Welcome to the CAST Creative Lab
We at CAST Wines have had some extra time over the past months and our creative juices (literally) have gone wild. We’ve used the time to explore new grape varietals and new forms of winemaking, the things you always wished you had the time to do. The result: four totally new wines that are completely out of the box for us. Each is just a barrel or so, only about 25 cases, so these will be limited in release to just within our membership – for the curious and adventurous among you!
We’d like to invite you to embark on this new adventure with us and try out these wines. Think of this as a special “club within a club”, what we are referring to as the “CAST Creative Lab”. We’ll be releasing a wine per month over the next four months, and are already thinking about new wines to add next year…
THE FIRST RELEASE
First up is a wine we call “go your way”, our take on a Grenache Nouveau. It’s sourced from a small vineyard and made in a completely unique manner to produce a dynamite example of a fresh and zesty red wine. The vineyard, just two acres, is biodynamically farmed from vines supplied by legendary grower Randall Grahm, the original “Rhone Ranger.” We brought the fruit in and made the wine using the carbonic maceration process whereby the entire grape cluster is put into a stainless tank and sealed under a blanket of carbon dioxide. There, a unique type of enzymatic fermentation begins within the grapes themselves. This extracts delicate fruit and floral aromatics and flavors. The tank is opened and treaded by foot every day as native yeasts finish the job. The wine is bottled early with just a little of the natural CO2 and acidity to make it literally mouthwatering! This process captured the earthy quality and funkiness of an old world Grenache, but is produced in a new way that promotes the fresh and bright notes of the fruit – a truly perfect blend of old and new world winemaking.
pick date-9/11/2020
48 case production
3.40 PH
11.53% alcohol
100% neutral Oak
THE SECOND RELEASE
“Let’s Party” is a radiant new wine that we think you will love. Following on our successful release a few weeks ago of our “Grenache Nouveau” called “Go Your Way”, this new wine is our first take on a “pétillant naturel” or “Pét-Nat” of Pinot Noir from the Bacigalupi vineyard.
“Let’s Party” was crafted by hand in an ancient sparkling wine process resulting in this feisty, young, fruit forward, low tannin, playful way of revisiting the past. Full cluster fermentation. Cherry notes on the palette. Orange blossom, Indian baking spices, high-tone cherry, dusty tannins on the finish. A delightful wine.
The last step is to riddle the sediment from the native yeast to the neck of the bottle, freeze it and disgorge the ice “plug”. All of this is done by hand, so very time consuming and labor intensive. But the result, a delicious Pétillant Naturel of Pinot Noir (frequently referred to as a “Pét Nat”) is worth it. If we hadn’t already committed these bottles, we probably would have just kept them for ourselves!
pick date-9/11/2020
34 case production
3.40 PH
12% alcohol
100% neutral Oak
THE THIRD RELEASE
“don’t judge me” is Cast’s White Zinfandel completely unexpected, but serious take, on white Zinfandel- almost clear, mineral, dry, high acid, very little color, very subtle. This wine could be described as androgynous, a puzzle, conservative in appearance but completely unexpected in taste. This wine is likely to under promise and over deliver.
Uniquely an American attribution, Zinfandel has its history being a bit low-brow, overly accessible, in your face, sweet, jammy, not the varietal of typical wine enthusiasts. This wine has a completely different profile. The tasting notes here are: floral blossom, lemon grass, lemon verbena, zest, high acid, on the palate, blanc de noire raspberry fruit, acid on the finish, wet
These grapes were picked at 4am to ensure stable sugars as we were going for a dry wine. Within a couple hours the grapes are loaded into our press where went through a 2 hour press cycle slowly extracting the juice with minimal color. Fermented in stainless steel for 5 months.
100% Zinfandel
Harvest date: September 1, 2020
Stainless steel
5 Months
30 cases
whole-cluster pressed (not full cluster)
THE FOURTH RELEASE
“Fearless,” our pét-nat of old vine zin, was inspired and produced with an eye towards capturing the essence of the versatile and individualistic Zinfandel fruit. Through the process of natural, hand-crafted wine making, we are bringing new relevance to this storied grape.
Born via the saignée method from the creation of our 2020 Watson Vineyard Old Vine Zinfandel, this wine was stored for 24 hours in stainless steel to allow the must to settle. This process helps to further concentrate the old vine bottling of Zinfandel from the Watson Vineyard while retaining a small amount of the juice to help fuel our wine-making team’s creativity and imagination.
This frisky wine was a stubborn child during fermentation, and more of a challenge than the previous three experimental Cast Creative Lab wines. Wine making always presents a unique set of hurdles for our team each year, but they handled things with grace and style, creating a finished product that we are supremely proud to call our own. The finished product is not disgorged, received no final dosé, and was bottled without S02, fining, or filtering. This wine is as honest as they come.
100% Zinfandel
Harvest date: September 6, 2020
31 days in stainless steel
26 cases
24 hours of skin contact
FOURTH Release / 26 cases
July 28th : “fearless” : Bring some swagger and toast to the independent spirit in all of us.
Ship date : 7.26
Celebrating the release on the Old Vine Zinfandel Pét-Nat
There are two ways to access CAST Creative Lab Wines:
SUBSCRIBE: Purchase a Subscription to CAST Creative Lab and be guaranteed all 4 of these rare releases.
$600.00
(8 bottles + includes shipping, special CCL events, no discounts are available for this exclusive offering)
OR
PURCHASE BY RELEASE: Purchase this current release and you’ll automatically become an exclusive member of CCL. You’ll be first to access to the following releases and be invited to free virtual tastings with Ashley.
$150.00
(2 bottles + includes shipping, no discounts are available for this exclusive offering)
Included for all: Connect with like-minded adventurers in our included virtual tasting with winemaker Ashley and learn more about how this wine came to be, get introduced to an emerging wine movement and share your tasting and pairing experiences.
