Iruai 'Psychic Terroir' Red Blend, Rogue Valley, Oregon

Mountain rose, blackberry juice, tomato leaf, peppercorn, and geranium give this red an aromatic, savory character with an unconventional floral edge. 2024 Iruai 'Psychic Terroir' Red Blend, Rogue Valley, Oregon brings Grenache, Muscat, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Gamay, and Gewürztraminer together in a whole-cluster blend conceived by winemaker Chad Westbrook Hinds as an emotional exploration of terroir. Inspired by a formative mixed red-and-white field blend from his past, Psychic Terroir reflects Iruai’s broader pursuit of wines shaped as much by memory, intuition, and experience as by conventional ideas of place.

Product Details:

• Producer: Iruai
• Owners: Chad Westbrook Hinds and Michelle Westbrook Hinds
• Winemaker: Chad Westbrook Hinds
• Vintage: 2024
• Grapes: Grenache, Muscat, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Gamay, Gewürztraminer
• Blend: 35% Grenache, 20% Muscat, 15% Cabernet Franc, 10% Syrah, 10% Gamay, 10% Gewürztraminer
• Fermentation: Whole-cluster blend
• ABV: 12.5%
• Case Production: 500 cases

Sensory Description:

Perfumed mountain rose and geranium lead into juicy blackberry, with tomato leaf and peppercorn bringing a distinctly savory, herbal counterpoint. The combination of red and white varieties gives the wine an unusually aromatic profile, while the whole-cluster approach reinforces its lifted floral and spice-driven character. Juicy dark fruit sits alongside leafy freshness and peppery detail, creating a red that feels expressive, unconventional, and deliberately greater than the identity of any single grape in the blend.

Producer’s Background:

Iruai was founded by Chad and Michelle Westbrook Hinds in Berkeley in 2013, originally under the name Methode Sauvage. The project later moved north to Michelle’s hometown of Etna in Siskiyou County, where the couple established Iruai as an exploration of the high-elevation Shasta-Cascade and the varieties and vineyards that thrive along the mountainous California-Oregon borderlands. The winery purchases fruit and leases vineyards from the Trinity Alps of Northern California through the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon, with a cellar philosophy centered on using no additives and removing no character. Psychic Terroir takes that exploratory philosophy in a more personal direction, revisiting the emotional memory of a whole-cluster field blend that profoundly influenced Chad’s understanding of wine and translating its spirit, rather than its exact recipe, into a new wine.

Serving Suggestions:

Serve lightly chilled at 12 to 14 degrees Celsius in a Burgundy-style or other generous red wine glass to emphasize the wine’s floral aromatics, juicy fruit, and savory herbal detail. Its flexible structure suits the producer’s own suggestion of “whatever’s on the table,” particularly charcuterie, roast chicken, grilled sausages, mushroom dishes, pizza, vegetable-driven plates, or lightly spiced foods.