Idlewild Wines, 'Flora & Fauna' Red Blend
Idlewild Wines, 'Flora & Fauna' Red Blend

Idlewild Wines, 'Flora & Fauna' Red Blend

California / Mendocino County, United States 2021 (750mL)
Regular price $27.00 Sale price$24.00 Save $3.00
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Idlewild Wines, 'Flora & Fauna' Red Blend

Idlewild “has a few homes,” including Lost Hills Ranch, which sits in the hills of Mendocino County’s Yorkville Highlands in soils of schist and sandstone. They also manage the Fox Hill Vineyard in central Mendocino county, another rocky site planted to 20- to 30-year-old Arneis, Cortese, Dolcetto, Barbera, and Nebbiolo. A third high-elevation site in the Russian River Valley provides source material for this wine.


Mendocino County continues to be home to a huge Italian-American agricultural community, and Sam Bilbro pays homage to that history while also crafting wines in a deliberately “Italian” style. He believes—and has proved—that cooler, high-elevation sites in Mendocino can be hospitable to Northern Italian grape varieties, especially the Piedmontese triumvirate of Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto.


This is a wine designed to deliver lots of nerve and minerality. Combining lots from the above-mentioned vineyards, it is a Barbera-based blend that also incorporates Dolcetto, Nebbiolo, Freisa, and Grignolino—essentially a “greatest hits” compilation of Piedmontese varieties. The grapes were subjected to a partial carbonic maceration, à la Cru Beaujolais, with whole grape clusters left intact to preserve brightness and energy. It aged for just four months in neutral oak barrels before bottling.

Idlewild Wines, 'Flora & Fauna' Red Blend
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United States

Washington

Columbia Valley

Like many Washington wines, the “Columbia Valley” indication only tells part of the story: Columbia Valley covers a huge swath of Central
Washington, within which are a wide array of smaller AVAs (appellations).

Oregon

Willamette Valley

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has become an elite winegrowing zone in record time. Pioneering vintner David Lett, of The Eyrie Vineyard, planted the first Pinot Noir in the region in 1965, soon to be followed by a cadre of forward-thinking growers who (correctly) saw their wines as America’s answer to French
Burgundies. Today, the Willamette
Valley is indeed compared favorably to Burgundy, Pinot Noir’s spiritual home. And while Pinot Noir accounts for 64% of Oregon’s vineyard plantings, there are cool-climate whites that must not be missed.

California

Santa Barbara

Among the unique features of Santa Barbara County appellations like Ballard Canyon (a sub-zone of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA), is that it has a cool, Pacific-influenced climate juxtaposed with the intense luminosity of a southerly
latitude (the 34th parallel). Ballard Canyon has a more north-south orientation compared to most Santa Barbara AVAs, with soils of sandy
clay/loam and limestone.

California

Paso Robles

Situated at an elevation of 1,600 feet, it is rooted in soils of sandy loam and falls within the Highlands District of the Paso Robles AVA.

New York

North Fork

Wine growers and producers on Long Island’s North Fork have traditionally compared their terroir to that of Bordeaux and have focused on French varieties such as Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

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