with an alcohol content of 4-9% abv as compared to our pét-nats which are typically between 10-12% abv.
Historically, piquettes intended to be consumed by field workers and a more affordable alternative to wine. Piquettes can be wildly diverse, with no consistent varietal, blend, or firm tradition associated with the style. It is great territory for experimentation! I have often described piquettes to people who have not tried them as being like a hybrid between sour beer and a wine spritzer. Or, what hard seltzer would be like if it were made with the thoughtfulness of craft beer and wine.
Our first piquette, released in 2019, was made from the pressings of Pinot Noir. With 2 days on the pomace this piquette has a bright pink color and cranberry-pomegranate flavor profile. Our 2020 piquette was made from pressings of our Gewurztraminer pet-nat, which had a little carbonic maceration in the fermentation process. The acid level is wonderfully high and the aromatics are off the charts with floral notes and citrus zest.
These wine-like beverages are drinkable beyond belief, and because of their low cost of production and single-serve size, they are a no-brainer for the summer. The perfect refreshing drink to enjoy on the patio while watching the days grows warmer.
