It’s a blend of Merlot, Chardonnay, and Pinotage that delivers a crunchy, red wine. Notes of small crunchy red fruit - think cranberry, pomegranate, and strawberry - with a hint of salinity. This tart and fresh blend does well with a nice chill before.

Grape(s): 55% Merlot, 25% Chardonnay, 20% Pinotage

Vineyard: Open Hand Ranch is a 10 acre, family-run vineyard and farm planted in the 80s. Surrounded by oak and bay trees and a diverse landscape of native plants, fruit trees and other vegetation, biodiversity, and wholistic farming practices are standard practice.

Method: The Chardonnay and Pinotage were picked at the same time. Half of the Chardonnay and half of the Pinotage went into a stainless tank as uncrushed whole clusters, while the rest of the grapes got direct pressed into that same tank (reverse saignée). Maceration lasted a week, with pumpovers daily. After that, the grapes were pressed into a 5,000L foudre. The Merlot, which was picked a few weeks later, was destemmed and fermented in a stainless tank for 9 days. After fermentation, the Merlot was pressed into the foudre containing the Chardonnay and Pinotage co-ferment for the final blend. As always, no fining, filtration, or addition of SO2.

AVA: Mendocino

ABV: 12.1%

Case Production: 741

Bottling Date: February 2023

Release Date: March 2023

***The 2022 FKA! was released with 4 different color labels. The juice inside each bottle is the same!