Joe Swick is a 5^th Generation winemaker and native Oregonian producing non-interventionist wines as naturally as possible.  He sources grapes from biodynamic vineyards in Oregon and Washington.  After many years of harvesting and winemaking around the world Joe decided to start his own label in 2013.  Joe's m.o. is to use no conventional additives, just grapes and little or no SO2 to keep the wine stable and alive.  This extremely dogmatic approach to winemaking is rooted in Joe’s ethos to showcase the unique cold climate terriors of the Pacific Northwest.  These wines integrate themselves into a movement looking to rewrite the history of West Coast winemaking.  The truth is that the history of winemaking in the West Coast began this way.  These wines are of the style which won the Judgement of Paris 45 years ago.  Swick’s wines are truly a balance of old world meets new world but they skew back to a new world from times past. 

Joe Swick’s Piquette 1.0 plays off of a very historical style of wine which was very common in ancient Greece and Rome, but not so much these days.  The name itself refers to the “prickle” these wines carry… the wild fermentation leads to a sparkling wine in the end.  This Piquette is made up of 50% Verdelho, 25% Sauvignon Blanc, 25% Semillon all from the Columbia Valley.  To make this wine, after pressing the grapes the leftover skins were rehydrated with water, which brings out sugar left in the pomace.  The rehydrated pomace is again pressed and added to the original juice allowing for a second fermentation.  The wine is bottled while that secondary fermentation is taking place which is why we wind up with a sparkling wine.  Piquette 1.0 gets two weeks of skin contact so there is some tannin present as well.  One might call this an “orange” Piquette. Truly a unique wine and one ABSOLUTELY built for brunch, drink this with brunch!  Only 50 cases produced, so jump on a bottle before they go away.