Meza Wine Club: October 2024
Orange Wine Club
Wine 1: Iruai Road Opener
Variety: Savagnin Rose Musque
Chad Hinds started out as a chef, entering the world of work during the great recession of 2008-09. As a diversifying strategy, he started learning more about wine, then quickly aligned his thinking around the connections between natural food and wine. Chad finished a degree in enology before deciding in 2013 to create a winery, which he calls Methode Sauvage (“wild method”), initially focusing on finding a voice for Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc because he loves the grapes of the Loire Valley. As Chad’s interests and capabilities have grown, so has the range of wines he is producing as a sort of wunderkind of natural wines. In true gypsy form, the winery has taken on a new name, which is now the identity of Iruai.
Wine 2: Cirelli Orange
Francesco Cirelli is among the most promising, interesting producers to emerge from Abruzzo in the past few decades, or perhaps ever. All his wines seem to channel his passion for the land and winemaking, and he exemplifies the concept of sustainability. At his organic and biodynamic farm, there are not only vineyards but other forms of agriculture as well as farm animals, surrounded by 23 hectares of land, located only 8 kilometers from the Adriatic Sea. To Cirelli, it is vital to incorporate all aspects of a farm to achieve true sustainability. Crop rotation, natural fertilization, and free-range animal grazing are practiced at the farm, and Cirelli produces olive oil, vegetables, fruit, and meats in addition to its wine. Agricola Cirelli is a certified organic farm.
The Cirelli “Orange” is made from Trebbiano and fermented with indigenous yeast. The grapes are destemmed, then macerated for one month on the skins in stainless steel vats before being softly pressed. After racking, the wine was kept on its fine lees in steel vats for four months. No fining, no filtration.
What we love about this orange wine is its incredible drinkability. This has plenty of fruit and freshness to go along with its structure. The perfect orange wine for an apéro!