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Anders Frederik Steen

AFS We Can Do What I Can't NV

Price: $37.95
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Tasting notes

This is Syrah stripped of ambition and intervention: the combination of direct press and three-week maceration in outdoor fiber cuves produces something that is at once structured and transparently fruity, with savory garrigue notes underneath. At 12.5% ABV it drinks more like a northern Rhone rouge than anything from warmer southern France, which is exactly the point.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Black PepperPlumGarrigueEarth
  • Style: Dry, medium-bodied red; 100% Syrah; clay-limestone soils; Valvigneres, southern Ardeche; 12.5% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Syrah; organic and biodynamic farming; clay and limestone soils; Valvigneres, Ardeche, France
  • Winemaking: ~30% destemmed, ~80% direct press; 3-week maceration and fermentation in outdoor fiber cuves; spontaneous native yeast; unfined, unfiltered, no added sulfites (<10 mg/L SO2)
  • Serving: Serve at 60-62F; no decant needed; drink now or hold 2-3 years
  • Pairing: Roast duck, grilled lamb, cured meats, aged cheese, olive-and-tomato-based dishes
  • Similar To: For fans of northern Rhone Syrah and light-touch natural reds who want zero intervention

We Can Do What I Can't is 100% Syrah sourced from organically and biodynamically farmed vineyards in Valvigneres, a village in southern Ardeche. The vines grow on clay and limestone soils and have been tended organically for decades, many of them in collaboration with Gerald and Jocelyne Oustric of Domaine du Mazel, where Steen has worked since his first vintage in 2013.

Winemaking follows a consistent philosophy that varies in execution by vintage: roughly 30% of the grapes are destemmed while the remainder undergoes direct press, with the combined juice spending three weeks in maceration and fermentation in outdoor fiber cuves. Fermentation is spontaneous with native yeasts. The wine is bottled without fining, filtration, or added sulfites, with total SO2 under 10 mg/L.

The label is bottled as Vin de France, the broadest French table wine classification, which gives Steen freedom to work outside appellation constraints. Each cuvee under this name may shift approach slightly from year to year, but the grape and general method remain consistent.

The wine sits at 12.5% ABV and is built for the table rather than the cellar, though it has the structure to hold for a few years. Serve slightly cool, around 60 to 62 degrees Fahrenheit, to highlight its freshness.

Works well with roast duck, grilled lamb chops, or a board of cured meats and aged cheese. The wine's moderate tannin and savory edge also make it a natural match for dishes built around thyme, olives, or tomatoes. Serve at 60 to 62 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Syrah
Farming:, Organic and Biodynamic
Vintage:, NV
Alcohol:, 12.5%
Country:, France
Region:, Ardeche
Appellation:, Vin de France
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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Placed an order. What next?

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2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Anders Frederik Steen

Anders Frederik Steen is a Danish vigneron-negociant based in Valvigneres, southern Ardeche, where he makes wine alongside his wife and collaborator Anne Bruun Blauert. Before making wine, Steen worked as a chef and sommelier in Copenhagen, first at Noma and later helping to open Relae and Manfred's, where he built one of the first all-natural wine lists in Denmark and ran a natural wine import operation.

Steen began making wine in 2013, initially purchasing fruit from producers he admired and working alongside Jura winemaker Jean-Marc Brignot. He made his first vintages in Valvigneres with the support of Gerald and Jocelyne Oustric at Domaine du Mazel. By 2017, Steen and Blauert had moved to France permanently and began farming their own parcels. Today they farm around four hectares of their own vines while continuing to work with the Oustric family in Valvigneres and the Bannwarth family in Obermorschwihr, Alsace. The vineyards in Ardeche sit on clay and limestone soils and have been farmed organically and biodynamically for decades.

Steen's winemaking philosophy is zero additions and zero removals. Red grapes are either destemmed by hand or pressed directly in an old wooden press; blending decisions are made at harvest so different varieties ferment together spontaneously outside. Wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined with no added sulfites. Each cuvee varies in technique by vintage: proportions of destemmed to direct-press fruit, maceration length, and vessel choice shift with the character of each harvest. We Can Do What I Can't uses approximately 30% destemmed Syrah and 80% direct press, with three weeks of maceration and fermentation in outdoor fiber cuves.

Wine region

Ardeche, France

Ardeche is a department in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of southeastern France, situated west of the Rhone River. The southern half of the department, where most of the wine is made, has a Mediterranean climate with mild winters, hot dry summers, and the cooling influence of the Mistral wind. Soils across the department are diverse, ranging from granite and gneiss in the west to limestone, sandstone, and clay in the central and southern zones. Valvigneres, where Anders Frederik Steen is based, sits in a wide open valley with clay and limestone soils that drain freely and concentrate the fruit.

Wine from Ardeche is sold primarily under three designations: AOC Cotes du Vivarais, which covers the southeastern portion of the department; the broader IGP Ardeche (formerly split between Vins de Pays d'Ardeche and Coteaux de l'Ardeche, now unified); and Vin de France, the all-France table wine category. Red grape varieties in the region include Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot; whites include Chardonnay, Viognier, and Sauvignon Blanc. Syrah is well established in the area, with its introduction historically linked to winemakers from Saint-Joseph and Cornas to the north. The region has a growing community of natural and organic producers, including Le Mazel, Andrea Calek, and Anders Frederik Steen.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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