Division Red Wine Beton 2022

Region: American Red Wine

Grape Varieties: Pinot Noir, Gamay, Malbec, Cabernet Franc

I met Division co-owner Thomas Monroe a few weeks ago to taste through the most recent offerings from his winery. As the name implies he and his partner, Kate Norris, are crafting wines that are outside of the norm, but with a keen eye for balance and elegance. They work on both sides of the Columbia River, in Oregon and Washington State, and this is one of their wines where the grapes are sourced from both areas.

Having worked in the Loire Valley of France, the inspiration for this wine is Cheverny, a tiny appellation an hours drive from the city of Orleans. What makes this appellation unique is that the producers are required to blend their wines in a region where mono-varietals rein supreme. Thomas spent some time working in Cheverny and fell in love with the wines so he wanted to produce an American version.

It is apparent that the folks at Division got some serious windshield time putting this wine together. The core of the wine is Cabernet Franc (35%) grown in the Applegate Valley in southern Oregon, spitting distance to California. Then 32% is Malbec, but they found a French clone that uses the colloquial name Côt, in an organic vineyard in western Yakima Valley, Washington. The balance is Gamay (24%) and Pinot Noir (4%) from the Willamette Valley in Oregon, with the last 5% being Cabernet Sauvignon from the Columbia River Valley. Thomas and Kate were delighted with the 2022 since it was the first year since the inception of this wine, 2018, when all of the vineyards were harvested without rain, fire, hail or frost.

It has been my goal this year to not spend too much time on the winemaking details unless the winemaker is doing something truly unique. Again, based on that grape blend do you think this would be made by the numbers? No, the Cabernet Franc and Malbec are co-fermented, and whole cluster, which amps up the earthiness. Then the aging took place for six months in concrete tanks, Béton is concrete in French, while the other components were aged in old French oak barrels. Blending happens right before bottling and they produced 1242 cases.

When you open this wine give it a slight chill and decant for a half hour. Then the nose is a thought provoking mix of black peppercorns, chili pepper flakes, fresh blueberries, raspberries and tangerine peel. On the palate it is high toned and juicy, with a plump fruit quality. My notes say “very gulp-able.” Drink 2024-2025.