Intrinsic Red Blend 2020
Street art bears an uncanny resemblance to winemaking. For both, the environment affects the final art, resulting in a collaboration between artist and landscape.
| Country | America |
|---|---|
| Region | Washington |
| Appellation | Columbia Valley |
| Winery | Intrinsic |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Color | Red |
| Varietal(s) | 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 48% Malbec |
Street art bears an uncanny resemblance to winemaking. For both, the environment affects the final art, resulting in a collaboration between artist and landscape.
| Country | America |
|---|---|
| Region | Washington |
| Appellation | Columbia Valley |
| Winery | Intrinsic |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Color | Red |
| Varietal(s) | 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 48% Malbec |
| Closure | Natural Cork |
|---|---|
| Volume | 750ml |
| Alcohol | 14.5% |
| Product Code | 1129120 |
| UPC | 0–88586-00921-1 |
Tasting notes
This wine opens with refined notes of raspberry, white tea leaves, a hint of fresh mint and lavender. The flavors are layered with milk chocolate, fig reduction, dark plum and licorice root, and the texture is angular, yet sophisticated, with chocolate ganache details in the finish.
Pairing
This red blend pairs nicely with beef sliders, citrus marinated pork sandwiches, and beef and pork meatballs in a chipotle sauce.
Terroir
The region’s low rainfall and proximity to the Columbia River yields concentrated fruit with depth, and a refined textural composition.
60% of the final blend was sourced from vineyards sprinkled in the heart of the Horse Heaven Hills.
Vintage Notes
The 2020 growing season saw average to warmer-than-average spring and fall temperatures allowing for long hang times, slow ripening and nice flavor development
Lower than average crop yields at harvest time provided high quality fruit with great concentration of flavors.
2020 saw Eastern Washington’s quintessential dry summer with long, warm days and cool nights for optimal flavor development and earlier ripening.
Vinification
INTRINSIC has tremendous complexity because 50% of the grapes stayed on the skins after fermentation for approximately 9 months.
The extended macerated wines were drained off skins at the moment where the tannin structure was optimal.
10% of wine was fermented in concrete tanks then aged in 100% neutral French oak for 13 months.
Winery Description
OVERVIEW
Introduced in 2016, INTRINSIC Wine Co. was inspired by the similarities between street art and winemaking. For both, the artist must work with an unpredictable canvas, blending instinct and experience to craft something vibrant, gutsy and fleeting.
Winemaker Juan Muñoz-Oca used this insight and married it with the incredible quality of tannins in Washington State grapes to push the traditional boundaries of wine in the same way street art pushes boundaries of urban aesthetics. While most red wine grapes stay on the skins during the winemaking process for up to one month, grapes for INTRINSIC’s Cabernet Sauvignon and Red Blend remain on the skins for nine months, resulting in an unexpected silkiness and more layers and depth in the wine. The result is a rustic, yet sophisticated wine.
In 2021, INTRINSIC introduced its first Sauvignon Blanc. Like the red wines that came before it, the team takes a unique approach to the winemaking process. The Sauvignon Blanc was fermented in stainless steel, concrete and clay amphorae, resulting in a balanced wine with racy acidity, and juicy tropical fruit flavors.
INTRINSIC also announced a partnership with GLAAD in 2021. A positive force, GLAAD tackles tough issues to shape the national narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change. The partnership was forged from the deep need to move wine culture forward into a more welcoming and inclusive space. INTRINSIC will continue to support GLAAD to empower and bring visibility to the leading voices of the LGBTQ+ community. Together, we strive to foster inclusivity and accelerate acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community within the wine and beverage industry and beyond.
VINEYARDS
The grapes for INTRINSIC are sourced predominately from renowned vineyard sites throughout the Columbia Valley and Horse Heaven Hills American Viticulture Areas (AVAs) in Washington State. The Columbia Valley and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs have the ideal geography and conditions for growing premium wine grapes. The warm sunny days and cool nights during the growing season create ideal conditions for aroma
Zimer is a New York-based street artist specializing in graffiti art, drawing, architecture, fine art, and tattooing. Starting with sculpture and model building, by age 16 Zimer had adopted graffiti as his expression of choice. He later pursued a degree in Architecture at New York Institute of Technology. As his work evolved, so did the world around him. The graffiti and fine art mix he embraced falls directly into the emerging world of street art, which he has been doing ever since.