Hello Everyone and Happy Halloween!
This release is incredibly special and extremely limited, these are some of the most vivid and personal wines that I have produced to date and I am so pleased to have been able to work with my friend Squire Broel on the label artwork and packaging, it has been a real treat.
Initially named after the “Mountain Monster” Mourvèdre block perched on top of Red Mountain at WeatherEye Vineyard, the Mountain Monster moniker has come to represent so much more to me in the last couple of years. I now more closely associate “Mountain Monster” with an idea, one that encompasses the wild, mysterious places that Mountains are. Throughout history, Mountains have been home to mysterious beasts and gods. Whether the Yeti, Sasquatch, Shiva, or any of the others that are too numerous to name, mountains have always been associated with the supernatural, the unexplained, the margins of existence. These wines dance on the edge of reality and play around in the margins of what we have thought possible. If you love wines with a little magic, wines that laugh and play and inspire you to ponder life’s great mysteries, these are for you. I am so excited to present these wines, to date, they most exemplify the core Devium philosophy of pushing the boundaries. Welcome to the Mountain Monster Release.
The Mountain Monster release consists of two wines, the 2019 “Mountain Monster” Mourvèdre, WeatherEye Vineyard and the 2020 Lewis Peak dry Riesling, amphora fermented and aged. I have decided to release these two wines as a set, two bottles of each in a custom wood box for $300. My good friend Squire Broel was kind enough to create original art for the two labels as well as the box. Here are a few words from Squire about the inspiration behind the labels:
"The drawings that I created for Keith’s Mountain Monster project derive inspiration from the sheer grandness of nature—including all of the nuanced mystical aspects that fill its nooks and crannies.
An all-seeing eye—be it sun, moon or something more ephemeral—keeps watch over the vines atop WeatherEye Vineyard. The vines struggle in the harsh environment, driving roots down alongside ancient stone. The vines and fruit reflect characteristics that are as unique and mysterious as the place in which they’re from."
-Squire Broel
If you want to skip straight to the point and place your order now, please use the link below. Otherwise, stick around and enjoy, my almost certainly "overly wordy", description of the wines below.
2019 “Mountain Monster” Mourvèdre, WeatherEye Vineyard, Red Mountain.
At the top of Red Mountain amidst the sage and yarrow, there is a block of grapes so singular and striking that it was named “Mountain Monster” by the vineyard crew. Two hundred and fifty stone mounds and a stone wall carved from the earth protect 250 vines of Mourvèdre from the never-ending southern wind. Each vine growing behind its protective mound produces a small number of clusters that tap straight into the mineral core of Red Mountain. The overriding theme of the release of these two wines is that they represent vineyards, and even particular blocks that are nothing like anything else planted in the state of Washington. To emphasize the point, here are a few photos of the “Mountain Monster” block:
What I love most about the 2019 Mourvèdre is its purity and soul. This wine is almost as if you stripped away all excess and just dove straight into the essence of Red Mountain. The wine is at once ethereal and yet so present, with an impact that belies the 11.5% alcohol, it whispers rather than shouts, but you should damn well be prepared to listen. One part mineral, one part pomegranate and blood orange, and sprinkle of almost “Ganevat-esque” magic, this is a mountain wine that haunts my dreams. This isn’t a wine for blind tastings, large groups, or loud settings, it is rather a wine for friends and family, a good meal, it is as equally at home with quiet contemplation as it is while plotting adventures with trusted companions. Please cellar for at least five years or drink it after a healthy decant.
2020 Lewis Peak “bone dry” Riesling, sandstone amphora fermented, Washington State.
This Riesling was never supposed to be a “Mountain Monster” more an intellectual exploration into purity and finesse. However, when Squire presented his final Mountain Monster artwork and it was two options rather than one, and we loved them both, the idea was hatched to release these two wines as a set. In hindsight, it was only too fitting. While Red Mountain is a mountain in name only, Lewis Peak vineyard perched high above the Walla Walla Valley in the Blue Mountains at 3000’ elevation, is the very epitome of “mountain wine” and is in fact the highest elevation commercial scale vineyard in the state. Besides their Mountain origins, these two wines are also linked by the wind because at Lewis Peak, the wind doesn’t so much blow as it howls. Constantly. Tiny berries, thick skins, impossibly low yields, and a profile unlike any other in the northwest, I can’t get enough. While WeatherEye Vineyard is almost impossibly photogenic, the scale of Lewis Peak makes it much tougher to capture in photos; rather than do the vineyard a disservice by posting images that don’t capture its magic, you will just have to come visit Walla Walla and see the vineyard in person. Lewis Peak Vineyard is one of the few dry farmed sites in Eastern Washington and, since 2020, we have farmed it organically.
After an, agonizingly slow, eight-month long fermentation in sandstone, the 2020 Riesling showed such intensity and energy that it is almost as if it had tapped directly into a lightning storm moving across the Blues. This wine is everything that you could hope for from such an extreme site, it embodies the howling wind, the pouring rain, the lightning, the snow, the very spirit of the mountains. Please note, this wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered after a very long fermentation in a non-porous vessel. Because of this, it will contain quite a bit of CO2 upon opening. Please give this wine a vigorous splash decant before serving to blow off the residual CO2. Even better, just toss it in your cellar and forget about it for 5-10 years and let the CO2 resolve itself as it also protects the wine from oxidation.
Mountains, and everything that they encompass have long been a fascination of mine (seriously, lets chat about Sasquatch sometime), and I feel so fortunate to work with vineyard sites that embody and personify these themes. These wines aren’t easy, they aren’t straightforward, they aren’t within everyone’s comfort zone, but they are delicious, soulful and thought provoking. I just hope that you will all enjoy them as much as I do.
Three quick notes:
If you place an order for pick up, your wine will be ready in Walla Walla beginning Friday, November 5th.
Shipping orders will ship in the next couple of weeks, once we have figured out just how to properly package the box set for safe passage. All shipping orders will be charged a $20 flat fee.
Next weekend, Friday November 5th and Saturday November 6th, is Fall Release Weekend in Walla Walla. Our little tasting space at the airport is rapidly booking up, we will accept walk ins each day, 11-5, as long as we have space, but in order to insure that we can pour for you, please email me at keith@deviumwine.com for an appointment if you plan to stop by!
Thank you all for your continued interest and support, if you have any questions or need anything else at all, you can reach me at, 541-310-0317 or keith@deviumwine.com.
Take care,
Keith