2023 Hiyu Tzum “Spring Ephemeral Solais” Hiyu Farm, Oregon

Winemakers note: The Spring Ephemeral wines are anti-riservas and are bottled early to capture the narrow window where the fruit and flower aspects of each wine are at their apogee. The wines are also at their most fresh and energetic making them the perfect accompaniment to the food in the approach to summer. This latest release of riu is everything we hope for in such a bottling. This is the easternmost parcel at our site in the desert on the banks of the river. Its adjacent to ine, and like that wine is planted with all the traditional grapes from Chteauneuf-du-Pape, but with an emphasis on Grenache. The vines are younger here and the soil is slightly more fertile. We always pick, press and bottle this wine at earlier moments in its evolution than ine and while it may lack the resonance of that wine it more than makes up for it with charm.

Grapes: all the traditional grapes from Chteauneuf-du-Pape with an emphasis on Grenache

Vineyard: Scorched Earth the same site as Fionn, but flatter part with deeper black sand volcanic soil. Planted in the late-nineties at the edge of a rocky, desert pasture.

Making of: the grapes were hand-harvested, left alone as whole clusters, natural fermentation. The wine was aged on the lees until spring in older barrels before being bottled by hand. Unfined, unfiltered.

Personality: Eating from a Tajine of Apricot, Goat and Cumin, sitting in a tent at nightfall, the sounds of the oude sooth from distant sands. In pale transition between pink and orange, tasting like warm strawberries, thyme flowers, thistle honey and orange peel. The first wine we have bottled from 2021 and shows vintages characteristics of a gushing torrent of fruit, spice and flowers that miraculously retains freshness and precision. As one of the most hedonistic wines we have ever bottled, it will not last long, Nate says.