As harvest starts to wind down here in Walla Walla, I am taking advantage of a moment of peace to send out information about our new releases. This Fall, we are releasing three red wines, all unique, all exciting, and also quite limited in quantity. If you want to skip this (I'm sure overly) long email, you can order at the button below. You will also find wines from the last couple of releases, full cases will receive a case discount and flat rate shipping, you can mix and match as you like.
The Mountain Monster block at WeatherEye Vineyard on Red Mountain
2021 WeatherEye Vineyard "Mountain Monster" Mourvèdre
Some of you will be familiar with the story of the "Mountain Monster" from the 2019 vintage release. Unfortunately, there was no 2020 vintage due to the impact of smoke on the wine, I will re-introduce the wine properly here.
Perched right at the crest of Red Mountain, the Mountain Monster block is amongst the most ambitiously planted in the overwhelmingly ambitious WeatherEye Vineyard. Roughly 250 vines of Mourvèdre are only able to flourish in this particular spot because of the stone mound that was built up to protect each individual vine (see the photo above), without the protection that the mounds provide, these vines would be constantly buffeted by the wind from the southwest to the point that they would be unable to yield any fruit or maintain a canopy.
To an extent beyond my other vineyard blocks, nature really calls the shots here. Between coyotes chewing on the irrigation lines, coveys of Chukar eating the grapes, the wind that never stops putting stress on the vines, and the unremitting Red Mountain sun, the Mountain Monster calls the shots, you take it as it comes. This is a fascinating dynamic because it leads to the largest vintage variation of any of my wines. While the 2019 release was elegant, fresh, ethereal, and transparent; the 2021 couldn't be more different. This is the boldest, highest alcohol wine that I have ever released, in some ways you would think "this isn't typical of Devium", however, I prefer to believe that it epitomizes Devium, in spirit if not in typical profile. Nature gave me these bold grapes, and I have attempted to do my transparent best. I usually don't write tasting notes, but with this wine I can't help it; it comes across like ripe Italian plums dusted in unsweetened cocoa, with hints of leather, and a savory finish. It is a wine for drinking after dark, a wine for a roaring fireplace and spit roasted meats, a wine to drink with a good book and an overstuffed chair late into the night. This is also a wine to share with your more conventional wine loving friends, it doesn't ask quite as many difficult questions as my wines sometimes can. Finally, as I slowly move further away from using SO2 in my winemaking, this is the first release made without any at all that isn't bearing the "Sans Soufre" moniker.
The Maquina del Tiempo block of Graciano and Mourvèdre at WeatherEye Vineyard on the north slope of Red Mountain.
2021 WeatherEye Vineyard Red Wine
This is another return after the smoked 2020 vintage hiatus, so I will give some background on this release and block as well, again many of you likely already know the story. Ryan Johnson began planting WeatherEye in 2016, and this block was amongst those original plantings on the north slope of Red Mountain. While planting the vineyard, Ryan was pursuing maximum clonal diversity across his different, unique blocks. In the "Máquina del Tiempo" (Weather Machine) block, he decided to plant half of it to a typical French clone of Mourvèdre, and half to a relative newcomer to the US, the "Monastrell" clone of Mourvèdre from Spain. Fast forward to 2018, when the first fruit was to be harvested, it was discovered that the Spanish clone of Mourvèdre was actually the Rioja grape, Graciano. The winery who was supposed to work with this block wasn't interested in Graciano, and I was fortunate enough to be; 1) one of the first names on Ryan's "waitlist" for fruit, and 2) the only one crazy enough to say yes to Graciano without hesitation. Beginning with the 2019 vintage, I began working with the Mourvèdre in the block as well as the Graciano, the 2021 blend was co-picked and co-fermented, and is 63% Mourvèdre and 37% Graciano.
After the heartbreak of 2020, I am very excited to bring back the WeatherEye Red, this is one of those wines and one of those vineyard blocks that just keeps drawing you back in. It doesn't have quite the drama of the Mountain Monster block, but these hearty vines planted amidst the rabbit brush, sagebrush, yarrow, and other assorted desert flora just seems to fit this place in such a special way. The 2021 is a more robust vintage than the 2018, or the eccentric 2019, largely due to the small yields and hot vintage (2021 was the hottest on record), but also due to a stylistic decision that I made to hang the fruit just a touch longer. The result is that it is immediately more approachable than previous vintages without losing its windswept, desert nature and robust tannins. A wine to drink with a decant and dinner, or to age, it was bottled with miniscule amount of SO2 added, just 10mg/L total.
Mourvèdre grapes from French Creek Vineyard in the Yakima Valley.
2022 French Creek Mourvèdre "Sans Soufre"
A wine that should require a bit less explanation than the other two. The "Sans Soufre" comes entirely from my favorite block of Mourvèdre at French Creek. Trained in a vertical cordon system, the high density "Corkscrew" block is planted on a very steep northeast facing slope. The combination of the slope, training system, and high density limits the amount of sun exposure in this block allowing for extended hang time while maintaining modest potential alcohol levels.
The "Sans Soufre" is always bursting with energy, and the 2022 is no exception. A little bit wild, it is a wine that likes to dance and play in the margins, it has a beauty all its own and seems to flit between the seen and the unseen. While this won't be the last vintage of the French Creek Mourvèdre, it may be the last one designated as "Sans Soufre", as mentioned above, I am moving further and further away from the use of SO2 in my wine which will eventually make the "Sans Soufre" tag meaningless. We will see.
As always, these three wines were all made with 100% whole cluster, foot tread, fermented without the use of enological products, aged in old barrels, and bottled unfined and unfiltered, as is the Devium way. I am so fortunate to work with the vineyards sites that I do, transparent, minimalist winemaking certainly isn't for every site just as it isn't for every winemaker.