I am incredibly excited for my spring releases, watch your inbox for an offer in mid-March. If you aren’t already on the mailing list, sign up at the bottom of the page. Here is a quick rundown of the new wines:
2019 Solaksen Vineyard “White-ish” Pinot Noir:
The 2018 vintage of the Solaksen White Pinot Noir was a smash hit. We sold out (of our admittedly tiny production) in just over a week. So, this year we made more! The 2019 vintage has some differences to the 2018, the most obvious is the color. The grapes this year just didn’t want to produce perfectly white, clear juice, and I didn’t want to force the issue. What we have is a wine somewhere in between a white and a rosé. It retains the lip-smacking charm of the 2018, with a touch more body and a gorgeous pearlescent color. I did make more than the 2018 vintage, but it still isn’t much, so you won’t want to wait too long to order once this goes live.
2019 Lewis Peak Vineyard Pétillant Naturel:
Speaking of beautiful color, a brand-new wine for this vintage and one that I had no intention of making: The 2019 Malbec Pet Nat comes from Ben Sinner’s Lewis Peak Vineyard planted above the Walla Walla Valley in the Blue Mountains at an elevation of 3000’. This is almost certainly the highest elevation vineyard in Washington (if anyone knows of a higher site, I would love to hear about it!). The other exciting aspect of Lewis Peak is that tucked into the foothills as it is, it receives enough annual rainfall to be dry farmed, a rarity in Washington. Lewis Peak is planted with 1.5 acres each of Malbec and Riesling and I am fortunate to be working with all of the fruit (more on the Riesling in the future). With the cool finish to the growing season that we had in Washington the low ripeness level of the Malbec precluded it from being made into a still red wine, so, instead, I made Pet Nat out of it. This is the “rawest” wine that I have produced to date, no additions of any sort, a touch hazy, a little unorthodox, but so delicious and pure that you can drink it all day.
2018 French Creek Vineyard Red Wine:
The wine that (hopefully) you have all come to know and love, French Creek Vineyard just keeps getting better and better. In 2018, there is a higher percentage of Syrah than in any previous vintage with the blend sitting at 65% Mourvèdre, 33% Syrah, 2% Grenache Blanc. Made the same way that I have from day one, this wine is co-picked, co-fermented, 100% whole cluster, native yeast, neutral barrels, minimal SO2, foot crushed and a complete Rockstar. The “flagship” wine of the Devium line up for good reason, this is one to buy, to drink, to cellar, and most of all to enjoy.
2018 WeatherEye Vineyard Red Wine:
Sourced from WeatherEye Vineyard on the backside of Red Mountain (the north slope – outside of the AVA), this is a co-fermented blend of 45% Graciano, 30% Mourvèdre, 15% Grenache and 10% Syrah. For the background on why a grape from Rioja is planted in a predominantly Rhone inspired vineyard, check out this article: https://www.winemag.com/2018/07/16/graciano/.
WeatherEye Vineyard is possibly the most exciting and ambitious new vineyard project in Washington State. Perched way up on top of Red Mountain and over the back slope, Cam Myhrvold and Ryan Johnson have created a vineyard that is one-part mad science lab, one-part living art masterpiece, and the single most fascinating source of grapes in Eastern Washington. The goal at WeatherEye is to grow the best wine grapes in the world and Ryan and Cam have the ambition, the knowledge, the raw materials and the site, that they just might do it. I am incredibly fortunate to work with this special vineyard and I can’t wait to share this wine with you.
Please let me know if you have any questions or need anything at all, keith@deviumwine.com, 541-310-0317.
Cheers,
Keith