{"product_id":"frenchtown-farms-indigeaux-cabernet-sauvignon-merlot-2019","title":"Frenchtown Farms \"Indigeaux\"  2019","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of California's most singular Cabernet vineyards was planted by a doomsday cult. In the 1970s, the Fellowship of Friends carved terraces into a decomposed-granite bowl at Oregon House in the North Yuba AVA, Sierra Foothills, and named the site Renaissance. The vines that survive there today are own-rooted and dry-farmed, climbing terraces to roughly 2,300 feet. Granite drains fast and holds little water, so the vines dig deep and yield small, thick-skinned berries; foothill sunshine ripens them while elevation keeps nights cold enough to preserve acidity. It is Cabernet Sauvignon country unlike anywhere else in the state — mountain fruit with tension built in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIndigeaux is 60 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 40 percent Merlot from Renaissance Vineyard. Aaron and Cara Mockrish hand-destemmed the fruit — no whole clusters here — and ran a maceration of several weeks in small open-top bins with gentle punchdowns, then pressed directly into old French oak. The wine rested on its gross lees for five years with monthly topping before bottling unfined and unfiltered with a 22 ppm sulfur addition. It lands at 13.4 percent alcohol. The 2019 season followed a soaking winter — 30 to 40 more inches of rain than 2018 — and stayed long and cool, delivering ripeness at modest sugars. Red currant, cedar, dried sage, and tobacco leaf run through a firm but settled tannin structure; the Merlot rounds the mid-section, and the finish is savory and dusty in the best mountain-Cabernet sense.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAaron and Cara Mockrish came to Oregon House to farm, not to make wine. A bottle of Clos Saron's Black Pearl redirected them, and they apprenticed with Gideon Beinstock, the longtime Renaissance winemaker turned natural-wine icon, working vineyard and cellar. Their first vintage under the Frenchtown Farms label came in 2015, and shortly afterward they secured blocks of old vines at Renaissance itself. They farm organically, without irrigation, and their winemaking has evolved deliberately — moving toward the patient destemming and long élevage that shaped this bottling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eButterflied leg of lamb rubbed with rosemary, garlic, and anchovy, grilled over coals — the tannin wants char and fat. A ribeye with blistered scallions works the same way. Mushroom ragù over soft polenta picks up the wine's dried-herb and forest-floor side without meat. A hunk of clothbound cheddar handles the structure after dinner. This is a Sierra Foothills Cabernet blend for people who cook slow food on fast weeknights — open it an hour early and let it stretch.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Few \u0026 Far Wine Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51288831590623,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8280220.jpg?v=1787961526","url":"https:\/\/denverwinemerchant.com\/products\/frenchtown-farms-indigeaux-cabernet-sauvignon-merlot-2019","provider":"Denver Wine Merchant","version":"1.0","type":"link"}