Our 2022 vintage of WAVES Red Wine is perfectly juicy and quaffable due to co-fermented Zinfandel juice with Merlot skins. The nose has aromas of black plum, earth, dark cherry and violets. The palate has an unctuous core of black plum and cocoa powder with only the slightest wisp of mouth-coating tannin and a long dry finish. Enjoy frosty cold!

For this wine, we have been trying to capture a deep flavor of black plum but with light weight. To accomplish this, we co-fermented Merlot and Zinfandel; but not in the way you are thinking! We actually pumped Zinfandel juice into a tank of Merlot skins. We call this method “reverse saignée.” It has a lot of advantages over carbonic maceration — most notably a cleaner fermentation that results in a lighter wine that has a ton of the fruit character we love. We did have to fine this wine a little bit making it the only wine we have ever fined. We chose a new type of fining agent that is vegan, made from potato protein and chitosan (aspergillus niger derived) to remove a bit of persistent sticky tannin from the finish. Typically, wineries will use egg whites or gelatin to remove this type of tannin. This wine has been filtered.

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