We’ve all had to make some pivots this year. By this point, you’re basically an NBA level pivot-er. You’re staying at home to work, or masking up and distancing and sanitizing to continue to work. You’re supervising remote learning (to whatever extent that’s even possible,) changing how you do business, socialization, holidays, birthdays, get-aways, and pretty much everything else to try to make the best of a frankly awful situation. It’s been...a lot. 

This month’s wine club is both a kudos to us all- who’ve proven adaptable and flexible and resilient in the face of tremendous difficulty- and a celebration of the ways that winemakers have “pivoted” when things just don’t go right to create stunning wines we love, borne from major set-backs and unpredictable disasters. Cheers to us, cheers to them, let’s open some bottles and celebrate a year’s worth of pivoting. 

Day Wines “Lemonade” Chehalem Mountains, Oregon

2020 really hit Oregon with a double-whammy. As if dealing with the pandemic wasn’t enough of a challenge, when wildfires tore through 1.07 million acres in the state, winemakers questioned their very ability to make ANY wine from the cursed vintage. But where there’s smoke, there’s still pinot noir- and Brienne Day’s dedication to her growers at woman-owned Finnegan Hill and Nemarniki vineyards saw her determined to not back out and instead find a way to support their efforts and release a delicious wine from their fruit. Enter: lemonade. When full-skin contact red pinot noir went out the door due to smoke taint, Brienne decided to get the juice off the skins asap- resulting in a baby pink, fresh, light, delicious rose. Aptly named, for when life gives you lemons (i.e. a truly terrible year)...you make Lemonade. 

Onward Wines “Nouveau” Zinfandel, Hawkeye Ranch, California 

Faith Armstrong Foster, of the fabulous Farmstrong and Onward Wines, has proven once again that in the face of great challenges, creative and talented winemakers always find a way to encourage beauty. A plethora of issues led to the decision to attempt a completely new style of wine with a grape she had heretofore always slated for big, full-bodied, well-aged reds; Hawkeye Ranch-grown Zinfandel. Deciding on the fly to instead use the fruit in a whole-cluster fermentation method (like what we see in Beaujolais) to create a light-bodied red with fragrant aromatics, Faith felt that the wine itself was a reflection of the needs of the year. We need exuberance, we need freedom, and we need joy. Her “nouveau” represents all of the above, and is a “rebirth” of sorts out of the chaos of 2020. (Chaos which included a huge shipment of her wine---all her 2018 reds-- being spilled on the highway due to a trucking accident...just what she needed, right?) She also took the opportunity to team up with artist Dara Weyna to create the multichromatic, southwest-by-way-of-Georgia O’Keefe-esque trippy and gorgeous label on the bottle. We think this is some of her best wine to date. Chill it down and feel the joy flow through you. 

RAW Wine Selections this month focus on Faith Armstrong Foster, echoing the sentiments shared above with our Crush club picks. This year, in its tremendous sadness and set-backs, has also created opportunities to explore, grow, and learn the depths of our determination. Faith, a woman-winemaker from Canada who trained extensively at UC Davis and among top winemakers in California before starting her own label, is a long friend of the shop and a champion of everything Cork represents. Unpretentious, legit, gritty, and feminine in all the ways that help make truly delicious wine- Faith has wine made with real people in mind. We acknowledge how hard Covid-19 has been for all winemakers---and are amazed by how they’ve continued to hold down the fort and present incredible products. We’re dipping into the Onward catalogue to demo how and why when it all comes down to it---you’ve just gotta have Faith. 

Onward Pinot Noir ‘Hawkeye Ranch’

     This Pinot Noir is all about gentle finessing of a notoriously fussy little grape. Harvested at Hawkeye Ranch in the Redwood Valley- an area which sees 50 degree swings between day and night, these grapes retain their acidity and aromatic qualities while ripening to a full juicy sweetness. Fermented with native yeast after a period of cold-soaking and gentle extraction, this wine is then partially aged in 20% new French oak barrels and the rest neutral oak, where malolactic fermentation and lees stirring encouraged soft, mouth-filling texture to develop. We’re offering you a look at how the 2015 pinot noir has aged in the bottle; we think it’s drinking fantastically right now. It’s delicate enough to offer with a plate of soft cheeses, and robust enough for a night of big, juicy steaks on the grill---versatile, and always welcome. 

Onward Rosé of Pinot Noir ‘Hawkeye Ranch’

Fast-forward to 2020, and there’s another way pinot noir can show its many colors---as a pitch-perfect rosé. Wines that are quickly able to be released by the winery can be vital, a flowing source of income to allow farmers to stay closer to the black and let their age-worthy wines sit for a while and get really, really delicious. But just because rosé is a good way to move wine out the door doesn’t mean it gets to be lazy. Faith’s Onward Pinot is a gently-pressed, 8-hour macerated, cool-fermented and French-oak aged masterclass in complex, dry, and sophisticated pink wine. Bursting with white strawberry and melon notes, balanced on a weighty but refreshing palate, this is a rosé to save and savor.