Two Mountain Winery's Festive Holiday Pairs

It’s been said that a classic Cab goes great with Christmas lamb chop, and that for lighter dishes a Riesling will suffice, but here we’re all about the wine (and less about the usual way of doing things) so today, we’ve decided to provide all of Ye Faithful Wine Drinkers with our own ideas on holiday wine pairings. Gangnam Two Mountain style. Let’s begin:
 

1. Chardonnay + that ugly Christmas sweater

 

Nothing says Klassy Kristmas like the Chardonnay/Christmas sweater combo… Inevitably, one of your friends will throw a party that necessitates you outfitting yourself in one, in which case you can get completely sloshed and not worry about stains! Fashion, high and low, has considerations – and your wine selection is no exception.

2.  Cabernet Sauvignon + Bing Crosby Christmas album 

Well come onnnnnn, this one was obvious! Listening to the classics demands a big glass of gorgeous Cab. The more sips taken while dancing around, the more unabashed you’ll be about hitting all the high notes.  (Note: for the particularly festive, substitute Cabernet Franc.) 

3.  Lemberger + (warm socks +) Home Alone on DVD/VHS

When we say that Lemberger would go well with Christmas ham, some of us mean the main course on the dinner table, while others of us are referring to Macaulay Culkin in the best holiday movie EVER, Home Alone. (That kid is such a ham!) The peppery hints of the Lemberger hit you like a spare 2x4 hits Daniel Stern (every so often and right at the good parts), and its light body is perfectly mood-appropriate. (The warm socks are also crucial to the enjoyment of both – no good movie and no fine wine can be appreciated fully with cold feet.)

4. String of Christmas lights + Johnny Walker Blue Label

Trust us when we say that when it comes to Christmas lights, wine will not suffice. You are going to need the extra patience in the cord untangling / dead bulb identifying departments. We present you with our most suitable wine alternative and our sincere concern.

For those of you wearing Santa suits, in posession of Reindeer paraphernalia (antlers and noses notwithstanding), fashioning Mistletoe headbands, or celebrating Hanukkah, please inquire with Kelly, our Tasting Room coordinator, about case specific recommendations.

….and for all of you, Merry Christmas from us, and happy holidays!

(Also, don't forget... free December shipping, hohoho.)

This Week at Two Mountain Winery

*WARNING: This post contains a teaser!*

After putting the last of the 2012 vintage to barrel, Matt got busy tasting the 2011s (while Kelly experimented with video recording): 

The rest of the crew did some bottling and labeling of…well… here’s the preview:

There’s more to come (in news and wine) so stay tuned!

Post-Fermentation + Patience

Annnnnd, breathe! We pressed the last of what was in the bins this week and have entered the post-fermentation phase of winemaking – the ‘finish’. From here there are several strategies: some wines will be matured in oak barrels, some put in stainless steel, some drunk young. There is maturation (aging, as previously mentioned), and clarification (fining, filtering, etc.) and eventually there is bottling. Unlike harvest and crush, the emphasis is not on expediency but patience… which we will have plenty of this winter (fireside with fuzzy socks and plenty of Port).

In the meantime, we’re using what we can of the pomace for the flowerbeds around the winery. No reason for good compost material to go to waste. These are the (pruned) rose bushes in front of the office:

Check back in for Thanksgiving in Wine Country this weekend (Nov. 23-24) and some Thanksgiving wine recommendations here too!

Rewind: Winemaker for a Day

Our Winemaker for a Day event on October 20th was a great one! We had a little over 30 (amateurs and afficiandos alike) join us for a two hour crash-course in the science (and art) of winemaking. Those who attended learned about brix and harvest-ready fruit, how to read and use important tools (hydrometers and refractometers notwithstanding), take temperature readings and fruit samples, and generally feel what it feels like to participate in the process of crush. A messy-good time was had by all.

A self-described "beer lover turned brewer turned blogger" was among our guests. Read about her experience here:

ThisGirlBrews: Brewette Does Wine: Although dipping into the wine world might seem like a slight departure from the norm for this Brewette, my love affair with wine has been...

Crushin'

CRUSH (n.)
1. During harvest season when the grapes are picked then crushed or squeezed for juice.
2. A painful experience, very common among middle schoolers, that involves being obsessed with a member of the opposite sex for any length of time; also, the object of this affection.

Whether you are in winemaking or the throes of unrequited middle school love, crush is upon us. In honor of such an occasion (which on the wine farm happens once annually, and in the alternative scenario ad infinitum) – we thought we’d throw together an index of wine tasting terms applicable to both wine glass and love interest. Read on and share our childlike enthusiasm for imagining our honeyboo boo childs through wine terminology:

SUBTLE (adj.)
Delicate or slightly mysterious, difficult to perceive or understand, subtlety is an art form.
YOUR WINE: Possessing finesse, flavors that are understated rather than full-blown or overt.

AGGRESSIVE (adj.)
Making an all-out effort to succeed, being boldly assertive and confidently self-assured, IN IT TO WIN IT.
YOUR WINE: Harsh or pronounced in taste or texture, usually due to a high level of acid or tannin.

FORWARD (adj.)
Direct, honest, and upfront: usually the way you are not when it comes to crushing.
YOUR WINE: Having bold, easily distinguishable flavors. Matured to the ideal age, having reached its full flavor potential realized. (…but how great does that sound?)

with nice LEGS (n.)
The viscous droplets that form and ease down the sides of the glass when the wine is swirled—indicating fullness. Alternatively, sexy when tanned.

… and avoid those which are NUTTY, MUSTY, BITTER or BLUNT. And don’t come crying to us if you don’t take that advice.

Water VS Wine

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine… and to those who don’t:

As Ben Franklin said, “In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.”

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 litre of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) – bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor)because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

So remember: Water = Poop, Wine = Health.

Therefore, it’s better to drink wine and talk stupid than to drink water and be full of shit.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information, I’m doing it as a public service!

 

Source

And so it all begins...

We’ve picked almost two tons of big, beautiful, brixy fruit already (Roussanne and some Tempranillo) and have much more ahead (Sauvignon Blanc, Vigonier and Semillon today) …harvest has arrived, yes it has.

Two elephantine tons and an approximate 93 to go – enough to cause a Sub-Saharan herd some concern. Everything here is hand-harvested by the 15 seasonal workers we have in the vineyards – vine by vine, bunch by bunch.

One of the greatest advantages of hand harvesting is that we’re able to control which clusters are and are not included in our yield. Avoiding leaves, stems, and fruit that doesn’t meet our standard, in the end, adds up to better quality wine. It’s also the way it’s been done for hundreds of years. Why mess with tradition?

Each of the guys on our team is able to pick about 1.5 tons per day (!!!) – so if no one eats, sleeps, or takes any bathroom breaks, we should be done in… the next few weeks. Right on schedule!

2012 is looking to be a fantastic vintage. Predictions all over the valley have been that of record crop yields. As we finish September with the last of the warm days, and progress through crush and fermentation, we should be looking at some classics.

Here are some photos... and this is just the beginning!

 

An Ode to Veraison

So much for boring grape growth cycle descriptions… here's a stab at veraison… in verse:

An Ode to Veraison

As September first begins,
And Huskies start accruing wins,
Before crush and fermentation,
Is a process called veraison.

 

After fruit set, hard and green,
Full of acid, not too sweet,
On the vines the berries sit,
Ripening til harvest hits.

 

When the fruit starts changing colors,
In the vineyard are the Brothers,
Making sure rate fruit to leaf
Is high as hell on harvest eve.

 

Alternatively, there's this.

Onward.... to harvest!

Two Digits at Two Mountain

 

2002: A Look Back

January: Michael Jackson is named Artist of the Century.
May: Mars Odyssey finds ice water deposits on Mars.
September: Switzerland joins the UN.
Harvest: Matt crushes his first vintage, and the rest is history.

Since we first opened the tasting room in 2002, Two Mountain has picked up several varietals and made a few architectural advances. Ten vintages bottled and many lessons learned, culminating in two digits of Two Mountain in 2012. Too many twos not to throw a party.

On Saturday, we celebrate the result of all of the people we’ve met, places we’ve visited, and things we’ve accomplished in the most festive way we know how: with lots of food and wine. A slow roasted pig and a blues band, garden games, photos, the release of our limited production Brothers No. 3 reserve blend, and a rare peek at Patrick... dancing. Charge your camera batteries, because he doesn't two-step too often.

If you'd like to join us as we make new memories and remember old ones, several tickets are still available. Contact our Tasting Room Coordinator for more information or to RSVP by emailing kelly@twomountainwinery.com or calling 509.829.3900.

 

Here’s to two digits at Two Mountain! See you Saturday at 6:30.

Happiness at Home

To a happy person, the formula for happiness is quite simple. Regardless of what happened early this morning, last week, or last year—or what may happen later this evening, tomorrow, or three years from now—now is where happiness lies.  – Richard Carlson

Summer sunset in Zillah with a view of Mount Adams

Alaska Airlines < 3 Washington Wine

….and right back at em, Washington Wines < 3 Alaska Airlines. A recent partnershipbetween Alaska Airlines and Yakima Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau is making travelling with wine that much easier:  

“Passengers who bring a case of wine that is packaged according to airline standards can check it for free at the Yakima Airport as of Sept. 1, thus saving up to $65.”

Check it?! Like… for free?!  Like a lot of wineries, we’ve got shippers and inserts to make it even easier. Find more information about the Taste and Tote program here.

Where will you be Sunday at 10am?

It’s not often that Zillah is mentioned as an epicenter, so when it was mentioned as The Epicenter (okay, the capitals may not have been necessary) of the Rattlesnake Hills in this month’s feature article about a weekendwine getaway to our very own AVA, we thought it was noteworthy enough to share. The two day tour they put together takes readers from the Yakima Greenway though eight Zillah wineries (Cultura and Portteus Wineries included) restaurants, B&Bs, and Two Mountain Winery somewhere in the middle. Yep, yep! We got a couple good paragraphs and a nice photo of Gus (ever the guard dog) laying out in front of the tasting room, which the writer qualified as an unpretentious “World War II airplane hangar” – alright, we’ll take it!

And for the moments that you're not sipping and swirling, tasting and touring, this is also pretty cool: 

Dog's Life is Difficult

A particularly sad yellow Lab was telling his troubles to his friend. "I'm depressed. I think negative thoughts. I'm always bored and always tired."

"Why not go see a psychiatrist?" suggested the friend.

"Well, I would," said the Lab, "except that I'm not allowed on the couch."

The Riesling's Getting Ready...

As our entire digital personal histories chill in Facebook’s new sub-zero storage unit not too far away, Two Mountain’s 2011 Riesling is doing something very similar in our own refrigerated storage unit… in anticipation for tomorrow’s Case of the Blues and All That Jazz. We are not, as Facebook appears to be, preparing for an impending apocalypse, but for an awesome night and another year’s excuse to bust a few dance moves and air guitar riffs, and hang out on a hot summer’s night with all of our friends at Sarg Hubbard Park. Which red we decide to pour, well… you’ll just have to stop by the table and see for yourself.

Until tomorrow!

Buried in the Terroir...

Two archeologists stopped by today to share some of the (over 100!) artifacts they found on a preliminary dig they began today down the road from the winery. Among the few examples they brought, pictured below, were Native American ground stone, milk glass from sometime around the 1930s, a piece of thin glass lantern, and another small shard of glass. (So cool of them to share it.) Talk about rich terroir!

All of this prompted some inquisition as to who these pieces of history might have belonged to, and who helped it flourish from the time this little city came to be in the late 1800s.  (By 1920, the town had a whopping 647 residents and today it is fast approaching 3,000.) A lot of possibilities nestled in there and a lot of lingering questions about what's been left behind. The dig continues tomorrow!

A lovely little wedding reception

Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

Aaaaaaand, a recent private wedding reception at Two Mountain was no exception. We were only able to sneak a few photos, but here is the winery all dolled up:

Recap: Wine Club Dinner & a Movie

We love our Wine Club! And because we do, we invited our Friends and Family for a little dinner and a movie action right here in our very own tasting room. The film of choice? “O Brother Where Art Thou”. And dinner? Grilled pork loin with an apricot glaze, grilled tomatoes topped with garlic aioli, a potato and green bean salad, lots of wine, and backyard Bing cherries with French Vanilla ice cream to top it all off. Yum yum and yum. Thank you for the fun!

Ready... FRUIT SET!

If you’re like our tasting room manager, there is a very real possibility that when someone says “fruit set” your instinct says Pier One. If you are more like our vineyard manager (and less excited about home décor) “fruit set” has a whole different meaning, and it’s a whole lot more relevant…

Fruit set is the third stage in a grape’s growth cycle, and here on the wine farm we are well into it. When the flower on the vine gets fertilized, a seed (with a big juicy grape to protect it) begins to develop. Not all of the flowers get fertilized, so this is (like all of ‘em) an important part of the growing process.

Bud break à flowering à fruit set à veraison à HARVEST!

What?! Harvest?!?? Grow baby grow!!!

Dog Lovers Need Wine Too!

We are certainly a dog friendly winery… With four of our own around here, what’s a few more to keep em company? This week in winedog news: Stoli, Gus, Rudy, and Bentley got a shoutout on Yakima Valley’s Wine Doggie blog, and Two Mountain was written up as one of Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s favorite dog friendly tasting rooms.

Yakima Valley Wine Doggies Website

http://visityakima.com/wine-doggies/wine-doggie-stories.asp

Wine Enthusiast’s Favorite Dog Friendly Tasting Rooms

http://www.winemag.com/Wine-Enthusiast-Magazine/Web-2012/Dog-Friendly-Tasting-Rooms/

We’ve got a big old water bucket and plenty of space for them to play, and occasionally we’ve got a treat or two around. Although we always encourage folks to bring their puppies along while they wine taste with us, we have yet to answer that age old question… which wine pairs best with dog hair?!

Now that you mention it...

Not to really beat this one over the head, but an article in the new Summer 2012 issue of Winepress Northwest confirms: “The Pacific Northwest is Riesling country.”

The magazine tasted 130 Rieslings (only 35 of which, like ours, with a residual sugar percentage under 1) from the Pacific Northwest. Only eight of them were from the Yakima Valley.

Two Mountain’s 2011 Riesling received a Best Buy and got an excellent review:

“Brothers Matthew and Patrick Rawn run this winery near the Yakima Valley town of Zillah, and they are producing superb, crowd-pleasing wines. This Riesling is no exception. It opens with aromas of tropical fruit and honeydew melon, followed by flavors of lemon juice, apples and pears, all backed with steely acidity. This Is a bold dry wine that will pair nicely with grilled chicken or seafood gumbo.”

So, a toast to our Riesling and to others enjoyment of it! Cheers!

Cherry Picking & Barrel Topping

The last few days at the winery, punctuated by cherry picking breaks, we’ve been barrel topping. Because of the porous nature of the barrels, it’s a necessary part of the process that involves replenishing small amounts of the evaporated wines and adjusting sulfur levels. More evaporation = more air = greater likelihood of oxidization = less cases of Hidden Horse. INTERVENTION!!!

Today we finished all of the 2010 barrels. The good news is that none of them had oxidized, and the great news is that they were tasting and smelling delicious, and looking ready to be bottled by September.

Below are some shots of the barrel-topped 2010s in the tasting room:

Straw anyone?

Tasting room madness...

Father’s Day Wine: A Case for Riesling

If your dad, like mine, enjoys a glass of wine (or two) ((with his Jack Daniels))… which one do you uncork for him?

If you’re the type to take every clichéd piece of advice out there on the internet, you would choose a big, bold Cabernet Sauvignon. Quite logical indeed, these wines are intense, full-bodied, often better with age, typically posses hints of oak and cigar, and usually rich (or at least in comparison to say, a broke, recent college graduate with a car payment due…) You could very well be describing the old guy in a shade of burgundy.    

But because at Two Mountain we’ve always been the type to go against the grain, and our dads wouldn’t expect anything less of us, we’d like to make a case for Riesling:

Since its introduction to the world of wine, Riesling has taken a “tenacious foothold” in today’s modern market (becoming Washington State’s most planted grape, among other indicators).

It has incredible versatility, ranging from one extreme (dry Rieslings like ours, with only .2% residual sugar) to another (responsible for some of the best dessert wines in the world), from light bodied to full, pale yellow to golden—allowing it to express a broad range of characteristics that many varietals are unable to.

You can pair a Riesling with just about any dish—Asian foods, pulled pork, guacamole…. and on, and on. In the same way, you can pair a Riesling with just about any type of dad—Sean Connery, Ned, or otherwise.

Yes, Rieslings are highly aromatic—fruit, flower, and a bit of minerality—but not perfumy. And most Rieslings are not aged, but instead drunk young. Which could weaken my argument, except:

Riesling has been described as “the finest example of the important complementary role that sugar and acid play in wine’s overall balance.”

And if Dads teach us anything, it is to be strong when we are weak, to believe in ourselves when we don’t, and to fix things when they are broken. Balance, steady-headedness, and the virtue of temperance (…if fatherhood was like wine consumption…?) all in one symbolic little glass.

We think gratitude is in a crisp, refreshing Riesling. And if you forgot to buy him a card on the way over, have its hue be your thank you: let him drink his gold medal.

Shoutout to Washington Wines / We Got Mail

We love mail and we love Washington State wines. Accordingly, we love mail about Washington State wines… so this appearing at the office made us all a little giddy: (Is that weird?)

TMW got an LA Times travel section cutout headlined “THE SECRET IS OUT” (at least, the Californians are finally figuring it out…) about Chelan as a secret Washington State escape. But hey, shoutout to the North West! We love the love, and it’s always nice to see Washington wines get a little interstate attention.

At Chelan, the article says it’s a “swim-read-eat-nap-repeat” cycle… and Yakima Valley isn’t too far off. At Two Mountain it’s a “pet-taste-nap-snag cherries-head to the Stonehenge” cycle (in that order), but it’s all relative.

It’s a great read, and you can check out the online version here.

Memorial Day Memories & Rosé Wrap Up

Mid-pour action shot... Patrick not wasting a precious drop!

Saturday’s Release Party was an awesome success… marked mainly by the happy memories, mysterious bruises, and missing cases of Rosé. Gus and Stoli got their fair share of love and affection (which as we all know is never enough) and Patrick and Matt had their fair share of Mariano’s tacos... for better or for worse.... (KIDDING! KIDDING!!!) 



Mom's infamous Best Friend Marcia behind the bar.

Stoli turned out to be Callum Rife's biggest groupie.

For all of this and more, THANK YOU from the TMW crew!! We can’t wait for you all to come back and do it again!