RED/WHITE wine
WINE MAKER: Dan Rinke
VINTAGE: 2025
LOCATION: Willamette, Willamette Valley
VINEYARDS: Eola Amity
ASPECT: gentle hills
ALTITUDE: 500 feet 
VINE AGE: 2010
SOIL COMPOSITION: rocky marine sediment, sandstone and shale interspersed with ancient oyster shells
PREVAILING CLIMATE & LOCAL CLIMACTIC: Mediterranean, cold winters
FARMING: certified biodynamic
GRAPE COMPOSITION: Pinot Gris 5% Pinot Noir from Morning Mist
HARVEST: by hand, 3rd week of September
MACERATION: 6 weeks skin contact, combination of press juice, destemmed and whole cluster fruit
FERMENTATION: Fast and hot, lots of oxygen. free run juice after fermentation into used barrique.
AGING: 3 months used barrique.
FINING & FILTRATION: None
So2: 15 ppm
ALC: 11.8%
BOTTLED:  2/24/2026
BOTTLES PRODUCED: 700

Oregonian Ryšák?

In a moment like now, why not? 

Ryšák is the Czech word for “redhead” and the most typical style of wine from South Moravia (not Oregon). The only production requirement is that it be a blend of red and white varieties, otherwise the winemaker is free to interpret. Ryšák are wildly inconsistent in composition and vinification; some are more white grapes, some more red, free run, whole cluster, macerated or not, some fresh, some aged, varietal bottlings, field blends, single vineyard, co-ferments,  nv cuvees, anything goes. What is shared among Ryšák is their common function. Ryšák should reddish, convivial; serviceable as an aperitif or the main course. Temperature flexible. To be drunk year round. Fruity, savory and modest in alcohol. If you are like us, the sort of wine you can never have too much of. 

Cultural exchange is the essence of Black Lamb, more than alcohol, culture is what we deal in. This makes the ‘laundromat shakedown’ style tariffs an especially hot pile of shit; and then there is how they spend our extorted monies. We can take some small relief in that history is on the side of wine. Nations are young, wine culture is old. Any border where there is viticultural history establishes that the culture of wine came before the border. The adaptive abilities of those who tend the vine are the source of wine’s persistence. So, we too can adapt. 

We are grateful to be working with Dan and Kim on this project. We hope to continue as long as we can serve as an outlet to such high quality underutilized fruit. Perhaps in time the circumstances we are collectively suffering under will change and we will be a more diverse enterprise for it. We hope…