Lightwell Survey 'The Weird Ones Are Wolves' 2022 Shenandoah Valley, VA

Style 😋: Light, savory, and beautifully restrained. Notes of leather, dried tobacco, and red currants play over a frame of fresh acidity and fine, dusty tannins. Almost claret-like in both color and character, this is an old-school, Bordeaux-style red that trades power for finesse.

Producer: Lightwell Survey

Grape 🍇: 83% Cabernet Franc, 17% Petit Manseng

Place 🌎: Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, USA

Story 📖: Lightwell Survey is a collaboration between Virginia wine veterans Ben Jordan and Sebastian Zutant, known for their experimental edge and love of expressive, low-intervention wines. Rooted in the Shenandoah Valley’s limestone soils and cool climate, their approach fuses classic structure with irreverent creativity.

The Weird Ones Are Wolves 2022 is easygoing but packed with character. Thanks to a cooler vintage, the wine is lighter in body and shows unexpected elegance. The Cabernet Franc was 15% whole cluster and the rest destemmed, co-fermented with direct-pressed Petit Manseng for lift and structure. The wine aged in mostly 500L neutral French oak puncheons and one 228L barrel, and was bottled unfiltered. Only 192 cases produced.

Pairing 🍽: Smashburger with gruyère and caramelized onions.