Winemaking
We make wine with little intervention. Fermentations happen naturally with native yeasts and no added nutrients. Finding the balance between sugar and acid that the given vintage provides is all part of the process. Some years will be more generous and opulent, others bright and lean. Capturing the growing season without alteration is the goal here, rather than making the same cuvées over and over again with assistance from additives. No two years are the same, thus no two wines are the same. Keeping this in mind, we avoid acidifying and keep SO2 levels minimal. This allows the wine to truly show itself, the time, and the place it originated. We avoid using new oak as we prefer to allow the grapes and sites they come from to headline the show. Utilizing gravity whenever possible to move wine is a big part of our process, it often takes more time and labor, but we believe it helps retain the more nuanced aromas and flavors.
Direction
Our approach and decision making when it comes to making wine is unconstrained. Tasting the fruit and wine as it goes through various stages of fermentation guides us. We might have an idea of a blend or a goal of a certain texture or weight, but ultimately we let the wine expressive itself and work around it, instead of forcing it to be something it isn't. Many of our favorite producers have a similar approach, if it means we're making 10 cuvées from 3 picks, so be it! We've been lucky enough to work around and for a variety of winemakers. This has given us both insight on processes and techniques, but also showed us the beauty in collaboration, information sharing, and community. Helping one another is important, and if wine is meant to do anything, it is bring us together. Whether that is through the making, growing, or drinking process we love being a part of it all, and hope you do too.
The Farming
Horse Devours works as a négociant winery. Meaning, we don't have land that we farm and source grapes from, instead we source fruit from people and farms across Oregon who share a similar desire to farm sustainably. Organic farming is the bare minimum, but experimental treatments, biodynamic approaches and ecological diversity in the vineyard are always things we strive for. The sites we choose can vary year to year, maybe a friend received more fruit than they were expecting ( read about our Figuring It Out cuvée), or maybe we simply see a surplus of grapes and want to experiment with a new variety. Flexibility allows for creativity. Some sites stick around, allowing us to work on how to best represent what that place feels and looks like in a bottle.Currently these recurring sites are No Clos Radio, farmed and managed by people we consider close friends and family. We also started sourcing fruit from Four Diamonds vineyard in the Applegate Valley in 2024. Leyla had worked with the fruit through Day Wines, and we fell in love with their positioning on the Applegate River, unique climate, rocky soil and willingness to plant new and different varieties than those surrounding them (we get Chenin Blanc and Vermentino from this site).
Our Story
Horse Devours was founded by Leyla Ersan & Ian Shapen in 2022. We began our food & wine journey shortly after we started dating while attending college together. We spent many days and nights exploring food and wines from different regions of the world. Many of the wines from this time were made with a natural approach. We didn't really know what this meant at the time, we're not sure that we do now either. It wasn't until years later that we realized this exploration period had a profound impact on our wine journey and future together.
We later stumbled into a community of like minded people within the wine industry. Sharing similar desires to see more sustainable farming and less intervention in the cellar, these friends made us realize we too could do this.
Here we are. We make wines we enjoy, and hopefully you will too! Our approach to making wine is as unconventional as our pathway into it. Have fun, because why not?
We look forward to sharing more with you soon. For now, go buy a local wine and share it with someone in a park, on a beach, at the summit or on the trunk of your car.
<3 Horse Devours