Being a standup punk, I am sure Aaron will treat me to a prime bottle of wine. One that I will drink with a Philly Cheesesteak while watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Bet on the Dodgers, buy Dan wine
In the spirit of October and waiting for grape harvests, we made a wager on the NLCS. Aaron picked the Dodgers to win in 6 and I the Phabulous Phillies in 7. $20 bottle of wine to the winner and a $30 bottle if you get the number of games correct.
Being a standup punk, I am sure Aaron will treat me to a prime bottle of wine. One that I will drink with a Philly Cheesesteak while watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Being a standup punk, I am sure Aaron will treat me to a prime bottle of wine. One that I will drink with a Philly Cheesesteak while watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
web marketing 101 or "harvest is cumming"
So we installed the google analytics on our blog to see when, why and how our small number of readers are showing up and learned lesson #1 of web marketing which is SEX sells. I wrote a post titled "Wanna know why you're not getting laid tonight?" and our blog has found a whole new reader base.
Through the wonders of Google searches the following inquiries bring you to the deux punx blog:
getting laid when you're short (we're #2)
reasons why you're not getting laid (we're #1)
does not get laid (we're #1)
"baseball addiction +getting laid" (we're #1 <- and who searches for this???)
get laid in nyc tonight (we're a lowly #4)
so, yes the grapes are CUMMING soon, we're going to be picking at the BACKDOOR of this years harvest and we think this harvest will be GOLDEN
SHOWERS or not...
A couple SMUT peddlers - VIRGINS to the jersey scene
Oh, and to our new found reader base: WELCOME!! I know this isn't what you were looking for but we're glad you're here anyways, we consider ourselves your very own internet wino SLOPPY SECONDS.
Through the wonders of Google searches the following inquiries bring you to the deux punx blog:
getting laid when you're short (we're #2)
reasons why you're not getting laid (we're #1)
does not get laid (we're #1)
"baseball addiction +getting laid" (we're #1 <- and who searches for this???)
get laid in nyc tonight (we're a lowly #4)
so, yes the grapes are CUMMING soon, we're going to be picking at the BACKDOOR of this years harvest and we think this harvest will be GOLDEN
SHOWERS or not...
A couple SMUT peddlers - VIRGINS to the jersey scene
Oh, and to our new found reader base: WELCOME!! I know this isn't what you were looking for but we're glad you're here anyways, we consider ourselves your very own internet wino SLOPPY SECONDS.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
it's late and it's cold
By October 12th last year 2007's wahluke slope syrah was already in the barrel - one week into malo-lactic. This year? Not so much.
On top of a season that started off with a cool spring which brought late frosts in much of california and brought a slow start to Eastern Washington we have also faced a colder than usual fall. What this means is we're still waiting for grapes to get up to the ripeness we've been hoping for.
In Southern Humboldt it looks like we're right around the corner. We've got grapes that are ripe and still developing sugars. They're at lower sugar levels then we'd original hoped for but considering the amount of time that they've had on the vine it is most likely not a bad thing. Here's to a u-haul trailer filled with yellow bins of pinot noir grapes driving south on the 17th or 18th of October.
In Washington, well... Let's hope that the frosts over the weekend haven't fried the leaves on the syrah vines at Doc Stewart. With no leaves photosynthesis stops which means that the ripening process also stops. Sugar levels can still climb through evaporation but no more ripening and in turn no more fruit development. The optimist thinks that these syrah grapes have been on the vine for a long time by now and have had the time to develop and ripen into some great fruit - now we just need so more sugar. The pessimist is crying into his drink. Here's to a red Ford pickup, loaded with syrah grapes, crossing over the pass around the end of this month.
baseball and wine tiding the times:
On top of a season that started off with a cool spring which brought late frosts in much of california and brought a slow start to Eastern Washington we have also faced a colder than usual fall. What this means is we're still waiting for grapes to get up to the ripeness we've been hoping for.
In Southern Humboldt it looks like we're right around the corner. We've got grapes that are ripe and still developing sugars. They're at lower sugar levels then we'd original hoped for but considering the amount of time that they've had on the vine it is most likely not a bad thing. Here's to a u-haul trailer filled with yellow bins of pinot noir grapes driving south on the 17th or 18th of October.
In Washington, well... Let's hope that the frosts over the weekend haven't fried the leaves on the syrah vines at Doc Stewart. With no leaves photosynthesis stops which means that the ripening process also stops. Sugar levels can still climb through evaporation but no more ripening and in turn no more fruit development. The optimist thinks that these syrah grapes have been on the vine for a long time by now and have had the time to develop and ripen into some great fruit - now we just need so more sugar. The pessimist is crying into his drink. Here's to a red Ford pickup, loaded with syrah grapes, crossing over the pass around the end of this month.
baseball and wine tiding the times:
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Calm Before the Storm, Cleaning and Drinking
The Punx cleaned house today. Well, not the house, but the garage. Final items were bought at the hardware store and Big Lots. The TV is hooked up to cable so our grapes can watch every game of the MLB playoffs and World Series (and so the Punx can watch lots of VH1 Top 100 shows). The puncheons got thorough washings and SO2 rinses. And being fashion conscious dudes, we made sure our puncheon covers (doilies) are chic. Marketing director Brian stopped by to lend a hand as soon as all the hard work was done (I guess that's what the marketing department does). Neighbors and friends stopped by, the juke box was fired up, bottles were opened and a party ensued. I counted 7 corks this morning.
Aaron pours the So2.
What drought?
Marketing Meeting.
Neighborhood Party.
Next weekend may be a bit different. No showing up late Brian!
What drought?
Marketing Meeting.
Neighborhood Party.Saturday, October 4, 2008
Domain Deux Punx?
Many people (meaning 3 or 4) have asked us if we grow our own grapes. It seems logical, if you make your own wine you must grow your own grapes. Experts say that 90% of a great wine is created in the vineyard and only 10% is in the winery. So this year we are giving 90% credit (and a couple grand) to Gilbert and Elk Prairie Vineyards. But rest assured the Punx are not resting on their lorals. Here is the world's first peak at Domain Deux Punx, our own vineyard.
Life is good at the Chateau!
Talk about terroir!
Cab Sauv harvest is near.
No VSP trellising here. We are all natural.
Life is good at the Chateau!
Talk about terroir!
Cab Sauv harvest is near.
No VSP trellising here. We are all natural.Thursday, September 25, 2008
The last two barrels
We finally found and purchased the last two barrels we need for our 2008 wine. As the Duke Boys would say: "Yeeee hawwwww!"
The fine folks at HDV set us up with 2 neutrals at a C-note each. Stephane was very cool about the exchange, even though he was in that middle of harvest sleep deprivation state that most of the wine world is in right now. He even took time out to give me a barrel rolling lesson.
Thinking of renaming the Ford Escape the "General Lees." Get it?
The fine folks at HDV set us up with 2 neutrals at a C-note each. Stephane was very cool about the exchange, even though he was in that middle of harvest sleep deprivation state that most of the wine world is in right now. He even took time out to give me a barrel rolling lesson.
Thinking of renaming the Ford Escape the "General Lees." Get it?
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Wanna know why you're not getting laid tonight?
Four reasons...
1) Wine 2.0 in NY
We travelled out to NYC and attended Wine 2.0 on Thursday. We figured it would be a good chance to meet some of the folks that are marrying wine with technology, see some neat uses of said technology and drink some good wines. What we came away with was the realization that these are the very early days of this wine-technology marriage.
Highlights -
hanging w/Michael Brill at the Crushpad table - discussing harvest, fish tank heaters, weather and ...
Manning the Crushpad table which allowed for some more interaction with not just the folks manning the other tables but those walking the hall
being handed a couple bottles of wine just 'cause someone yelled in my ear
Papaya King after the event
Things we wanted to see:
More folks in both traditional uses (wine resellers, distributors, etc...) and new uses (bloggers, wine tracking software, wine making software, games, etc...)
demonstrations from the participants to accompany the couple speakers.
More local representation (since it was in NYC it would have been great to see more NY State wine representation)
All in all it was worthwhile for us to dip our feet in and mingle a bit. I look forward to seeing what comes down the pike in the coming months and years.
2) NY Wine in NY
We were able to make a couple fun wine stops in the city. The first was to Chambers Street Wine. Chambers Street is known for being one of the best wine shops in NYC and we could see why. For folks coming from the left coast a trip to an NYC wine shop is all about Europe and we weren't disappointed. Chambers street not only has a great selection of wines from the other side of the Atlantic but they are also really nice and helpful folks. Only disappointment: we didn't buy anything this visit (our fault not theirs).
After Chambers Street we wandered over to Vintage NY and spent at least an hour with them discussing all things NY wine, tasting some good whites, an interesting pinot noir and an incredible vidal ice wine (which did get us in the buying mood). This is a great place to stop by for some good local wine and to talk with some folks that are really passionate about the NY wine scene.
3) Baseball in NY
As two baseball fans we couldn't help but catch the very last night game EVER at Yankee Stadium.
Even for someone like myself that has always loved to hate the Yankees I couldn't help but feel the energy of this incredible park and be in awe over the enthusiasm of the fans that even with their team out of the playoffs showed up in droves and cheered like it was October. I hope, for NY's sake, that the new ballpark cam come close to what this ball park has been for the past 85 years.
4) Friday Night Jersey City
We got wrapped into the birthday celebrations for a 25 year old NJ bartender named Kim (the drunker KIm got the more Kim absolutely loathed us). Wrapped into a birthday party by just sitting at the right end of the bar. I'm not going to go into too many details about this night other then Dan being handed a dime bag by a two time ex-marine pinot gris spritzer sipping used car salesman ("I put asses in seats") and Kim, in her last fighting chance of drunken anger pointing to the two of us and saying:
"Wanna know why you two are not getting laid tonight?
...
"4 reasons..." (insert incoherent drunkenness followed by her wandering off)
fwiw, we could think of more than 4.
Outside of NY the weather has been a little unnerving on the west coast with rain on the horizon and grapes that are slowing down as the weather cools. We'll be crushing soon but through the continuation of an unpredictable year the schedule Dan posted previously has been made obsolete.
1) Wine 2.0 in NY
We travelled out to NYC and attended Wine 2.0 on Thursday. We figured it would be a good chance to meet some of the folks that are marrying wine with technology, see some neat uses of said technology and drink some good wines. What we came away with was the realization that these are the very early days of this wine-technology marriage.
Highlights -
hanging w/Michael Brill at the Crushpad table - discussing harvest, fish tank heaters, weather and ...
Manning the Crushpad table which allowed for some more interaction with not just the folks manning the other tables but those walking the hall
being handed a couple bottles of wine just 'cause someone yelled in my ear
Papaya King after the event
Things we wanted to see:
More folks in both traditional uses (wine resellers, distributors, etc...) and new uses (bloggers, wine tracking software, wine making software, games, etc...)
demonstrations from the participants to accompany the couple speakers.
More local representation (since it was in NYC it would have been great to see more NY State wine representation)
All in all it was worthwhile for us to dip our feet in and mingle a bit. I look forward to seeing what comes down the pike in the coming months and years.
2) NY Wine in NY
We were able to make a couple fun wine stops in the city. The first was to Chambers Street Wine. Chambers Street is known for being one of the best wine shops in NYC and we could see why. For folks coming from the left coast a trip to an NYC wine shop is all about Europe and we weren't disappointed. Chambers street not only has a great selection of wines from the other side of the Atlantic but they are also really nice and helpful folks. Only disappointment: we didn't buy anything this visit (our fault not theirs).
After Chambers Street we wandered over to Vintage NY and spent at least an hour with them discussing all things NY wine, tasting some good whites, an interesting pinot noir and an incredible vidal ice wine (which did get us in the buying mood). This is a great place to stop by for some good local wine and to talk with some folks that are really passionate about the NY wine scene.
3) Baseball in NY
As two baseball fans we couldn't help but catch the very last night game EVER at Yankee Stadium.
Even for someone like myself that has always loved to hate the Yankees I couldn't help but feel the energy of this incredible park and be in awe over the enthusiasm of the fans that even with their team out of the playoffs showed up in droves and cheered like it was October. I hope, for NY's sake, that the new ballpark cam come close to what this ball park has been for the past 85 years.
4) Friday Night Jersey City
We got wrapped into the birthday celebrations for a 25 year old NJ bartender named Kim (the drunker KIm got the more Kim absolutely loathed us). Wrapped into a birthday party by just sitting at the right end of the bar. I'm not going to go into too many details about this night other then Dan being handed a dime bag by a two time ex-marine pinot gris spritzer sipping used car salesman ("I put asses in seats") and Kim, in her last fighting chance of drunken anger pointing to the two of us and saying:
"Wanna know why you two are not getting laid tonight?
...
"4 reasons..." (insert incoherent drunkenness followed by her wandering off)
fwiw, we could think of more than 4.
Outside of NY the weather has been a little unnerving on the west coast with rain on the horizon and grapes that are slowing down as the weather cools. We'll be crushing soon but through the continuation of an unpredictable year the schedule Dan posted previously has been made obsolete.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
How to Convert a Puncheon (the punx way)
Today we converted our puncheons to fermentation vessels. I am sure there is a correct way to do this. Here is the deux punx method. Please do not try to attempt at home.
Step 1. Drink before using power tools.
Step 2. Drill pilot holes.
Step 1. Drink before using power tools.
Step 2. Drill pilot holes.
Step 3. Try to saw the top out.
Step 4. Give up on sawing and hammer the crap out of it!
Step 5. Show the world your ass crack.
Step 6. Finished barrels.
Step 7. Free drunken warrior costume with each puncheon.
Step 4. Give up on sawing and hammer the crap out of it!
Step 5. Show the world your ass crack.
Step 6. Finished barrels.
Step 7. Free drunken warrior costume with each puncheon.Publish Post
Friday, September 12, 2008
where are the punx?
if the weather, the grapes and the sugars all obey us, this is our tentative harvest schedule. it is subject to daily, even hourly, changes.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
right around the corner
So the panic and the excitement are both setting in as we've now come to the realization that we have just over two weeks until the first of TWO harvests. The good news: it now appears these two are not going to happen at the same time (as previously feared).
Young pinot humboldt
syrah wahluke slope
LA marketing meeting
Pinot is just around the corner and in a couple weeks we'll be up in Humboldt in some sort of beverly hillbillies assortment of truck and trailer - picture the two of us driving down the 101 listening to loud music oblivious to the fact that grapes are flying out of the trailer and striking the vehicles behind us.
All in the bay area that wish to help sort (we'll feed you wine!) count yourselves recruited!
Young pinot humboldtFor all of you in WA that wish to help sort you have a couple weeks longer to become familiar with the inner workings of the syrah grape.
syrah wahluke slopeWe've also come to realize why companies end up blowing so much of their budgets on marketing departments. While i was suffering away in the north bay Dan and Brian were busy blowing the deux punx shoestring budget on mojitos by the pool in LA. For a life long Giants fan and a life long Padres fan these two are seeming far too comfortable with the LA lifestyle:
Monday, September 1, 2008
Counting down
So we're getting closer to harvest now and I think the pressure of the whole thing is starting to get to Dan.
We've got to hurry up and get our grapes before he does something drastic!!
We've got to hurry up and get our grapes before he does something drastic!!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Los Alamos - White Hawk
I have been involved with Syrah projects for the past 2 years that used grapes from White Hawk Ranch in Los Alamos. I final got to stop by the vineyard this past weekend on my drive along Highway 1o1 from LA to Paso.
The location is stunning! Warm but not too hot. Seems ideal for Syrah yet lacking the coastal effects for Pinot. The vineyard is quite large and lacked a farm house or winery. The fences had significant barbed wire so it was difficult to tell how the current crop is doing.
Like meeting someone you talk with only on the phone or email with, it's always nice to put a name with a face. It was nice to meet this vineyard face-to-face. I look forward to bottling the 2007 in about 5 months.
The location is stunning! Warm but not too hot. Seems ideal for Syrah yet lacking the coastal effects for Pinot. The vineyard is quite large and lacked a farm house or winery. The fences had significant barbed wire so it was difficult to tell how the current crop is doing.
Like meeting someone you talk with only on the phone or email with, it's always nice to put a name with a face. It was nice to meet this vineyard face-to-face. I look forward to bottling the 2007 in about 5 months.
Monday, August 18, 2008
'cause I'm not the tease Dan is...
The Eel river, Humboldt County, California
Fruitland Ridge
I think the pictures will speak for beauty of the environment and the specialness of the grapes that we are going to be soon working with. What the pictures won't speak to is what a great guy Alan is. We are more than excited to be working with Alan and feel fortunate to be working with his grapes.
Alan, Dan and I amongst the grapes
To say that this is a dramatic and beautiful landscape is a complete understatement. We were on a steep ridge looking across at the hills that lead to the Pacific and down to the grapes that Alan planted some 15 years ago.
The Three of us doing our best to make it back up the steep vineyards of Elk Prairie
Alan showing Dan the vineyards
Alan showing Dan the vineyards
And 'cause we did drink something this trip. The standouts were an incredible 2002 Woodenhead Pinot Noir sourced from Elk Prairie Grapes, a 2006 Briceland Pinot Noir from Fruitland Ridge grapes and Alan's own 2004 Elk Prairie Pinot Noir. The first two were enjoyed with Alan, the Briceland was enjoyed at Persimmons (1055 Redway Dr. Redway, CA) which is a garden gallery and newly open Humboldt focused wine tasting room in Redway - we recommend stopping by to drink some great Humboldt county wines.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
How many Puncheons fit in a 5x8 U-Hual trailer?
We spent Wednesday morning running errands in Napa. Getting up at 6am is easy when you're excited (and nervous) about getting your puncheons, barrel and harvest bins. Picked up Aaron in AmCan at 7:45am and headed to Yountville and the beautiful Blankiet Estate winery. Yes, once more we got lost. How many times is that now? The harvest bins are ultra-cool and hipster yellow. I am slowly mastering the art of backing a trailer up. The folks at Blankiet didn't think our 3 puncheons would fit in the Uhaul. Ohhhhh shit!
Next we headed to St. Helena to get the Puncheons from Cuvaison winery. Troy wasn't too sure they would fit either. Thank god the answer is 3. And double thanks we decided not to buy 4. Those big boys are heavy as hell (my guess is 160# each). More backing up the trailer (only 1 jackknife) and off to Billet in AmCan.
We picked up our new barrel and stuck it in the back of the Escape. The trailer has a 45mph speed limit, how lame is that? FYI, it handled fine at 60.
Dropped everything off at the DeuxPunx Crush Zone (aka my garage). Surprisingly it had been cleaned by my wife the night before. How nice is that? Dropped the trailer off with the rejects at Uhaul at 1:15pm and headed to the office.
What a day!
Next we headed to St. Helena to get the Puncheons from Cuvaison winery. Troy wasn't too sure they would fit either. Thank god the answer is 3. And double thanks we decided not to buy 4. Those big boys are heavy as hell (my guess is 160# each). More backing up the trailer (only 1 jackknife) and off to Billet in AmCan.
We picked up our new barrel and stuck it in the back of the Escape. The trailer has a 45mph speed limit, how lame is that? FYI, it handled fine at 60.
Dropped everything off at the DeuxPunx Crush Zone (aka my garage). Surprisingly it had been cleaned by my wife the night before. How nice is that? Dropped the trailer off with the rejects at Uhaul at 1:15pm and headed to the office.
What a day!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
planning and terroir
it's august already which means we're closing in on our harvest and need to get our ducks in a row. what better place to do this than terroir. This may have become our new "office" with it's great choice of natural wines, an amazing vibe that crosses Parisian neighborhood wine bar with a laid back surf shop and has everything from Gang of Four to Belle and Sebastian playing on the turntables (anyone that mentions Pylon in their frequent plays has got my vote).
While we did start the next stage of planning on the wheres, whats and hows for the 2008 harvest we also got to enjoy a couple great spatleses and a couple great reds (bourgogne from Olivier Guyot and cairanne from Domaine Richaud).
I'm going out on a limb to predict that this is going to be a great harvest and that we're going to be spending a lot more time at Terroir.
Once Dan is done gloating about the Giants' win I'm sure he'll post some pix of the wines we drank and the room we drank them in.
Here are the pics:
aaron likes his new office view.
can you spot the deux punx chalkings in the terroir potty room?
things always end up blurry at terroir!
While we did start the next stage of planning on the wheres, whats and hows for the 2008 harvest we also got to enjoy a couple great spatleses and a couple great reds (bourgogne from Olivier Guyot and cairanne from Domaine Richaud).
I'm going out on a limb to predict that this is going to be a great harvest and that we're going to be spending a lot more time at Terroir.
Once Dan is done gloating about the Giants' win I'm sure he'll post some pix of the wines we drank and the room we drank them in.
Here are the pics:
aaron likes his new office view.
can you spot the deux punx chalkings in the terroir potty room?
things always end up blurry at terroir!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
WA vs. CA Dinner
With a barrel sample in hand, Aaron showed up on Friday night for a casual BBQ. Along with smuggled beirwurst from Germany (thanks Thomas), cheeses, olives, flank steak, chicken, tamales, rice, coleslaw, peach pie and ice cream we had a wine show down. It wasn't a contest and no one got their feelings hurt. Just a great chance to compare vintages, regions and styles. I am sure Aaron will post more about the syrah sample, but just let me say "pinot of syrah."
Here is what we had:
2006 Inkling Syrah Santa Barbara
2007 Barrel Sample Syrah Wahluke Slope
2006 K Syrah Mibrandt Wahluke Slope
2006 Anthill Farms Pinot Noir Anderson Valley
2003 Crauford Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
2005 Covey Run Reserve Semillion Ice Wine Yakima
2005 Crushpad Lemuris Botrytus Late Harvest Pinot Blanc
That ice wine was a fan favorite, but led to debates of it's gender and the sexuality of those who enjoy it. I think we'll have to do much more investigating on the subject. Posting coming soon!
Here is what we had:
2006 Inkling Syrah Santa Barbara
2007 Barrel Sample Syrah Wahluke Slope
2006 K Syrah Mibrandt Wahluke Slope
2006 Anthill Farms Pinot Noir Anderson Valley
2003 Crauford Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
2005 Covey Run Reserve Semillion Ice Wine Yakima
2005 Crushpad Lemuris Botrytus Late Harvest Pinot Blanc
That ice wine was a fan favorite, but led to debates of it's gender and the sexuality of those who enjoy it. I think we'll have to do much more investigating on the subject. Posting coming soon!
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