to the trees.
release 28. july 2024.
to the trees.
release 28, july 2024.
Of all the myths surrounding wine, there’s few worse than the idea that you have to be sitting at a starched white tablecloth dinner with a handblown glass in order to enjoy wine “properly.” Wine has been a part of human culture for more than 10,000 years. The trappings and rules around the enjoyment of wine are much more recent inventions.
For this release, we’re going to the trees, and jogging our collective memory that wine is meant to be enjoyed outdoors just as much as in. We created this collection inspired by Treehouse Point, right down the street from our home in Fall City. Treehouse Point is run by the Nelson Family. You may have seen Pete on their Animal Planet show, Treehouse Masters, building custom treehouses and dishing out wisdom. Treehouse Point is one of the few places in the world you can stay overnight in a luxury treehouse! We’ve picked the wines in this release as if we were taking them for an overnight stay in a treehouse or by a campfire, for the ultimate in outdoor luxury glamping-gulping.
But you don’t have to be in a treehouse to enjoy this release–drink it in a tent, on a boat, waist-deep in a river, or on your back deck in the sunshine. Just take that wine outside!
Odinstal 'Nakt' Silvaner 2020
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Color: platinum with straw highlights
Grapes: 100% Silvaner
ABV: 11%
Region: Pfalz, Germany
Winemaker: Andreas Schumann
Viniculture: biodynamic, regenerative farming as part of a complete farm system
Winemaking: fermentation with wild yeasts, aging on lees in a combination of clay amphoras and used 225 liter barriques, no sulfur added, no fining or filtration.
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“hay, dandelion, and fresh rain”
Jackson’s Notes: Silvaner continues to blow my mind–here’s a grape that’s historically played second fiddle to Riesling, yet is producing some of the most interesting dry whites in the world right now. How to describe it? Think Grüner Veltliner, but instead of the green vegetal notes, replace them with more stone, flint and smoke.
The Odinstal estate is a more recently founded winery in the Pfalz, where many properties go back hundreds of years. Although it’s situated on an centuries-old wine farm and manor house, this label only started in 2004. The goal of Odinstal owners Thomas and Ute Hensel is to create an estate that is harmonious with its surroundings, and in doing so create wines that reflect their origin. The Pfalz is a great source for a more dry, powerful style of white wine–although sweet styles are made here, this region is really a continuation of Alsace to the south, where just like the Pfalz, most wines are vinified dry due to abundant sunshine.
This Silvaner greets your nose with a wild mixture of fruit, herbal and earthy notes–there’s no mistaking that this is a natural wine, produced with a total lack of chemical intervention. Golden raspberry, hay, dandelion, and fresh rain intermingle with peach and orange peel on your palate. A finish with a touch of almond bitterness leaves your palate refreshed and wanting another sip.
Food Pairings: Bahn Mi with lemongrass grilled pork and pickled veggies by Gregory Gourdet from “Everyone’s Table”
Music: “A Summer’s Night” by Vijay Strickland
Music Pairing: feels like the right vibe for some outdoor wine imbibing on a warm evening.
Maryam + Company 'Massican' White Blend 2023
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Color: perfume
Grapes: Louriero 90%, Falanghina 5%, Cortese 5%
ABV: 11.5%
Region: Napa Valley, CA
Winemaker: Dan Petroski + Maryam Ahmed
Viniculture: organically farmed vineyards
Winemaking: (direct from Dan Petroski): “barrel fermented in neutral french oak with no temperature control. Native yeast fermentation. Slight addition of sulfur after fermentation finished. No fining, but gently filtered for clarity and stability.”
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“like eating a basket of fruit on a sunny day at the beach.”
Jackson’s Notes:
Maryam Ahmed and I have known each other for a few years now, and had the opportunity to sit on several panels together (usually with Maryam moderating the conversation). She’s a talented sommelier and wine expert, and now making wine with the likes of Dan Petroski at Massican, another friend of Fruit and winemaker extraordinaire.
Maryam’s impact on the wine industry at large is huge. As a prominent voice for inclusion and equity across our field, she consults at a high level for some of the most powerful brands in the industry. Wine has long been a space that hasn’t done a great job with inclusiveness. It’s voices like Maryam’s that are helping turn the stodgy world of wine into a more welcoming place for people of all backgrounds.
When I heard that Maryam and Dan made a wine together, I was super stoked, and we instantly wanted to find a way to include it in a Crunchy Red Fruit release. This wine, like all of Dan’s projects at Massican, is a blend of non-traditional varieties grown in Napa Valley, which is mostly planted to traditional French grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Massican’s Italian white blends do well, and I think this Portuguese-Italian white blend is phenomenal!
Loureiro is one of the classic white grapes of Portugal, ending up most often in Vinho Verde and white Port. It’s pulling major weight here and bringing salty, lemony, bright citrus notes as well as a lovely floral quality on the nose. Zingy and lush, it’s like eating a basket of fruit on a sunny day at the beach.
Food Pairing: Grilled Corn with sambar sesame butter by Molly Baz from “Cook this Book”
Music: “Lilac Moon” by Paco Versailles
Description: this is just one selection out of Maryam’s entire playlist for this wine. And as a big appreciator of Paco Versailles myself, these guys’ music just hits different with a great glass of wine in your hand. Nice pick, Maryam!
Echeverria “Pet Nat Wild” Chardonnay
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Color: pastel yellow polo shirt
Grape: 100% Chardonnay
ABV: 13%
Region: Curicó Valley, Chile
Winemaker: Roberto Echeverria jr.
Viniculture: Organically-farmed old vines (prephylloxera roots) in Maule and Curicó Valley
Winemaking: fermented with wild yeasts, unfiltered, finished with a very slight residual sugar (but tastes dry)
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“They’ve taken Chardonnay and created a monster out of it, in the best way possible.”
Jackson’s Notes:
What is this devilry? How can a Chardonnay taste like this? This wine has caused us to ask as many questions as we’ve made declarations.
It’s amazing to see a big, traditional winery do the hard work of reinvention and innovation. The Echeverria family has been farming grapes in Chile since the 1750s, and working as a large production winery since 1992. Like Chile’s wine industry, they first hung their hat on estate-grown, varietally-correct reds and whites in the Bordeaux model. Their traditional line is quality and clean, but this wine is an absolute departure from that way of thinking.
They’ve taken Chardonnay and created a monster out of it, in the best way possible. This “Wild” pétillant-natural showcases freshness, beauty and balance. Cloudy like a wheat beer, slightly tart like a kombucha, but not showing any wine faults. This is a case study in natural wine that pushes the envelope without ripping the envelope up.
This wine is running through a field of dried-out wildflowers on a hot day. It’s the refreshment you get from the post-hike reward beer. It’s marzipan and dandelions and desert wind and pissed-off neighbors yelling at your late night firepit laughter with your best friends in the world.
Food Pairing: Grilled fennel farro-orange salad by Marcus Samuelsson
Music: “2016 CAVALIERS (Ohio)” by Bilmuri feat. Knox
Description: oh, I know this is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But neither is this wine. But for this suburban kid raised on pop-punk, hearing it so expertly remixed with country drawl, EDM drops and sax solos is like aural candy. As silly and unserious as this wine is, this song (and Bilmuri’s whole output) imo is the perfect self-parodying, lackadaisical foil. Pair it with the next song on the album, ALL GAS (feat. Mitchell Tenpenny) too.
Sage Rat “Roza” Graciano Rosé 2023
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Color: pale fuchsia!
Grapes: 100% Graciano
ABV: 12.9%
Region: Naches Heights, WA
Winemaker: Dusty Jenkins
Viniculture: Strand Vineyard is certified sustainably farmed
Winemaking: after a 36-hour cold soak, this wine is fermented with natural yeast and macerated for an extended period to extract a deeper color before being bled off the skins to continue fermentation
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“This is like fruit punch in vinous form”
Jackson’s Notes:
We knew we had to put a juicy, perfectly chillable rosé/red into this release. You know this about Crunchy Red Fruit–that these wines are part of our genetic makeup, and part of why we started this club to begin with. We want to share utter deliciousness with you, and when the weather gets hot a super-light red/dark rosé is one of the greatest things to sip on!
This marks the second time one of Dusty Jenkins’ Sagerat wines has made it into a Crunchy Red Fruit box. Incidentally we put a wine of his that was this same shade of ruby red into last July’s release! That was Watermelon Cat, a collaboration with Sonder, but this wine is a Sagerat exclusive. We tried a few other light reds, but this one took the cake for deliciousness and balance.
This is made from Graciano, a Spanish grape that’s been making some pretty incredible wines here in Washington state. It likes a hot, arid climate and we happen to have just that! Graciano usually adds color and spice to Rioja, but here it’s showing how delicious it can be when bottled on its own.
Sagerat Roza is a basket of ripe, fresh-picked red fruit: raspberries, strawberries, and cherries. A bit of desert dust, dried flowers and Pineapple Sage dance around on the nose, inviting you in for a sip, and what a sip it is! This is like fruit punch in vinous form, and gives lovely freshness on the attack and the finish. Pair with hot weather.
Food Pairing: Lamb kofta kebab with seasoned pita and “zippy salad by Matty Matheson
Music: “Lay Back” by Sea Glass and Sky Alder
Description: I envision the drinker of this wine sipping it on a boat, a deck, or a beach. So this music is also for that particular occasion.
Cantina Monroe “NEROpiana” Barbera 2021
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Color: purpley-red with a hint of brick
Grapes: 100% Camaiola, aka “Barbera del Sannio”
ABV: 13.5%
Region: Benevento, Campania, Italy
Winemaker: Giovanni & Eleonora Morone
Viniculture: Certified Organic farming–old vines throughout the province of Benevento (inland from Naples)
Winemaking: fermentation with wild yeast. 20 days of maceration in stainless steel, aging for 6 months in used barrels, not fined or filtered.
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“It sticks to your palate like a bite into a ripe plum”
Jackson’s Notes:
Since this release is all about camping and treehouses–being in the woods while the weather is nice–we needed a perfect campfire red. We held wine playoffs for juicy reds with some nice smoky notes, and several contenders entered the arena. This “Barbera” was the wine that left victorious, the corks and glass of its opponents shattered in the dust.
Barbera from southern Italy? It seemed weird to us at first, too. It turns out that Barbera del Sannio is a synonym for this interesting local grape which grows in the Benevento province inland from Naples. Camaiola is now the proper name for this grape, and certainly less confusing than calling it Barbera, which it’s not genetically related to.
This Camaiola is made by the Morone family at their small cantina in the hills of inland Campania. This is a highly volcanic region, near the Vulture and Vesuvius volcanoes, and there’s hot springs, seismic activity and lots of black volcanic soil to grow wine grapes on. Volcanic soil tends to enhance wine’s grippiness and texture, as well as providing a smoky undercurrent in the finished product. You’ll find all of the above in this wine.
Cantina Morone’s NEROpiana leads with a bowlful of juicy, ripe black cherry fruit, framed by dried herbs and charred olive wood. It sticks to your palate like a bite into a ripe plum, and is the perfect wine to drink by a roaring campfire.
Food Pairing: Grilled ribeye Korean BBQ and banchan by Gregory Gourdet from “Everyone’s Table”
Music: “Vicious Circle” by Calalloo
Description: I’m hoping you drink this one by a campfire, and listen to this song while you do. I’ve already played it during a couple firepits, and it just works.
UpsideDown x fruit “Stoney Florals” Grenache 2023
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Color: dusty, pale fire engine red
Grapes: 100% Grenache
ABV: 13.5%
Region: Equus Vineyard, Yakima Valley, WA
Winemaker: Seth and Audrey Kitzke
Viniculture: Sustainably-grown grapes grown at 1400 ft above sea level in the Equus Vineyard
Winemaking: wild yeast. Whole cluster-fermentation. Only neutral barrels, no new oak.
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“Is it possible for a wine to taste like warm weather and good memories? I think so.”
Jackson’s Notes: We’ve got another private label wine to share with you. This is the first one that we’ve seen through all the way from barrel to bottle. We tasted samples of this wine not long after it finished fermenting last fall. This is the culmination of more than a year of work, mostly by our friend Seth Kitzke, the winemaker at UpsideDown.
Seth and Audrey Kitzke are people near and dear to our hearts. Their wines have been carried by Crunchy Red Fruit since the early days. Their philosophy is meaningful to us, and resonates with what our industry needs. There’s so few people able to run small wineries with the level of intention and love that they do, and we’re grateful for their work.
This is the third time we’ve featured an UpsideDown wine in the club. This time, it’s a private label just for Fruit, adapted by Peyton, our in-house DesignJedi™ and all-around aesthetic life coach. Seth and Audrey and Mark and I tasted a barrel selection of Stoney Florals Grenache, one of our favorite wines of theirs, until we found the barrels we loved most. That’s the wine you’re holding. This is now part of a series of Fruit private labels. There are definitely more that are already in barrel or bottle, waiting for you to hold them, open them and enjoy them.
We wanted this wine to encapsulate the soul of a grape–to enter the conversation around great Grenache. Châteauneuf is part of this conversation. Madrid Garnacha is part of this too. And increasingly, Washington is putting its mark on the world of elegant and balanced Grenache. This wine is just the newest entry in the pantheon.
This Stoney Florals is a pure and beautiful expression of the Grenache grape. When we’re looking for Grenache, especially one for a private label, we want the classic markers. Strawberry, white pepper, rosemary, orange peel, lavender. Sagebrush, desert dush, and river rock. Is it possible for a wine to taste like warm weather and good memories? I think so.
Food Pairing: Grilled Fat Tire beer brats with sauerkraut, brown mustard and caramelized onions by Kristen Dawn
Music: “Turn Me On” by The Shivas
Description: dusty, smoky, lush–this wine is a mood, and we needed to have a song that felt like walking through the desert at night. So here it is.