Ladies and Gentlemen, We Give You...

DP.08.HC.PN

Bottling the '08 Humboldt County Pinot Noir

The first deux punx collaboration is in the bottle!!! This started with an email asking about joining forces on an Anderson Valley pinot project and 18 months, 85 blog posts, a couple dozen unforeseen obstacles, devastating frosts, many cases of wine (consumed for nerves), bars from NYC to Garberville, CA, a crashed birthday party in a Jersey City Bar, numerous underwhelming wine events, much to much plotting, planning and dreaming and much moral and sweat equity support from family and friends we are finally in the bottle and able to... continue planning for doing it all over again!!!

So the bottling process all started with deciding on a blend. We have both a new and a neutral barrel each of which brings their own thing to the table. A party of 5 of us agreed (well 4 out of 5) on a blend of 53% new and 47% neutral oak.

The notebook capturing the blend
The cases of bottles waiting to be filled

the setup - barrels and the tank we used for blending and bottling from
defending the blend at it's most vulnerable

The first into the tank was the new barrel

using gravity to measure the tank volume we'd taped levels on the side of the tank
Dan fills the very last of the bottles
in the process of filling we're also tasting, and tasting, and tasting and...

The bottles lined up for waxing

bottling and corking
most of all winemaking is cleaning, cleaning, cleaning

And the finished product!!!


On top of bottling the majority of the wine we're also experimenting with corney kegs and kleen kanteens - keeping the wine sitting under argon and assessing how it ages in the kegs. What does storage under argon do to the flavor of the wine, what does it do to the nose? The hope is that, at least in the relative near-term, it is relatively identical to the wine under cork.

What's next you ask??

A garage Roussanne?
Moving the Pinot to a bonded winery in Napa?
Getting our wholesale license for 2010?
hustling to actually get our 2010 (still on the vine) into some of our favorite restaurants and stores?
Another year of WA Syrah?

YES YES YES YES and YES!

But next up we've got some labels to complete!

We're Knots

Sailors have nothing on the Deux Punx. Here is a small sampling of our unique knot skills:

the olson twist (aka the wtf)...

the schaaf twister (aka the tangler)

the web (aka the chaos knot)


the life saving noose


the wicked web (aka we suck at knots)

Schlameel, Schlamaazal Hassenpepper Incorporated

Admit it, you love Laverne and Shirley. Moreover, you have always wanted to work on the Shotz Brewery bottling line with them.


Well here is your chance. Sort of.

Mark your calendar for August 22nd to come out and help us bottle the 2008 Pinot Noir. We have 600 bottles that need to be filled, corked, waxed and labeled. The fun happens on Fairmount Street in sunny San Francisco. Please sign up now (space is limited).



ps. I Aaron is definitely Shirley...

Nice Rack and New Pump

We racked the 2008 Pinot for the last time this past weekend. In classic punx fashion it took twice (or four times) as long as needed. The culprit this time was our aging pump. This again is another argument for the much needed pallet jack. So two trips to moreflavor and all is good. The new pump is great.

lesson 1: gravity always works

The wine is clearing up nicely, the color is deep burgundy, the smell is beautiful cranberry and cherry and the taste is better than we could ever hope for. We think we have a wine that will make the pains of reading this blog soon disappear.

4 to 5 weeks until bottling. Helpers sign up now. Drinkers save your allowances.

we won't have the waxing queen for the
pinot, who will step up and take over?

Calm Before the Storm(s)

I know everyone in our bloggisphere is wondering why we aren't posting that much these days. Are Le Deux Punx busy? On vacation? In France? Working business deals? The answers are simply: Kind of, sometimes, no (but watching the Tour), and yes.

stained hands are in our future...

We are finalizing our approach to the 2009 harvest and deciding whom to buy grapes from, what do make with them, how to make it and where to make it. Our approach is going to be much different than 2008. We will still do a Wahluke Slope Syrah in Olympia (the 2008 barrel samples are reason enough to keep that going). We are still in line for Fruitland Ridge Pinot and might even up the tonnage. We are eying some award winning Grenache that could make a great summertime Rose. And just to be completely insane we are making some Roussanne in 100% steel.

We are working on doing a good portion of this under a bond so that we can legally sell it. It's now just a matter or time and money.

The 2008 Pinot is getting racked this weekend and should be in the bottle ((and other storage vessels (cutting edge technology)) in August. We again will be looking for helpers.

not making absinthe in 2009,
just drinking it when harvest
is complete!

Bad Trannies and Great Pinot

we drove 200+ miles to paso robles yesterday to buy a 300-liter steel tank from gary of shadow canyon vineyards. it was a hot one in paso but we were ready (or so we thought). after a nice lunch on the city's town square park we attempted to hit the road. my car wouldn't go into drive. oh shit! after a visit to 2 useless transmission shops we decided that come hell or highwater we'd get the tank and drive bank, even if we had to drive the entire way in 2nd gear at 45 mph.

we made it to shadow canyon, a great spot in the templeton gap. gary grows syrah and grenache that is used in lots of high scoring wines. and he's a great guy. 4 C notes later we had the tank in the bank to the escape and we were ready to see how lucky we are.


we made it! not sure how, but we did.

we drank a bottle of linne calodo rose like it was a big gulp. it was hot is SF and we were happy to be home and not stuck in paso, king city, salinas, gilroy or san jose. we also drank a nice loire white to cool off. then we decided to see how the pinot was doing. both of us were floored by how much it had change in the last 3-4 weeks. the fruit is dropping back nicely and the acids are mellowing too. we drank a bottle of aaron's 07 wahluke syrah. aaron filed through the festivities in the castro (pride weekend) to get home.

what a day! all worth it.

here is a quick video of the tasting, i figured you didn't want to watch me work on the tranny.

*Note: the transmission repair cost = one tone of pinot noir...

Deux Golden Glasses

Well our marketing department finally lived up to it's duties. Brian got us into The Golden Glass at Fort Mason. I think the event organizers need to come up with another name; the deviant in me thinks the name sounds porn related. My mind is in the gutter.

a label we liked

The event is intended to showcase Slow Foods and wines that use grapes that are indigenous or "classic" to their region. Sounds good to me. The place was packed with a mixed crowd that favored single women in their 30s. I think someone should have told them the Deux Punx are both married. But why spoil their day?

LOTS of Italian wines, a region I am a bit weak on. Their were a few US and Kiwi wines and 1 or 2 Spanish items. We made a lap of whites with breaks for slow foods and water. Most wines were good, a few things very good and 1 or 2 that amazed. The white standout was this Offida Pecorino Pistillo from Poderi San Lazzaro.

white winner

Next came a half-assed lap of reds. 1 Borlo and your palate is shot. More food. Lots more water. At some point I was just spent and didn't care. The standouts were a lesson on Amarones from a very nice guy and the Paritua Pinot from New Zealand.

red winner's riesling friend

If our marketing department can swing it, we will be back next year.

deux punx taking a break

Note to single men: lots of available ladies drinking lots of free wine...

2007 syrah bottling video

because we were so busy with the bottling the 2007 syrah we didn't capture too much video. here is some of the clean up (can you tell how tired we were?) and some driving around seattle.

Twisted Times in Calaveras

Because it was Memorial Day weekend, and because we bought a new car, and because it was 55-degrees in San Francisco, we headed to Calaveras County to check out the wine scene there. Aaron has been a fan of Twisted Oak for some years and we figured there might be some interesting things happening in this gold miner town 2-hours east of the City.

aaron pours for all

The drive was easy and the weather got nice once we got the the vast Central Valley. By the time we pulled up to Twisted Oak in Vallecitos it was a perfect 83-degrees. This is an impressive site for a winery. And not in the gaudy Napa mansion way. The have a rustic main building with a large tasting room and a few other winery buildings and sheds. This place is all about having fun. Their humor is endless. Everywhere you turn is a funny sign or a rubber chicken in a tree. Wacky. At first it seemed geeky; but by the time I left I was a believer. Note: nothing succeeds like excess.

the wackiness infects these two

We enjoyed a perfect picnic lunch and a bottle of their Rueben's Blend. A nice Rhone white that needed a bit more chill. Hand made salumi, stinky cheeses and artisan breads made for a memorable meal amongst the oaks and pines.

Next came the tasting. No fee and they poured about a thousand wines (or 10+). Nothing was too far off the mark. They lean towards Italians and Rhones. They aren't trying to make wines that don't work up there. And they price their wines in that sweet 15-25 buck range. The standouts are the Rhone White Blend, the Spaniard and the Pig Stai. We didn't go away empty handed.

deux twisted shoppers

We next traveled to Murphys. A touristy town that is worth the stop. "Quaint" doesn't say enough. It's well kept and full of wineries, cafes and shops that you actually want to go into. We stopped into Hatcher, Tanner and Newsome-Harlow. The tasting rooms are all nice and comfortable. They cater to the visitors, casual drinkers and old ladies with the tackiest t-shirts you have ever seen. We felt all these wineries are working hard to make solid wines. Nothing is more than $30. Most have a rose or a white in the sub-$15 range. It's much different tasting here than Napa/Sonoma. There isn't that high-end biased and there also isn't much swill either.

murphys - chicken in a barrel

A nice dinner was had and a long sleepy drive back to the wall of fog.

Iron & Wine and wine

i have been listening to Iron & Wine a lot lately. plus who doesn't like early New Order?

we just bought a 300 liter steel tank for our 2009 white wine (or fun red) project.

Hot Day in Sonoma

We headed up to Sonoma with our buddy Alan Baker (@cellarrat) to check out some wineries and run some errands. Alan is moving to Healdsburg to get back into winemaking full time. We are on the lookout for a host winery (still).

We first hit up a small collective tasting room with about 5 or 6 wineries. It was a great room but for some reason we could only taste from 2 of the wineries. Not much of a "tasting" room. What we had was nice. Nothing knocked my sox off. The Owl Ridge cab was the standout.

The grabbed some sammies in Hburg and headed to Arista to get a picnic table and a bottle of Gewurtz. Not an original idea; the places was busy and the tables packed. I liked what I tasted. Some classic Russian River pinots, nice location and super nice staff. This is a great place to take out-of-towners.

It was about 95 degrees outside by now, but the windows were down so we could soak in the wine country air. The growth of the vines is coming along nice and there are flowers setting up. The hot weather following a bit a rain a few weeks ago is playing out well.

Neither Aaron or Alan had been to Porter Creek, so off we went. These guys are doing it right! Nothing we tasted was off the mark. The tiny tasting room was packed and Mike made sure everyone was taken care of and explained the Porter Creek wines well. I ended up taking home a 2005 syrah and a 2007 Carignane. Which is odd, because I just about never go for Carignane. My wallet couldn't handle the pinot prices.

Mike @ Porter Creek

Next it was Thomas George which occupies the former Davis Bynum site next to Porter Creek. They sure improved this site. The tasting room has plenty of light and there is a huge cave being excavated into the hills. The standout was an unoaked chardonnay.

The one thing Aaron and I really needed to do was get to Woodenhead to buy some Fruitland Ridge pinot. You just cannot find this stuff around San Francisco these days. We bought 5 bottles and drank one on the deck overlooking the valley. We tasted only one other wine while we were there and it was epic. Again, $60 for this Anderson Valley just wasn't happening for my funds. We were on edge to see what Alan made of the Fruitland Ridge wine. We had built it up all day and a bit affraid we'd over hyped it. Apprently not! Add Alan as a believer in Southern Humboldt.

Aaron takes it all in at Woodenhead

Time to get out of the 95+ temps and back to the perfect weather in San Francisco. Alan tried a barrel sample of our 2008 pinot and we opened a bottle of the 2007 Wahluke syrah. Feedback was quite positive. A large neighborhood BBQ ensued, lots of bottles were tasted, meat eaten, kids going nuts and a rough Sunday morning. Needless to say we didn't make it to play baseball nor run the Bay to Breakers.

Highlights: Getting out of town, tasting great stuff, seeing wineries busy as ever and getting honest feedback on our wines.

Alan starting Bay to Breakers
(12 hours early).

bottling the '07 Wahluke Syrah

Besides an excuse to pick up our wines at Garagiste we had rented a Dodge Charger to make the drive up to bottle the '07 Syrah, rack the '08 syrah, hang with my dad for his birthday and spend some quality time w/my mom and some of the Oly gang. More than anything the Charger felt like the right car for our Smokey and The Bandit run back to CA with a trunk load of wine.

The Charger - Ready to roll!


For those that haven't set up there own bottling line (prior to last weekend that included us) it involves an assembly like process:

1) Wash bottles and hang on bottle tree to dry
2) fill bottles with gravity fed bottle filler
3) cork wine with floor corker
4) dip tip of wine bottle in wax and set aside to dry
5) put back in case and move on to next

One half of the bottling "line".


My mom's excellent work on the Wax.

Knowing that we were going to have to do a little learning on our feet we stayed away from the Whiskey (unlike a previous Garberville run) instead spending the night before bottling hanging with friends, seeing a great new band (Western Hymn, and drinking a large quantity of one standout WA beer - Snoqualmie's Spring Fever Grand Cru.

Dan, contemplating a piss.


Deux Punx apres douze Bieres.

Bottling was largely carried out By Dan, my mom and myself. We had a number of part time helpers throughout the day but between the three of us spent the entire day down in the basement washing, filling, corking and waxing. This was followed by some racking of the '08 and a little enjoying of the fruits of our labors.

Ed, visiting to "supervise" and get as much of the '08 out of the barrel as he could get away with.


My dad cracking open the first of the '07's way ahead of its time (what, were we going to let this crowd drink all of our Garagiste loot?!?!).

The wine report:

'07 Wahluke Syrah - this is a wild wine that at its young age is still in need of some balance. It shows some nice blackberry and plum with a nice acid backbone. The fruit really jumps out right now but we expect it to settle down with some patience.

'08 Wahluke Syrah - We knew this was going to be really good and weren't disappointed. This a great WA syrah showing some familial similarities to the '07 but coming together with the black pepper and earth background and a much more balanced fruit to acid. With the way this is coming along we may pull the trigger on bottling earlier than next spring. This feels like it's going to be ready to drink alot younger than the '07 (probably before the '07) but with a nice acid backbone should age a bit - if we can hold off!

We've got more grapes coming in from Wahluke this fall and are looking forward to where this next year shapes up compared to the first two vintages.

Our Trip to (Wine) Mecca

deux punx at garagiste

While up in the Pacific Northwest (Olympia), bottling Aaron's 2007 Wahluke Syrah, we made a day trip to Seattle. After a brief ferry ride to Baimbridge and lunch at Ivars, we went to one of the great wine spots on the Left (West) Coast. GARAGISTE.

cool as shit!

Aaron and I have been addicted to this email based wine retailer for about 4 months and find it very difficult to not say yes to every email they send. Be it a Loire for $10 or a 1940's Bordeaux for $500. We finally had a chance to pick up the fruits of our emailing/credit card labor. I had about 14 bottles ready to go and Aaron twice that. The staff was out back of this shanty looking building having a great smelling Friday BBQ. When we walked inside the warehouse I just about pissed myself. This chilly building was so big my vision went blurry. Calling us kids in a candy store would be an understatement.

don't be fooled by this shack

We rushed our wines back to Olympia to get them in a cool place and just stared at the bottles and geeked out way too much. We have opened just about one of each of the wines and each of them has been stellar.

I would recommend Garagiste to you, but I don't need the competition on the deals. So save your hard earned credit and let us spend ours.

aaron just about to explode with joy

barrel sample party

aaron will write a post that does our barrel sample party justice in a day or two. for now, put up with this video!




Looking back that A-hole Aaron (me) never did get around to wrapping up the report on the pinot barrel tasting. To put the wrap up simply - we had a good 12-18 people through the garage for barrel sampling of our pinot as well as a number of pinots from CA, OR, NZ and FR - 8 in total. We made a point of keeping out samples from both the neutral and new oak as well as the blend that we are aiming for. The overall consensus is was:

A) everyone was blown away by how different the wine out of the two barrels tasted - I think the general assumption was that this was one of the differences that was more marketing than real difference, a subtlety that Only a "trained" pallet could discern.

B) everyone was blow away by how much the blend of the two complemented each other and made for a wine in which the grapes jump back out to center stage again.

C) We felt that we are actually on to something. Both Dan and I were humbled by the true Burgandy that we had in the fold with the other wines but also really excited by the fact that our wine fit nicely in with the rest of those we tasted. With the last of the pre-bottling racking behind us we are now just in the sit back and wait stage w/the Pinot. Bottling in August - we hope to see you there.

Racking Red (movie)

enjoy!