STORIES
of the juice
dive into
EACH & EVERY WINE
Each of our wines has a story....
Sometimes we make a wine because we find an outstanding barrel, and sometimes we make a wine that reminds us SO MUCH of our trusty companion, we just have to name it after her.
Dive into the story of our wines and learn the why behind their names, labels, and more.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS
GRENACHE BLANC
In 2010, we were looking for a white varietal to anchor the Two Vintners lineup to. Morgan ran into a dilemma - do something that so many had done before? How do we make a truly unique white wine? Fortunately, Dick Boushey came to the rescue, and offered a crack at his Grenache Blanc. We jumped at the chance to make an exotic Spanish white, and so the Two Vintners Grenache Blanc was born. Much like our Zinfandel, this wine has only increased in popularity as new vintages are released.
This wine always has a little bit of Roussanne blended in – but it varies each vintage. In 2018 we also started getting some fruit from Weather Eye Vineyard on Red Mountain, and began blending that in. This inspired us to make a 100% Weather Eye Grenache Blanc in 2019.
“Grenache Blanc is the wine that everyone wants but they just don’t know it yet.”
YO MOMMA ROSE
Yo Momma Rosé was born from our dedication to make world class bottlings, while keeping with our core value that wine should be fun and unpretentious, along with being delicious. The name Yo Momma came out of a conversation during harvest in which someone said, “This isn’t Yo Momma’s Rose!” Meaning this wine isn’t the sweet, pink White Zinfandel that we saw knocking around in a box in the refrigerator growing up. This Rosé of Zinfandel is dry and full of spice and fruit, with a deep vein of acidity that makes you want another glass again and again.
Label: The label is a “self-portrait” Morgan’s brother, Tanner, made for fun when he was alive. He was cool.
MERLOT
We will say it again: Merlot is good for you.
Washington Merlot can stand up against all the best Merlot on the planet. We mean that. It’s special here and Morgan’s belief is that Merlot is the very best Bordeaux variety that Washington grows. This conviction has stayed with him since his time at Columbia Crest in 2006 when he formed the ideology that Syrah and Merlot were the best wines that Washington had to offer the world. That idea was the basis for the beginnings of Two Vintners and we have championed Merlot ever since, and always will.
SYRAH
Columbia Valley Syrah is really the wine that ‘made’ Two Vintners. Morgan’s conviction that Washington Syrah was and is absolutely among the world’s very best did not align with the apathetic view among wine consumer in 2007. Yellowtail had made its mark and a retaliation against Syrah was palpable. Nonetheless, following status quo was never an ideal held by Two Vintners, so we charged ahead with delicious, world-class Syrah and priced it to move. Morgan wanted this wine to be on every glass pour list around, so we made it impeccably, and from the very best vineyards in the state. We made sure it stayed affordable so that we could get it in the most hands and mouths as possible.
The result is 15 vintages straight of 90+ scores and 2 Top 100 placements on lists that encompass the best wines in the world. Really, the humble and delicious Two Vintners Columbia Valley Syrah is everything. It’s the reason that Two Vintners started, and it’s the reason that Two Vintners is still here today.
GRENACHE
Grenache is fickle and is often referred to as “The Pinot Noir of Washington.” It’s late to ripen here and has tight clusters that ripen unevenly, and therefor can be very susceptible to a host of vineyard issues. As difficult personalities go, there is undeniable beauty and intrigue in Grenache that cannot be ignored by those who truly love wine. Grenache entered the Two Vintners lineup in 2015 and has become an important part of our story. The Columbia Valley bottling is comprised of multiple vineyards. Some are constant and some change, but Olsen and Boushey, both in the Yakima Valley, have always been the core. Grenache is often referred to as a Rhone varietal, and it grows very well there indeed. However, make no mistake that Grenache hails from Spain! Garnacha!
LEGIT CABERNET SAUVIGNON
In 2012 we bottled our first Cabernet Sauvignon for Two Vintners. We gave it a name that reflects the quality of the wine but didn’t take itself too seriously. Legit is made from some of the finest Cabernet vineyards in the state and always hails from a blend of Walla Walla, Horse Heaven Hills, Wahluke Slope, Rattlesnake Hills, and Yakima Valley fruit, making this a true representation of Washington Cabernet. Two Legit indeed.
ZINFANDEL
When Zinfandel first entered the lineup at Two Vintners it raised some eyebrows. Originally intended to be a one-off wine in 2008 when the fruit was offered to us as a way to start a relationship with StoneTree Vineyard, this wine quickly became an important part of the Two Vintners story.
Zinfandel is the biggest pain in the ass in the cellar during any given year. Uneven ripening, messy fermentations, FICKLE! However, ever since the first vintage in 2008 it has been an absolute favorite of the Two Vintners faithful, so we love our fickle friend. Big, broad, and bodacious. Zinfandel is anything but elegant and refined, but it’s delicious! And in the words of Tedd Wildman, owner and farmer of StoneTree Vineyard, “If you want to make wine from pretty fruit, stop fucking making Zinfandel.” Cheers Tedd!
SPARKLING
Sparkling wine is delicious. Sparkling wine goes with everything. Sparkling wine is something that everyone loves and those who don’t yet are just confused. Sparkling wine is also a pain in the ass to produce. And for that reason, we asked our friends at Treveri to do it for us! Treveri is a family-owned winery in the Yakima Valley that specializes in making nothing but sparkling wine, and since we have been friends for a very long time, they were kind enough to indulge us in this little project. We made the blend ourselves and chose the dosage, but they did all the bottling, aging, riddling, and finish work at their fantastic sparkling house. It’s good to have friends with boats but it’s better to have friends that are really good at making sparkling wine.
FAMILY MATTERS
When Two Vintners began with the 2007 vintage, Morgan’s focus was just 3 distinct Washington wines. Syrah, Merlot and a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. The Cabernet/Syrah blend needed a name and the easiest target was his dog, Lola. Lola was at the winery every day, so it made sense. After that, him and Sally had kids and thus had wines named after each of them, including Sally. He assumed he was done naming wines after family after Claire was born, but sadly Lola passed away the way that old dogs do. When they got a new puppy, everyone wanted to know right away what the next wine would be. Enter Alice. Alice gave Morgan the excuse he needed to create a wine that he had been thinking of for quite some time. Merlot deserves way more respect than it gets, especially Washington Merlot. The problem is that people are shy and misunderstanding of the varietal. The way we fixed this was to make one of the best Merlots on the planet and call it Alice, with no mention of Merlot anywhere on the label. Alice is the middle finger to all the Merlot haters. Long live Merlot and Obey The Black Lab!
ALICE RED WINE
CLAIRE GRENACHE
In March of 2015, we welcomed our daughter, Claire, to the world. Keeping with tradition, we dedicated a new wine to her when harvest rolled around that year. Morgan’s love for Grenache began in 2007, and the arrival of Claire gave him a new inspiration to make a singular, beautiful expression of Washington Grenache. Boushey Vineyard was chosen for this wine because what was (and still is) coming from that patch of dirt is such an incredible version of Iberian and Rhone varietals. Thus, it just felt right. That, and the fact that Dick and Luanne Boushey have always treated our kids as if they were their own. Claire (the girl) is as gorgeous and sweet as she is unpredictable and infuriating. Grenache is the same way, so it all makes sense.
Label: Morgan and Sally talked about what this label should be, and Sally said that she wanted lace. Something as pretty as our little girl. That’s it and that is all.
LOLA
Lola was one of the original three Two Vintners wines in 2007, along with Syrah and Merlot. Morgan had always loved the marriage of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon from other Washington producers, and from bottles that he found from Australia, and wanted to make his own. The blend and vineyards for this wine have changed over the years but Lola is and always will be Syrah and Cabernet. We knew this wine needed a name, and Lola was our sweet black Lab and winery mascot back then, so she got the job.
OLIVER
Oliver is a special Rhone blend that debuted with the 2009 vintage. This wine is named after Morgan’s son, Oliver Lee, who was born in December of that year. Oliver is a rich and charismatic blend of Syrah, Petite Sirah, and Grenache. It spends 18 months in 20% new French oak prior to bottling. Focused and bright this is a wine that will age out beautifully in the years to come.
Label: Oliver's label is designed by his loving grandmother, Lynn Lee. A nod to the art of Andy Warhol, the picture is the top of Oliver’s forehead with his trademark cowlick.
SAL CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Sal debuted with the 2012 vintage when we were afforded the opportunity to work with Cabernet Sauvignon from May’s Discovery Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills. This special reserve bottling is named after Morgan’s amazing wife, Sally, and the first vintage was made to commemorate their 10th wedding anniversary. This wine shows the amazing potential of the Horse Heaven Hills and its ability to produce Cabernet that isn’t just ripe in fruit character, but beautifully savory.
Label: The sunflower on the back label is one of the decorations that they saved from their wedding reception in May of 2004.
SINGLE VINEYARD
MAKE HASTE CINSAULT
Make Haste began as an accident when Morgan mistakenly pumped 2 barrels of Syrah into our Sauvignon Blanc in 2009. The resulting “blend” was put back to barrel while we figured out what to do with it. We labeled the barrels ‘Make Haste’ because the accident occurred as a result of trying to work too fast. The name stuck, and we bottled and sold that wine for $13 at the holiday season, and never told anyone what was in it. The wine was so popular that we knew we needed to offer it again, but not as an accidental wine. Cinsault was something that we had started to make from Olsen Vineyard in 2007, and we always thought the wine was beautiful and outrageously unique. Today Make Haste is one of the very few varietal bottlings of Cinsault anywhere in America.
Label: The jumping man on the Make Haste label is a rubber stamp that Sally and Morgan used on their wedding announcements. The whimsical nature of that fat man doing the splits in a suit and tie seems to embody the history of Make Haste quite well.
OG
On a business trip to Baltimore in 2011, our distributor asked Morgan if he knew of any Orange wine being made in Washington. Not knowing what Orange wine was, he told him that Washington didn’t grow any citrus fruit. That comical discussion started a small passion in him to seek out Orange wines. The answer he found was that this old-world fermentation style took on many forms, and that no two were alike. This led him to partner with Olsen Vineyards to source Gewurtztraminer from a North facing slope on their Yakima Valley property. The wine is fermented on the skins and left to macerate for 8 weeks before being pressed into neutral French oak barrels, where it ages for an additional 10 months. The result is an otherworldly wine full of citrus, honey and flowers that smells sweet, but is completely dry on the palate, with a distinct richness that lasts for minutes.
This wine gets better (and wilder) with each vintage. Early versions of OG were fermented in stainless steel but starting with the 2016 vintage we were able to get our hands on some Spanish clay tinajas (giant clay pots) to use in the winemaking process. This is the traditional way orange wine is made, and it adds another layer of texture and flavor that is very geeky and exciting. As far as we know, OG was the first Orange wine produced in Washington State and we truly believe this to be the best food wine in the Two Vintners portfolio.
Label: OG was the working title (the piece of tape that we put on the tank) during the first year that we made this wine, and the name stuck. ‘Orange Gewurtztraminer.’ ‘Original Gewurztraminer.’ ‘Original Gangster.’ They all work. You can pick your favorite.
SOME DAYS ARE STONES
Our single-vineyard Syrah series was created to showcase the depth and diversity of Washington State Syrah, by bottling small, barrel-select parcels of some of our most prized vineyards. Each Syrah in the series was fermented and aged identical to the next to portray how incredibly different Syrah can act depending on the soil it is grown in. Bob Betz, MW once called Syrah “The chameleon of Washington wine.” The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater is a 6 square mile sub-appellation of the Walla Walla Valley that resides entirely on the Oregon side of the valley. The Rocks District is named for an ancient deposit of river cobblestones on top of which some of the most fascinating Syrah vines on the planet grow. This wine hails from two esteemed vineyards: Stoney Vine and Stones Speak. Rocks District Syrah is earthy, meaty, and spicy. We call it “The Funk.” And in this case, the funk is beautiful.
Label: Named for a song by John Denver about life, love, fantastic days, and shitty ones. Morgan drew the label with a pencil while sitting on his couch one night.
SOME DAYS ARE DIAMONDS
Our single-vineyard Syrah series was created to showcase the depth and diversity of Washington State Syrah, by bottling small, barrel-select parcels of some of our most prized vineyards. Each Syrah in the series was fermented and aged identical to the next to portray how incredibly different Syrah can act depending on the soil it is grown in. Bob Betz, MW once called Syrah “The chameleon of Washington wine.” The Some Days Are Diamonds Syrah comes from May’s Discovery Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills and is inspired by the Syrah’s of Northern Rhone. In particular, those of Cornas.
Label: Named for a song by John Denver about life, love, fantastic days, and shitty ones. Morgan drew the label with a pencil while sitting on his couch one night.
THE WAITING LIST
Our single-vineyard Syrah series was created to showcase the depth and diversity of Washington State Syrah, by bottling small, barrel-select parcels of some of our most prized vineyards. Each Syrah in the series was fermented and aged identical to the next to portray how incredibly different Syrah can act depending on the soil it is grown in. Bob Betz, MW once called Syrah “The chameleon of Washington wine.” This Syrah is named as such because it took 7 years to get this fruit from Boushey Vineyard, despite having a close working relationship with them during that entire time. Quite literally we were on the waiting list. Boushey Syrah is coveted by Washington winemakers and wine lovers for a good reason. It’s stunning stuff.
Label: Morgan’s depiction of being on a literal waiting list. He also drew this on the couch one night with a pencil, but had Sally write Two Vintners on it because her handwriting is much nicer.
GRENACHE BLANC
In 2010 Morgan decided that it was time to add a white wine to the Two Vintners lineup, but he wanted to start with something that was truly unique for Washington State. Something that nobody else was doing. With so many delicious examples of Chardonnay and Riesling already on display, he knew that it would be hard to make something special in that arena. He had picked up a bottle of McCrae Winery’s Grenache Blanc somewhere along the way and very much admired the wine. Doug McCrae was a pioneer of Washington Rhone varietals long before anyone else was trying. Morgan knew the winery had closed its doors, so he asked Dick Boushey if the fruit that went to McCrae was available. The timing was serendipitous, and we have made this wine every year since. Delicious and unique. So very Two Vintners. Morgan honestly believes that this wine put Two Vintners on the map more than any other in our history. It’s also important to note that while Grenache Blanc is often referred to as a Rhone varietal, it’s actually a Spanish grape at its root.
LIBRARY
DAS RIESLING
Morgan has a love for Riesling. He will say, “many of the best wines I’ve ever had in my life have been Rieslings.” The problem is that Washington makes more Riesling than any place on planet Earth. And Morgan didn’t want to make wines that everyone else was making, so he shied away from it and was content drinking versions from other talented producers. In 2017 however, an unforeseen opportunity came our way through a relationship with an exporter friend and a Rheingau winemaker named Dirk Wurtz. Dirk wanted to collaborate to produce Washington Riesling and Syrah to export to Germany. The result was our first opportunity to produce Washington Riesling of our own. Morgan chose Olsen Vineyards in the Yakima Valley to source the fruit.
The 2017 and 2018 vintages turned out beautifully and were sent to Germany. The style is very eclectic. Completely dry and a full malolactic conversion (which is not at all the standard for Riesling). The Germans were smitten on the wine, but in 2019 they got quiet and admitted that they were out of money for the project. So, now Two Vintners had Riesling in the program.
Morgan’s working ‘cellar’ title became Das Riesling, so it made sense to keep the title going on the bottle. Thus, Das Riesling.
Label: The Germans have a quality seal on their wines that looks like an angry, black bird of prey. We wanted to have fun with that and create a somewhat silly American version. So Morgan asked his mom to come up with a ridiculous, angry, silly bald eagle for the Das Riesling label. The result is all of that and more.
HAVE A NICE DAY ROSE
Our first Rosé was the 2018 vintage and was made from Grenache and Cinsault from Olsen Vineyard. It was left on the skins for 6 to 8 hours and then pressed into a mixture of concrete, oak, and stainless steel, and fermented dry. The resulting wine wis pale pink with a vein of minerals and acidity that made it the perfect Spring and Summer sipper.
Label: While dreaming up a name for this wine, Morgan came across one of those plastic grocery bags from a Chinese restaurant with the smiley face on it that read “Have A Nice Day.” The name seemed very fitting for a Rosé made for day drinking. The label was drawn by his mom, Lynn Lee.
FROM MARS
Among the many loves of Morgan’s life, there resides eclectic extended maceration white wines, and music. This wine is the offspring of those two things. He began making “orange” wine in 2012 when OG first joined our family, and he always wanted an excuse to make another orange wine someday. In 2019, a friendship with John and Amy Richards of our local beloved independent radio station, KEXP, afforded that chance. John and Amy were set to open a new Capitol Hill bar/vegan restaurant/vinyl record shop called ‘Life On Mars’ as a nod to the great David Bowie. They asked if Morgan could make an orange wine just for them. So he met with Dick and Luanne Boushey in the middle of the 2019 harvest and they let him select small amounts of Marsanne, Grenache Blanc and Picpoul for the project. The fruit sat on the skins for 8 weeks in Spanish clay tinaja before pressing into barrel for 5 months. We released the wine to Life On Mars just in time for the pandemic to stop life as we knew it. But the restaurant made it through the storm, as did we. “From Mars” lives on in hipster glory at a Vegan restaurant/cocktail bar/record shop.
Label: While readying the 2019 From Mars for pressing, Morgan looked down into the tinaja, and the clay and grape skins reminded him of a celestial image. So he took a picture with his phone. That picture is the label today. From Mars indeed!
WEATHER EYE GRENACHE BLANC
Made for a limited time, this was a reserve bottling of Grenache Blanc that was made from Weather Eye Vineyard on Red Mountain.
GAYLE SYRAH
During blending trials, the Olsen Vineyard Syrah regularly stands out as something unique and special. While blending the 2018 vintage it was obvious that we needed to give this wine its own single vineyard bottling. Starting with the 2008 vintage, we have always produced Olsen Syrah with a full 10% co-fermentation of Roussanne. The Roussanne adds a floral character that makes this wine truly unique. Olsen Syrah has always been an important component of our Columbia Valley Syrah, but starting with the 2018 vintage we bottled a limited 50 case parcel of Gayle to show off this beautiful fruit.
Label: It’s rare that someone outside of the winery takes place in a blending session, but while blending the 2018 vintage a dear family friend sat and tasted with us who had recently lost his incredible wife, Gayle, to cancer. Gayle also used to help sort fruit during harvest, and it just seemed so fitting that we would name this wine in her honor. The heart on the label was drawn by Morgan’s wife, Sally, who loved Gayle very much.
JUSTICE
The original second vintner was Donavon Claflin. Donavon has been one of Morgan’s best friends since 2007 and their families had their first children in 2009. Our first born was named Oliver, and Donavon and Rachel named theirs Justice. Justice the wine is a bold and dark mix of Syrah, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon.
White Zin
Not your grandma's box of White Zinfandel, this wine is the definition of nostalgia. Also, a nod to all the weird and different wines out there, as well as a dedication to Morgan’s late brother, Tanner. Tanner was funky and loved doing things differently – he would have LOVED this wine. Tanner himself is on the label and part of the proceeds go to cancer research in honor of him.
This name of this wine will remind people of Sutter Home White Zin, where many wine drinkers started their journey. However, this wine is completely dry and has a great lushness about it. This is our "middle finger" to the sweet versions that ruined so many.
We miss you every day, Tanner. #fuckcancer
Label: The label is a “self-portrait” that Morgan’s brother, Tanner, made for fun when he was alive. He was cool.