Grapes and apples both grow abundantly in Oregon and they both make delicious alcoholic beverages once fermented. But we tend to keep them in their separate lanes. Grapes make wine. Apples make cider. End of story. We’re totally fine blending two different wine grapes together and most ciders are blended from multiple different apple varieties. But blending wine and cider together. That is NOT a thing we do. 

Does it actually make sense to keep these two delicious things separate? Maybe wine's complexity united with cider’s low alcohol chuggability could create something singular? Something uniquely tasty? And considering that no geographic region can or should ever be reduced to just one thing, maybe such a blend could express Oregon in it’s totality. Oregon. Contains. Multitudes. With this experimental grape and apple Pet Nat, we partnered with Luke Allen Wylde of Lares to hop on their bandwagon of mad exploration in order to create a more unified vision of Oregon fermentation.

Luke Allen Wylde of Lares has been one of our favorite local natural winemakers for years now. They’ve got their fingers in a couple different projects (the Statera wines are a must buy always) but with Lares, Luke has been really pushing the boundaries of experimentation here in Oregon. Started in 2018, the wines are a lodestone, of sorts, for us at Post Familiar. 

Just like us, Luke shares a deep appreciation for the legacy and tradition of Oregon winemaking. But that tradition, instead of being used as a crutch, is more a starting point for flipping things completely on their head. Turns out, it’s way more fun to break the rules if you actually know the rules you are breaking.

With that ethos, we weren’t really surprised when we heard in 2020 that Luke had started blending grapes and apples. When we reached out about collaborating on a Post Familiar project, we knew we wanted in on the mixed fruit fun. The result of that collaboration is a blend of 67% Rose of pinot noir and 33% cider. The rose gave the blend it’s kaleidoscope of citrus and floral flavors and it’s saturated grapefruit color.

The cider provided the low alcohol freshness.  One of the great discoveries of this project was that using cider allowed us to keep the alcohol levels low without sacrificing anything as far as complexity. In an era of more conscious consumption, lower alcohol means you can drink more without feeling the hurt. And honestly, lower alcohol is so much more fun when it comes to daytime, poolside, beach-side, riverside drinking.

So when you hear about the old days when Europeans would drink wine all day long every day, part of that reality is that wine was much lower in alcohol than our modern renditions. So basically, find some sun and a body of water, get this bottle ice cold and drink like it’s the 1800s.