Iruai "Psychic Terroir" Red Wine 2023

Light, fresh and chillable, with notes of mountain rose & geranium, blackberry juice, tomato leaf and black peppercorn.

"Psychic Terroir" is a unique exploration from Rogue Valley, Oregon, drawing from the expansive and varied terroirs of areas like Mendocino, Lake County, and beyond. This distinctive wine reflects the essence of California's northern viticultural frontier and the Rogue Valley in Oregon, capturing the spirit of the region through an avant-garde blend of varietals.

Winemaker Chad Hinds explains that 'Psychic Terroir' is a prototype of Proustian exploration in the medium of wine: "Think of it as the right brained side of terroir (intuitive, emotional, creative), to the more traditionally referenced left brained side of terroir (analytical, logical, scientific). 'Psychic Terroir' is about all the things that give a wine a sense of place that have nothing to do with soil types, climate, elevation, but rather more esoteric avenues of understanding. How does a wine make you feel? What genre of music would pair with this wine? Can drinking wine transport you to another place or time?"

"Psychic Terroir" is a whole cluster blend of 30% Muscat, 20% Syrah, 20% Cab Franc, 15% Grenache and 15% Gamay from various spots around the Rogue Valley. 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.