Recently, I sat for an intimate tasting with bhn, (short for “be here now”) and its Founder and Winemaker Marco Prete. I was introduced to the Oregon-based winery’s pure-zero wood philosophy. This means everything ages in custom Italian clay amphorae instead of the traditional wood aging process. But you cannot understand its new rye offerings without first tasting its wines. bhn’s new limited-production spirits are what Marco calls an “exercise in madness” that you truly have to taste to understand.
With an array of small bites accompanying the wine pairings, we tried the wines first before tasting the newly created juice. This helped us get a sense of the process of how the whiskeys were created. Marco explained that after his white wines finish aging, the leftover botrytised or “noble rot,” Chardonnay and Riesling skins are steeped in raw, organic rye moonshine for 24 months in separate clay vessels. Duct N. 15 (89-proof) delivers a unique, honeyed Chardonnay complexity, while the Riesling-influenced Duet N. 23 (83-proof) brings beautiful aromatic tension. Both are unfiltered, contain zero additives, and are produced in incredibly small batches of under 1,000 bottles each.
“Duet N. 15 and Duet N. 23 are inventive spirits where grape and grain harmonize, bestowing a classic distillate with vinous complexity for a unique and sensory profile.”
Amazingly, Marco and his team were successfully securing an unprecedented label that displays a vintage, grape varietal, and the word “whiskey” without the standard wood-aging requirement. Truly unprecedented. These unfiltered, additive-free releases perfectly translate Marco’s obsessive craft into an entirely new category of drinking experience.
bhn’s Duet N. 15 Batch 2022 (ABV of 44.4%) and Duet N. 23 Batch 2023 (ABV of 41.5%) 750mL each retail for $899.
