In 2021 we teamed up with Scott to create our Hybrid Red. It was one our favorite collaborations and we wanted to work with him again in 2022 to continue exploring hybrids. Unfortunately, the Willamette Valley was hit with a devastating frost in early Spring of that year and the Leon Millot was basically a lost cause. We told Scott to keep us on his radar and hopefully we could find a project in the future.

Fast forward a year and Scott tells us he heard the story of our Hazy Chardonnay. He let us know that he also had a small collection of stray experimental lots that were all very tasty, if not a little peculiar. We’ve learned over the years that every winery has treasures like these. They often come in handy for blending purposes or for a special one-off bottling. Usually, winemakers are reluctant to give them up - they are like the winemakers little personal secrets.

But Scott was about to move out of his current winery and his arsenal of odds and ends were making things logistically much more complicated. The less stuff he had to move the better. That’s where we come in. Post Familiar has always been focused on helping small winemakers with the unspoken frictions that are part of life as a winemaker. The fun part is taking those frictions and using them as a platform for experimentation and creativity.

The small collection of stray barrels ended up being a treasure trove of opportunities. We were able to use Scott’s experimental lots like a pantry - mixing, matching, messing with proportions in an attempt to make something delicious, but also unique. Something that wouldn't have existed otherwise. We ended up blending two incredible wines from those trials. The first was the White Cuvee, which we released last Fall. Remember the oxidative white that we dosed up with super young fresh high acid melon? That wine was gone in a flash.

This second wine, part of this 2024 Fall Release, is an exploration into Pinot Noir and it’s oft misunderstood mutation, Pinot Gris. We’ve long been fascinated with the potential for Pinot Gris as an orange wine or red wine - basically any interpretation of the grape that isn't a white wine. Back in 2022, we wrote this about pinot gris:

‘Here’s the thing that most people don't realize - Pinot Gris is called Pinot ‘GRIS’ because the skins of the ripe grapes are not the normal yellow/green color associated with white grapes. The color is a mixed purple/gray tint that the French call ‘Grey.’ When I see them, I don't see ‘grey’, I see fuchsia. Which begs the question, why is everyone making white wine out of red grapes? What if, just like our Auxerrois from 2020, there was magic in the skins? What if instead of a direct pressed white wine, we fermented Pinot Gris like we would red Pinot Noir in order to extract color and complexity from the ripe purple skins?’

That year, we made a Pinot Gris with Loop de Loop that was fermented on its skins for 10 days. The wine had a beautiful cranberry color and ended up drinking almost like a super light red. It was Thanksgiving in a bottle. We loved it. But it made us hungry to know more. We wanted to investigate Pinot Gris as a full on red wine. No ambiguity, no kinda here, kinda there. Just red wine. From Pinot Gris. A true flip of the script.

As chance would have it, buried in the depths of Bow & Arrow’s underground lair, we discovered exactly what we were yearning for. Scott had also had the same inclination and had made a fully red pinot gris without any real plan on what to do with it. An experiment just for the sake of curiosity. It was awesome - spicy tomato leaf, soy sauce, umeboshi plum, umami, umami, umami. Lighter overall and more wild and savory than Pinot Noir.

As much as we loved it on its own, we thought it really shined when blended with a stainless steel drum of Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir aged in stainless steel tends to lack a depth of complexity due to the lack of oxygen. But, instead what it does is lock in freshness. The bright black fruit of the Pinot Noir and it was perfect with the savory, almost ‘aged wine’ aspects of the red Pinot Gris.  Pinot Gris is, after all, a mutation of Pinot Noir, and in some ways it makes perfect sense that Pinot Gris is happiest when blended with the original grape which it was spawned from. They were meant to be together, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, mutated sisters, together at last.* Together forever.

*We probably should have called this wine Mutation Sisters. But it’s ok, we’re saving that name for our future wine themed sludge metal band.