Pictures from Bin 504 Tasting at the Anaheim Marriott

Bin 504 Wine Tasting at the Behr Holiday Party

Bin 504 was introduced to friends and coworkers on Saturday evening, December 6 at the Anaheim Marriott. Both Blends were well received by the small gathering prior to the Behr Holiday Party.  Most seemed surprised that it was as good as it was. This could be because when one thinks of an amateur wine, he or she probably thinks of jug wine with little character, color, and taste. Given that as the bar, it was easy to impress. However, Bin 504 stood up well against competition, too. Corina opened a couple wines that she sells and most (either because they were being nice or because it was really the case) liked Bin 504 better.  I know I did, and I don't have to lie to myself.  I don't remember the exact count as I was trying to keep it casual, but I think more of the tasters preferred the merlot blend, but it was very close. The Cab/malbec  had more of a "green" taste to it, which I have tasted before, but this didn't hurt the wine, it only made it taste newer. The merlot blend had the better nose this evening, but only a few of us really commented on that. It was funny hearing myself talk about the label. I think I lost most people at "We have this favorite bar in New Orleans called 13". A few commented on the description of the wine, but after hearing the story of the front of the label may have been afraid to ask about the description, but that didn't stop me from talking about it. Actually, I didn't say all that much, I just opened, poured, and drank with my friends. If questions came up, I answered, but Corina did most of the talking about the wine, which was extremely gratifying. In fact, when we opened the wines about an hour before the guests arrived and tasted to make sure I still wanted to go on with the party, we were both impressed with how balanced, complex, and just plain old good the wines were. Not too much oak, great nose, and each with its own identity.  I have included some pictures from the event.

"Wow, this is good...what are we drinking?"

So said Corina after she took a taste of Bin 504 malbec/cab last night. I realize that each person's taste is different, and just because one person likes or doesn't like a wine doesn't mean that someone has to do the same. I get all that, but given Corina's discerning pallet and the fact that she's tasted about a million wines in her life (don't worry, she is a trained professional), the words she spoke about Bin 504 were very cool to hear. It was also a huge relief for me because even though I love the wine, I really want others to enjoy it, too...OK, that, and I want to be known as a kick-ass wine maker.

As far as my notes on the wine thus far: I noticed that everything seemed deeper and darker about the wine than just one month ago, when I last sampled. The color was deeper red (I realize that probably wasn't really the case, but it sure seemed it), the nose was darker fruit, and the taste...well, I am biased, and although I still get a bit of something green on the start -- that's not a bad thing -- the mid and finish were deeper and darker, too. Just my cup of tea...er...I mean, glass of wine.

Official release coming soon.

Pre Release Tastings at SatchmoSummerfest

And the early reviews are all positive!

Sampled Bin504 in two very interesting settings in the last week.

First test came in the parking lot of Giants Stadium as we tailgated before seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. In less than ideal conditions, including plastic beer cups and a temperature of over 90 degrees -- the Cab/Malbec blend held up beautifully! Guests Rob, Kim, Gary and Jenny were all most kind in their assessments. Most commonly used words were smooth, complex, enjoyable. Oh, and by the way, Bruce kicked ass.

Second tasting was in New Orleans in somewhat better conditions: our home on Governor Nicholls Street, where we very quickly went through three bottles with guests Jon and Dorothy, Carol, Brent, Barri, Ellen, Kim, Lee, Katja -- and later with Steve and Linda, and Bill and Pat.

In these almost ideal condition, the wine showed very well. Nice nose, but even better taste! Feels like the wine is improving dramatically with age.

Thanks to all for their wonderful comments and interest in our process. And a special thanks to our friends at House Red in Forest Park, Il, who saved the day by agreeing to ship a case to New Orleans. A wonderful wine shop.

Check out http://www.house-red.com

Hey Baby, It's the 4th of July

A sweet, sweet holiday this year which, among other things, featured guest appearances in Oak Park/Berwyn by co-president of Bin 504 (and Vandelay Enterprises) Kevin Vandever, good friend Noam Gelfond and a cast of dozens featuring Dave Alvin, Jon Dee Graham, John Boutte, Paul Sanchez, Waco Brothers and our brothers and fellow wine drinkers from the best band in New Orleans (and, therefore, the world!) Bonerama -- all of whom were featured at Fitzgerald's annual Great American Music Festival.

While the festival was rockin' good fun, as it always is, the holiday was also special because it marked the first pre-release of Bin 504, complete with our newly designed labels. It was a great honor to present the very first two bottles to wine lovers and all around great guys Craig Klein and Mark Mullins from Bonerama and to sample another two bottles with Craig and ace Tuba star Matt Perrine.

Consensus is that the wine is aging nicely -- and that it will be ready for full release later in the summer.

Stay tuned for plans on how, when and where. We think we have the "why" figured out -- so we can have fun with all of you!

The Bin 504 Story in Pictures

A few shots tracing the history of Bin 504. Our grapes came from Paso Robles, CA, from Frances James vineyard. We met Marlowe and Corine, the owners, on a trip to Paso in 2005. We fell in love with them, their inn and their grapes. After spending much time in Marlowe's wine cave, sampling his wine, we asked if he would sell us grapes and walk us through the process.

Much to our surprise, he said "yes" and we were off and running.

In October 2005, Kevin and I picked 1/2 ton of cabernet grapes and worked with Marlow to de-stem them, crush them add yeast and barreled them, adding a wee bit of Malbec primarily for the color -- we love that almost jet black addition to the wine.

Two years later, this past October, we sampled bin 504 for the first time, did a bit of blending -- we eventually settled on half of the bottles with the original 95% cab, 5% malbec blend, and half with 90% cab, 5% malbec and 5% f*kin' merlot -- and then bottled it up.

Our New Label!

Thanks to ace designer Lisa Nikulicz, our new labels for Bin 504 are ready to go into production! Lisa was terrific in bringing our concept to life -- a concept that, well, you had to have been there to understand it fully. But here's the abbreviated story.

After many hours of hydration, tots and deep thought at our favorite drinking establishment, "13" -- located at 13 Frenchmen Street, New Orleans -- we settled on our "high-end" concept. A never-ending, mirror within mirror label that would show our wine on display behind the bar at 13. So what you see on the front is a view of our wine from barstool level at 13! Complete with a subtle hidden message -- can you spot it?

On the back is a description, first draft from Kevin, of what it feels like, to us at least, to drink Bin 504! Since we are obsessed with New Orleans music, and tend to translate everything into musical terms, it seemed only natural to equate the taste to some of our favorite musicians. Our great friend Leroy Jones, who possesses one of the smoothest trumpet sounds you'll ever hear -- keeping New Orleans music fresh and alive by blending one-part Louis Armstrong, one-part Clifford Brown, and one part Hurricane Brass Band; Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, at the top of the heap on both trumpet and trombone, who has created a show-stopping gumbo of traditional jazz, funk, hip-hop and rock n'roll that is taking off all across the country; and the powerful Bonerama who are blowing minds everywhere with their four trombone assault on musical genres from heavy metal to traditional jazz -- where else but a Bonerama concert can you hear Franics Scott Key, the Allman Brothers, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Louis Armstrong all in one show?

But we digress...

the point is that somehow all that makes sense in describing Bin 504 -- but that's just us. We look forward to your comments!

The purpose of our blog

We started this blog to tell you the story of Bin 504 and to give you a chance to give us feedback on your drinking experience.

We'll post pictures from grape picking to crushing to blending, opening and enjoying!

Hope you enjoy Bin 504 half as much as we enjoyed the process of creating it!