Intrinsic Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 (750ml)

 

Rated 90 Points by Wine Enthusiast

 

Light aromas of spice and cedar lead to almost creamy feeling blueberry and plum flavors.  It brings an appealing texture, although not immediately identifiable as Cabernet.

 

Intrinsic Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 2018

 

This vintage of Intrinsic has an herbal and floral 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.

 

Blend:  Cabernet Sauvignon and small amount of Cabernet Franc (10%)

 

Street art bears an uncanny resemblance to winemaking.  For both, the environment affects the final art, resulting in a collaboration between artist and landscape.

 

The Wine

 

“The genesis of the wine is our experimentation and our playfulness at the winery,” Oca told Great Northwest Wine.  “I love the fact that we can do experimental, funky, avant-garde winemaking.”

 

In typical winemaking, red wines are produced by crushing the grapes, then leaving the juice and the skins together for a week to 10 days.  This is the standard procedure all over the world.  Oca and his winemaking team at Columbia Crest do this for the millions of cases of wine they produce vintage after vintage.

 

But a few years ago, he began to wonder if they were leaving something behind when they removed the skins from the fermenting juice after a week.  He was curious what might happen if he patiently waited a little longer.

 

Like nine months.

 

It turns out that he was able to give birth to an entirely different kind of wine, one that eschewed the use of new oak.

 

“I’m lucky enough to have friends who make wine in many places around the world,” he said.  “I’ve been lucky to make wine in many places around the world.”

 

Oca grew up in Mendoza, Argentina, and worked in the wine industry there.  He also worked in Spain and Australia before settling down in Washington.

 

“There are many things that are common throughout the world of wine,” he said.  “We all use the same oak.  There are nuances to it: different forests, different cooperages, different toast levels.  But at the end of the day, it’s the same.  You might be making wine in the southern Willamette or the Clare Valley or Mendoza, and all our wines will have the same oak.  But we were wondering if there was something that we could reach out to that could give us some of those nuances without the masking effect of the oak.”

 

Like many wineries, Columbia Crest uses a lot of new oak for its red wines.  But with Intrinsic, it used none.

 

So Oca and his crew took on some experiments.  They put the wine through its normal process of fermentation on the grape skins, then they sealed the stainless steel tank and waited.

 

“The wine was undrinkable for a while, into December and through the holidays,” he said.  “Then in February, it started changing.  Then in March, it turned a corner.  Then it got better and better.  Softer texture, higher intensity of tannin that normally you would get from aging in oak – especially new oak.  It had the beautiful texture and even flowery aromas.  Yet it didn’t have any of the vanilla and toast in it that comes from new oak.”

 

In other words, the wine smoothed out its own tannins naturally.

 

“That’s why we call it Intrinsic,” Oca said.  “As in the intrinsic qualities of the grape and reaching out to the grapes and getting more from them.  It’s really cool in many ways.” 

 

The team experimented for a couple of years, testing theories and realizing it had discovered a technique that should be pursued on a larger scale.  So in 2014, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates took a leap and provided Oca and his crew the space to try the method on a much larger scale.

 

To do this, the winery had to take four large fermentation tanks out of operation for an entire harvest.  Typically, a fermentation tank is used for a week to 10 days, then drained, cleaned and filled again.  It might be used seven or eight times at a winery the size of Columbia Crest.

 

But for Intrinsic, the tanks were used once for the Cabernet Sauvignon and sat there filled until the Fourth of July.  So while the winery saved money on oak, it had to give up tank space to create Intrinsic.

 

While Intrinsic is part of Columbia Crest, it is being treated as its own brand, just as wineries such as 14 Hands, Snoqualmie, Red Diamond and Two Vines are, even though a lot of these wines are made at Columbia Crest.

 

For the inaugural vintage, Ste. Michelle didn’t hold back: It made 30,000 cases.

 

That’s not a lot for Ste. Michelle – which produces two-thirds of the wine in Washington – but it already makes Intrinsic one of the state’s biggest wineries.

 

Intrinsic’s label was created by New York street artist Zimer. (Photo courtesy of Columbia Crest)

 

It’s (Intrinsic) like a passion project.  It’s pretty cool.”

 

What’s also cool is the label, which Oca describes as inspired by street art.  In fact, it was drawn by Brooklyn street artist Zimer (you can see his name included in the artwork if you look closely).

 

Zimer took the energy for his art from what is in the bottle.

 

“My inspiration for the label was the wine itself,” he said.  “The product is deeply rooted in tradition but reimagined for modern taste, a concept I chose to continue.  A woman in a red dress is as timeless and sensual as a glass of wine.  Just as the wine flows through the bottle, the dress will flow along with it.”

 

 

Intrinsic Wine Company

 

Intrinsic Wine Co is a Washington State wine brand.  The brand was created by Juan Muñoz Oca, head wine maker at Columbia Crest, and his team.  Columbia Crest and Intrinsic are both owned by the largest wine company in Washington, Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates.

 

The Cabernet Sauvignon grapes come from different Columbia Crest properties; half came from the Eagle and Plow Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA, and half from the Beverly Vineyard in Columbia Valley – the same vines often used to produce the Columbia Crest Reserve series.  The 2015 vintage introduced a small amount of Cabernet Franc as well, 10 percent, sourced from the Shaw Vineyard – little enough to keep Cabernet Sauvignon on the label.  The wine carries the Columbia Valley designation.

 

The Intrinsic label, a distinctive feature of the brand and its marketing, was designed by the Brooklyn-based street artist Zimer. 

 

Known only as ZIMER, the elusive Brooklyn street artist lent his artistry to our label using a technique called Wild Style.  Like the urban art that inspired it, INTRINSIC is a reminder that art born in the city is meant to be shared.

 

 

Rated 90 Points by Wine Enthusiast

 

Light aromas of spice and cedar lead to almost creamy feeling blueberry and plum flavors.  It brings an appealing texture, although not immediately identifiable as Cabernet.