OFFER CLOSED - Hoquetus Wine Co. says THANK YOU! || Fab WA Wines || BD17 NEWBIE || SHIPPING INCLUDED

[Robert_Gomez]

HOQUETUS WINE COMPANY

Walla Walla, Washington

New B, Who dis?
How do you do, fellow Berserkers? I’m Robert Gomez, owner/winemaker at HOQUETUS WINE CO. (pronounced ho-KET-us). The name is a musical one. Before the glam of scrubbing winey vessels, I was a touring musician, aka living in a van (down by the river). But alas, wine and hospitality slowly took over and I started chasing a life of vinous inspiration. I’m sure many here can relate.

Origin
Although wine is my main gig now, my musical background informs my approach. Winemaking is jazz I say! My personal musical highlight reel includes singing with Norah Jones, receiving a silver record in the UK, and playing Madison Square Garden with the Ringling Bros. Circus. (Yes, I ran away with the circus but ran right back!) But enough of the salad days, let’s get to the wine!

I’m a student of wine as much as I am a “maker.” I recently had the distinction of getting my ass kicked on the theory portion of the Master Sommelier exam last spring. I will be back. Wine is beautiful and humbling, is it not?

Philosophy/Ethos
I started my real-world learning at Gramercy Cellars (2018) and Grosgrain Vineyards (2019) (fellow Berserker alert) before starting this bootstrapped micro-winery in 2020. I have been teaching myself ever since. The wines are made from sustainably-farmed and organic fruit with soft hands in the cellar. Native yeast fermentation is our preferred default. Most of the wines are native/unfined/unfiltered as a result. Balance and deliciousness are the ultimate drivers of the decisions here. Deliciousness over dogma, always. Production is thimbles and I could not be more stoked to be offering these thimbles here today to the Berserker audience.

Humble Brag
My wines have been described as the “new wave of Washington winemakers” by The Seattle Times, “cutting edge” by Seattle Met and on a recent GuildSomm blind tasting podcast, our Francisca’s Vineyard Syrah was called “a really gorgeous wine,” “sophisticated,” “well-made,” and “fantastic” by Jesse Becker, MS.

Flex
"I’m drinking your wine!!
It’s so good!" - Norah Jones, 2025

Wines will be shipped as soon as weather permits. Some wines will be released in April, noted in the offer.

We ship to the following states:
AZ • CA • CO • DC • FL • GA • IA • ID • IL • IN • KS • KY • LA • MA
MD • MN • MO • NC • ND • NE • NH • NM • NV • NY • OH • OK • OR
PA • SC • TN • TX • VT • WA • WI • WV • WY
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BD17 Offer #6: Dry Riesling Vertical, Walla Walla Valley

When I started digging into this forgotten diamond mine of a vineyard block in Les Collines, they told me:
“You can’t make a dry Riesling. Nobody will drink it. They want sweet.”
“You can’t let Riesling go through malo. You’ll lose all the fruit.” (despite the history of wine)
“Nobody’s going to buy it.”
Lies, all.
I’ve sold out of every vintage, every year, since I started making this wine in 2019.
And let’s be honest. This is one of the greatest grapes on God’s green earth. Few wines are as complex, as transparent, or as ageable as Riesling.
Walla Walla has less than 1% of its acreage planted to it, and yet it absolutely fucking sings here
That’s why this is one of the best values out there, imho. A rare expression, sure, but only because few are the believers. But I believe and continue to believe. So here’s a vertical showing all that this site has to offer in three very different vintages.

• 2022 Riesling, Les Collines Vineyard (0.7g/L RS) cool year
• 2023 Riesling, Les Collines Vineyard (3.3g/L RS) warm year
• 2024 Riesling, Les Collines Vineyard (2.7g/L RS) cooler than ‘23 warmer than ’22, low yields

*The 2024 is not yet released so this will be shipping in early spring March/April 2026

More info on the wines down below

Regular price with ground shipping: $130-$150
BD17 Price: $xxx, SHIPPING INCLUDED (+tax)

• CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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BD17 Offer #7 Swimming With The Ancients

Sparkling Rosé of Grenache, Method Ancestrale, Columbia Valley (Sans Soufre) 3-Pack

This wine is in the methode ancestrale style similar to Pet-Nat but why is it not Pet-Nat?
Although it is fermented natively by bottling an active fermentation as pet-nat is, it has Champagne level atmospheres (5-6), is disgorged and is finished under cork.

This makes for an elegant, albeit a little wild-in-a-good-way style of sparkling wine. To celebrate this day and this, my first BD I dug into the cellar to offer these beautiful babies. Limited to 12 orders, cause that’s all there is 

Sourced from organic three mile vineyard close to the Columbia Gorge.

• 2024 Sparkling Rosé of Grenache, (Threemile Vineyard) x 3

More info on the wines down below

Regular price with ground shipping: $150-$170
BD17 Price: $xxx, SHIPPING INCLUDED (+tax)

• CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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Offer 5

BD17 Offer #5: WW SYRAH, A Meat Lovers Paradise , (6-Pack) Shipping Included

Six Savory, Complex and Long-lived Syrahs, Vin de Gardes, Horizontal 6-Pack
Two very special vineyards from a magical cool year in the valley. Only five miles apart as the crow flies, yet they couldn’t be more different in character, while still very much retaining their Walla Walla-ness. Francisca’s, the unmistakable extrovert. Les Collines, the meditative and contemplative introvert. Think Lennon and McCartney or better yet, Black Francis and Kim Deal. Both were made with similar percentages of whole cluster 60% to 70%. Fermented natively, and bottled unfined and unfiltered.

FV: blackberries, freshly tilled earth, sweet tobacco, violets and lilacs, jasmine, lavender, coffee, bay leaf,
LC: Ripe dark berry fruit, dark plum, damp earth, teriyaki, lilac, rose, wet stone mineral

Delicious now, but they will absolutely improve with time in the cellar.

*3, 2022 Syrah, Francisca’s Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley (2025 Decanter Wine Award, 93pts)
*3, 2022 Syrah, Les Collines Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley (only one barrel made! not submitted for review and not in distribution)

More info on the wines down below

Regular price with ground shipping: $380-$410
BD17 Price: $xxx, SHIPPING INCLUDED (+tax)

• CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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Offer #1

Hoquetus Introductus (6-pack @ $xxx w/Free Shipping)

Or

The what-I’d-pour-you-if-you-came-over-right-now collection.

• 2024 Roussanne, (Threemile Vineyard), Columbia Valley
• 2023 Dry Riesling, Les Collines Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley
• 2022 Initials R.B.B., Merlot-based Blend, Walla Walla Valley
• 2022 Cabernet Franc, Blue Mtn Vineyard (Barrique), Walla Walla Valley
• 2024 Mencia, (Threemile Vineyard), Columbia Valley
• 2022 Syrah, Francisca’s Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley.

More info on the wines down below

Regular price with ground shipping: $284-$316

BD17 Price: $xxx, SHIPPING INCLUDED (+tax)

• CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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Offer #2

ALL CLAY ALL DAY 3-Pack ($xxx w/Free Shipping)

Amphora-made and aged wines

All these babies were raised in clay. The Cabernet Franc is the only one submitted for review and won a Decanter Wine Award. I guess you could say she’s a pageant queen, but they’re all beauts.

• 2024 Roussanne, Columbia Valley
• 2023 Cabernet Franc, Walla Walla Valley
• 2024 Mencia, Columbia Valley

Regular price with ground shipping: $154-$171
BD17 Price: $xxx SHIPPING INCLUDED (+tax)

• CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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Offer #3

Amphora Vs Barrel 4-Pack ($xxx w/Free Shipping)

Caged Death Match Smack Down! (Ships in March-April weather permiting)

'22 and '23 Amphora take on '22 and '23 Barrique. Wood vs Clay! One night only! Who will reign supreme in this tag team melee?!

• 22 Cabernet Franc Amphora, Blue Mtn Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley
• 22 Cabenet Franc (Barrique), Blue Mtn Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley
• 23 Cabernet Franc Amphora, Blue Mtn Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley
• 23 Cabenet Franc (Barrique), Blue Mtn Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley*
• new release alert, made first available right here, right now!
  More info on the wines down below

Regular price with ground shipping: $196-$214
BD17 Price: $xxx, SHIPPING INCLUDED (+tax)

• CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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Offer #4

The wHoly Cluster 3-Pack ($xxx w/Free Shipping)

Walla Walla Syrah, all made with whole-cluster. Very different from one another but sourced from the same 5 acre vineyard. Really cool to have these three together for a bit of a family reunion.

• 25 Nouveau of Syrah, Walla Walla Valley (100% Whole-cluster, 100% carbonic)
• 23 La Syranique, Carbonic Syrah, Walla Walla Valley ( 75% Whole-cluster semi-carbonic)
• 22 Syrah, Francisca’s Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley (70% Whole-cluster, no carbonic)
  More info on the wines down below

Regular price with ground shipping: $146-$166
BD17 Price: $xxx, SHIPPING INCLUDED (+tax)

• CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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TL;DR Wine Details

Get it!

2024 Roussanne, (Threemile Vineyard), Columbia Valley
Organic Roussanne sourced from Threemile Vineyard in Oregon (close to the Columbia Gorge), this Roussanne speaks to the absolutely spectacular beauty of that site. Soils are volcanic ash over basalt and bring a refreshing minerality to this white. Aged in neutral wood and clay amphora.
Alcohol 13.2% | pH 3.39 | Titratable Acid 6.04 | Aging: 9 months

2023 Riesling, Les Collines Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley
Grapes were hand-picked and crushed underfoot shortly thereafter and left on skins for a few hours, gently pressed and fermented in a mix of stainless steel and neutral oak barrels. 3.3g/L of Residual Sugar. Unfined/Gently filtered.
Alcohol 14% | pH 3.2 | Titratable Acid 6.1 | Aging: 5 months

2022 Initials R.B.B., Merlot-based Red Blend, Walla Walla Valley
49% Merlot, 37% Cabernet Franc, 14% Syrah and 100% Walla Walla. Our only blend and the only place our Merlot goes. 12 months in neutral French oak barrique. Native Yeast Fermented/Unfined/Unfiltered
Alcohol 13.9% | pH 3.87 | Titratable Acid 5.6 | Aging: 12 months

2022 Cabernet Franc, Blue Mtn Vineyard Amphora, Walla Walla Valley
100% Cabernet Franc fermented and aged in clay Amphora. Grown at the foot of the blue mountains at 1150ft in elevation. Grapes were hand-picked, hand sorted with 25% remaining whole-cluster. Native, unfined and unfiltered.
Alcohol 13.5% | pH 3.96 | Titratable Acid 5.4 | Aging: 10 months

2022 Cabernet Franc, Blue Mtn Vineyard (Barrique), Walla Walla Valley
100% Cabernet Franc. Grown at the foot of the blue mountains at 1150ft in elevation. Grapes were hand-picked and hand sorted. Fermented by wild yeast with spontaneous secondary in neutral French oak barrique where it remained for 15 months. Unfined and unfiltered.
Alcohol 13.7% | pH 3.87 | Titratable Acid 5.7 | Aging: 15 months

2023 Cabernet Franc, Blue Mtn Vineyard Amphora, Walla Walla Valley
The goldilocks-like vintage of 2023 has given us one of best Cabernet Franc expressions yet! Beautiful fruit and earth collide on a cozy bed of minerality and fresh acidity. Native, unfined and unfiltered.
Alcohol 14.5% | pH 3.88 | Titratable Acid 5.39 | Aging: 10 months

2023 Cabernet Franc, Blue Mtn Vineyard (Barrique), Walla Walla Valley
Fermented by wild yeast with spontaneous secondary in neutral French oak barrique where it remained for 18 months. Unfined and unfiltered.
Alcohol 14.5% | pH 3.84 | Titratable Acid 5.8 | Aging: 18 months

2024 Mencia, (Threemile Vineyard), Columbia Valley
Our first ever Mencia (a grape originating for the Northwest of Spain) sourced from the Threemile organic Vineyard very close to the Columbia Gorge in the Dalles, OR. Fermented and rested in clay amphora. Savory and earthy with big juicy dark fruits and pronounced complexity.
Alcohol 13.9% | pH 3.87 | Titratable Acid 5.56 | Aging: 9 months

2022 Syrah, Francisca’s Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley
Grapes were hand-picked kept 60% whole cluster and traditionally crushed under foot. Fermented in Stainless Steel open-top fermentors by wild yeast over the course of 3 weeks. Aged in neutral French oak 500L barrels (Puncheon) aged 16 months in barrel, 7 mo. in bottle before release. Unfined and unfiltered. Classic Walla Walla aromas of blackberries, freshly tilled earth, sweet tobacco, violets and lilacs, jasmine, lavender, coffee, bay leaf, ripe tannins and precisely balanced.
Alcohol 14% | pH 3.98 | Titratable Acid 5.5 | Aging: 18 months

2025 Nouveau of Syrah, Walla Walla Valley
Picked in September, in bottle in November! The first wine of the vintage! Crafted from 100% Syrah from the cherished Francisca’s Vineyard, this wine is fermented by native yeast and remains unfined and unfiltered with a total of 33ppm SO2. On the palate, it’s soft and inviting, brimming with brambly berries, tropical fruits, fresh lilacs, and finishes with a lengthy, mineral touch.
Alcohol 12% | pH 3.9 | Titratable Acid 4.7 | Aging: 1 month, maybe

2023 La Syranique, Semi-Carbonic Syrah, Walla Walla Valley
Semi-Carbonic syrah. Fresh berry basket, cotton candy, damp earth, iron. Complex as it is delicious. Neutral oak. Native/Unfined/Unfiltered
Alcohol 12.7% | pH 4.05 | Titratable Acid 4.39 | Aging: 9 months

2022 Syrah, Les Collines Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley
A real beauty that is just getting started. Native fermentation, 70% whole cluster and aged in one neutral 500 liter puncheon. A classic Walla Walla higher elevation expression of Syrah. Powerful yet elegant and nuanced. This wine is made for the table and definitely to develop in the cellar. It has the structure to go the long haul. Ripe dark berry fruit, dark plum, damp earth, teriyaki, lilac, rose, wet stone mineral
Alcohol 14% | pH 3.89 | Titratable Acid 5.23 | Aging: 18 months

[Patrick_Taylor]

Hoquetus Taster Notes from @J_Dornellas .

• Hoquetus - We loved these especially for the price point, not a single wine we did not like and again represented a great value. My first instinct was that these were like wines Hardy Wallace would make if Extradimensional sourced in Washington. Highly recommend participation. All very light on their feet and immensely quaffable.

Thanks, Josh!

And @Rich_K0rz_nk0 shared:

Hoquetus Wine Co - Tasting Summary

Three bottles, all red. These arrived just hours before our tasting without time to rest, though we didn’t notice any adverse effects from recent travel.

Overall Impressions:

• There’s a distinct house style across all bottles - rustic, lighter-bodied, cooler climate fruit.
• Some barnyard character was present across the wines. For some tasters it was noticeable, for others not an issue. Day 2 tasting showed this blew off considerably with air.
• The packaging was well-received - artsy aesthetic aligned with their personality.
• The Amphora Cab Franc was particularly interesting and got attention.
• In the Syrah head-to-head with (producer removed), Hoquetus showed better and was more preferred.
• Retail prices seemed more fair and hit a point where people would be comfortable recommending them.
• Their background story fits well with BerserkerDay’s ethos.

Final Take: There’s real craftsmanship here and the wines showed well in the glass. Commentary during tasting was positive, and several of us appreciated what day 2 revealed with more air time. Healthy discussion around style preferences - some found them appealingly rustic, others wanted more polish. Overall, more positive than negative feedback from the group. Among the two producers evaluated, this was the preferred choice with the understanding that style preference plays a significant role.

Disclosure: these wine were provided at no cost to the reviewer.

[TreyB]

People are going to LOVE you’re wines Robert!

[Robert_Gomez]

Thank you Trey!! Same back atcha!! Rock and roll

[Rich_K0rz_nk0]

Thanks for posting the summary notes. They speak to the overall sentiments of a pretty spirited group of Berserkers. We appreciated being able to participate in the process.

Speaking for myself… I thought all that we sampled were well made and you can easily see the producers style across all the bottles. Like even bouncing back and forth with other bottles, the DNA was present and you knew. Wish we did blind honestly, we’d have known. There’s a definite care and craft. I happen to enjoy the rustic nature. The remnants of the tasting held up well on day 2 and day 3, which were shared with some neighbors who really enjoyed these. I’m also a sucker for Amphora, and if looking to try something different please give that a spin. The Syrah was my tops out of the tasting TBH. The lighter body was refreshing without sacrificing fruit or giving way to octane.

I’ll be patiently waiting tomorrow for this offer to show.

[Patrick_Taylor]

@Rich_K0rz_nk0

I’ll be patiently waiting tomorrow for this offer to show.

You’re not gonna purchase it today and then crow about it in the Master thread?

[Rich_K0rz_nk0]

Lol, maybe I’ll open a noob account to do that and plead ignorance.

[Robert_Gomez]

A little bird told me there might also be a special vin-de-garde styled syrah offering happening for the real meat lovers out there.

[Greg_McClellan]

Hey Robert,

Welcome to Berserker! This community is great to us small producers, really amazing people here.

Your vineyard sourcing looks amazing, and your wines are making me thirsty!

Have fun tomorrow, kick some ass, and if you ever find yourself in Portland, come say hello to us.

[Robert_Gomez]

Thank you Greg! I look forward to trying your wines! Cheers!

[Matt_A_u_s_t_i_n]

Robert’s wines rock. Go get 'em Berserkers!

[BillyP]

In for the Hoquetus Introductus! Thanks

[Brad_S_w_a_l_l_o_w]

@BillyP

In for the Hoquetus Introductus!

Ditto.

This 6-pack is really cool - digging the labels and really looking forward to trying the wines. Thanks for the offer, and welcome to Berserkerday!

[MICHAEL_C_R_O_M_W_E_L_L]

In for a pair of the Cab Franc 4 pks

[Geoff_Moore]

Matt Foley references, Ringling Brothers, and corgis: three things that guarantee a buy from me. Excited to try the Hoquetus Experience with the Introductus. Welcome back to the circus.

[J_P_Cart]

In for the intro pack!

[Robert_Gomez]

Thank you Matt. You the man! Everyone needs some Grosgrain in their cellar!

[Robert_Gomez]

Thank you Billy P! the best line up yet IMHO!

[Mike_Evans]

I was part of one of the groups vetting Hoquetus as a BD newbie and thought the wines were both good and interesting. Putting my money where my mouth is, I’m in for an Amphora Vs Barrique Death Match! and a wHoly Cluster.