Iruai Shasta-Cascade White Wine 2024

Inspired by the white wines of the Jura and Savoie regions of the French Alps, this blend of high elevation sites from the Shasta-Cascade regions of the Trinity Alps and Oregon’s Siskiyou Wilderness. Aromas of dried flowers and brush are framed by electric acidity, almond and citrus -- imagine dropping a Ricola (or a shot of Chartreuse) into a margarita and setting off in a canoe. Taste the Alps!

30% Savagnin, 20% Chardonnay, 20% Chenin Blanc, 20% Savagnin Rose Musqué and 10% Grüner Veltliner from Trinity Lakes (CA), and Rogue Valley and Applegate Valley (OR). 500 cases produced.

Iruai (pronounced “eer-oo-eye”) is a boundary-pushing nomadic natural wine project from Chad and Michelle Westbrook Hinds, based in the mystical Shasta-Cascade mountains in the Siskiyou wilderness of far northern California. Their wines blend Alpine grape varieties, wild terroir and natural winemaking in a style they jokingly call “Californian Alpine.”

They seek to make wine with a sense of place by employing no additives and removing no character. Their goal in the vineyard is to let the vines thrive like they would in the wild, and in the cellar, to shepherd each ferment through its own natural development and evolution.