Intrinsic Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

This vintage of INTRINSIC has a dried herb and violet nose, complemented by aromas of black cherry. The flavors are layered with tones of dried cherries, pomegranate, and cocoa. The texture is rustic, yet silky, with a unique savory and long finish.

The raw characteristics of INTRINSIC Cabernet Sauvignon pair nicely with grilled meats such as beef, and pork and seared vegetables.

・Most of the fruit was sourced throughout the Columbia Valley, and included a large portion from the low yielding Beverly Vineyard.

・This vineyard soil is almost 100% coarse sand with lots of silica, creating a hot site during the day (yet cool at night).

・Fruit was also sourced from several vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills. This area has a heavier soil of Burbank rocky loam.

• The 2022 season started with an unusually cool and wet spring. We saw below average temperatures from April until July which caused a delay in ripening.

• Our harvest started two weeks later compared to the average vintage. All the moisture in the ground helped develop beautiful canopies with a nice size crop.

• The quality of fruit was outstanding and though we had to harvest select grapes earlier than expected, the wines are very promising, showing nice acidity, and great flavors.

INTRINSIC shows great complexity and raw characteristics since 50% of the grapes stayed on the skins after fermentation for about 9 months.

10% of the wine was fermented in concrete tanks and 50% of the final blend aged in 100% French oak for 13 months.

No new oak was used in aging this wine. The flavors and tannins are a result of the extended skin contact and the added Cabernet Franc.

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.

Our winemaker 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.