Being Foolhardy
Crafting Small-Lot Wines from The Columbia Valley
Foolhardy Vintners is the partnership of Jonathan Edelman and Dan Sogg, two friends with a shared love of wine. Our friendship started freshman year of college and our love of wine took root growing up, around the dinner table. We started Foolhardy to make the kind of wines we both enjoy: ripe and vibrant, balancing freshness and fruit purity. Wines we like to share with friends. We believe that the keys to quality are simplicity and attention to detail. It starts with outstanding vineyards that consistently yield our wines with ripe, juicy flavors.
We chose Washington State because of the unlimited potential in the vineyards and the tremendous dynamism of the local wine culture. Winemaking is a long, painstaking process that demands a leap of faith. We feel our years of hard work and attention to detail will reward those who try Foolhardy, and hope you find as much pleasure drinking our wines with your friends and family as we enjoy making them.
Dan & Jonathan
Walla Walla, Washington
Winemaking
We believe great winemaking is transparent, showcasing the energy and vibrancy of ripe grapes. Our house style is vibrant and balanced wines that emphasize fruit purity and invite the drinker to take another sip. All of our wines are purposefully food friendly.
It starts with outstanding vineyards that consistently yield grapes with ripe, juicy flavors. We put in the miles throughout the growing season to meet with every farmer and walk every row. Visiting all our vineyard sources comprises a twelve-hour, 200+ mile circuit from Walla Walla. We taste and keep tasting to nail picking decisions that capture the best of the fruit, the freshness and structure.
We spare no effort in the winemaking, sorting fruit and exhaustively tracking fermentations--the expression of fruit flavors, the development of the mouthfeel-- using gentle extraction techniques that highlight generous, soft tannins. We use judicious quantities of the finest French oak that frames the wine, lending texture without overt flavor.
We taste, taste and taste some more, selecting the best barrels and most expressive blends. This rigorous attention to the blending process allows us to maximize the potential of every vintage.
And of course we get help from friends, colleagues and family, who’ve encouraged, cajoled and supported us at every step since day one.
New Releases
2022 For Fool’s Sake Red Blend
The 2022 FFS is a ridiculous value, loaded with concentrated flavors of dark berries, chocolate and spice. Round and supple, it has the weight to complement food and the easy-drinking charm to stand alone.
This is a terrific everyday red wine, able to excel at the weekend barbecue with friends or help you relax on Monday night after the first day back at work. Will pair well with lasagna, roast chicken, mushroom risotto or a juicy hamburger.
2022 Bacchus Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon
As if to celebrate its 50 years, the Bacchus Vineyard Block 10 Cabernet Sauvignon, planted in 1972, excelled in 2022. It is the most concentrated and powerful Bacchus Cabernet Foolhardy has yet produced, loaded with flavors of ripe black currants, minerality and perfumed violets. There is delightful weight and texture, along with the freshness and elegance we've come to expect from this special site. Plush tannins linger in the finish, suggesting that the 2022 could be the longest-lived Bacchus to date.
2022 Walla Walla Valley Malbec
Hailing from the Southwind Vineyard at 1400 feet, our latest micro production Malbec is a take notice wine. An exceptionally plush, fleshy Malbec, loaded with blackberry, boysenberry, cocoa and exotic cardamom spice flavors. For all the weight and intensity, it is focused and vibrant, with subtle herbal undertones, freshly ground black pepper and stony mineral accents lingering with spice and dark fruit nuances.
Native fermented in used French oak, we produced just 84 cases of this compelling wine. Pair the '21 Malbec well with beef, lamb and spicy, vibrant preparations.
Vineyards
We work with the following Columbia Valley vineyards:
Bacchus North of Pasco, nestled along the Columbia River. (White Bluffs AVA)
Conner Lee In the sandy loam soils south of Othello. (Whaluke Slope AVA)
Elephant Mountain Located on gently rolling hills in Wapato at 1,400 feet. (Rattlesnake Hills AVA)
Evergreen In the limestone soils north on the Columbia River near George. (Ancient Lakes AVA)
Gamache Sitting above the bluffs overlooking Basin City. (White Bluffs AVA)
Red Willow The westernmost vineyard in the Yakima Valley appellation; one of the foundational growers of Washington State. (Yakima Valley AVA)
Southwind Located at over 1000 feet on soils over fractured basalt bedrock just west of Milton-Freewater, Oregon. (Walla Walla Valley AVA)
The Foolhardy
Dan Sogg
Winemaker
Dan jumped into the wine business right after college. After a brief stint in retail, he worked a year in production at a chateau in Bordeaux. He spent nine years as an editor at Wine Spectator and the last sixteen years as the US representative of Tonnellerie Cavin, a French cooperage located in Burgundy.
Jonathan Edelman
Chief Sorter | Winemaker
Jonathan began his career as a chef, graduating from culinary school in Paris and working in Michelin-starred restaurants in France before transitioning to the tech industry. Throughout his career he has maintained his love of food and wine. Prior to launching Foolhardy, he was previously a partner in a Sonoma Cabernet label and spent twelve years working the harvest at Remoissenet Pére et Fils in Burgundy.
