In Vino Mas Vertias: More Brutal and Anonymous Truths from Wine.Woot
Truth #1: I ate your decorative soap by accident.
Truth #2: Nobody else does that when they sleep. It's not a normal thing. It's very weird. You're very weird.
Truth #3: I know exactly how that squirrel got in your handbag.
Visit the WineSmith Wines website
2014 WineSmith Grenache, Santa Cruz Mountains, Bates Ranch
There is, in my view, no other region in California that compares to the Santa Cruz Mountains for producing wines of distinctive terroir expression. Something about its mountain soils and mix of sandstone and greenstone, plus the lush surrounding herbs that encircle its tiny vineyards and impart their own distinctive “air-oir” gives each vineyard a unique stamp. The area is moderated by heavy Pacific influence but also lifted above the fog so that it enjoys plenty of cool direct sunlight, the perfect recipe for the grape to express itself.
Because of this, most of the region is best suited to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, of which there are many stunning examples. The Bates Ranch is located in the sheltered Corralitos region just south of Ridge Vineyards, and is famous for their Cabernet Sauvignon, while their Grenache, less well known, is also quite wonderful.
The nose is instantly alluring. One expects from your basic Grenache a simple strawberry aroma, but here we have in support of its bright fruitiness an intriguing collection of melon, droughty “garrigue” herbs, saddle leather and Asian spice. The mouth is medium-bodied with fine tannins and energetic minerality
As a result, the wine is more complex and intriguing than a simple picnic wine, but is certainly suitable for an outing in some summer meadow with a basket full of chicken and three-bean salad with sun-dried tomatoes. Its tannins have no edge at all, so I wouldn’t serve it with a steak, but it loves game, from venison to quail and is magic with my Swedish meatballs, doused in a morel / porcini cream sauce with a dash of Marsala.
2014 WineSmith Sparkling Grenache Blanc de Noirs, Santa Cruz Mountains
In the course of walking this vineyard to determine ripeness for our Red Grenache, we discovered a section quite low in color from which we decided to make a rosé.
While the initial idea was an early release wine full of strawberries, we reckoned without the austerity which the Santa Cruz Mountains soils impart, so that we ended up with a wine of great richness and depth but also aromatically quite closed. While waiting for it to open up, the wine also underwent a spontaneous malolactic, causing us to scratch our heads as to its best use. Our intrepid Assistant Winemaker Mike Faulk, in a flash of brilliance, suggested we make a methode champenoise sparkling wine.
What a wonderful result! The nose appears both youthful and well-aged at the same time. Fresh aromas of honeydew melon and (finally!) strawberry are joined by rich yeastiness one would ascribe to many years on the yeast.
Because the base wines of the Champagne district of France are always very high in acidity, the tradition there is to mitigate the acidity with sugar. In fact, the traditional Champagne styles Sec, Demi-sec, and Doux range from 6 to 12% sugar. Even today’s modern Brut wines are generally 1.5% R.S. or so. But here in California we can take advantage of our lower acidities by bottling a “Brut Zero” with no masking sugar at all, permitting the flavors and innate richness of the wine to come forward, followed by a finish of unparalleled length and complexity.
I had the privilege of pouring this wine at the reception of my recent wedding, attended by many winemakers who attested that this is one of the best sparkling wines they had ever encountered. My goal is to produce skillfully crafted wines that explore winemaking possibilities beyond the contemporary mainstream.
2014 WineSmith Grenache, Santa Cruz Mountains, Bates Ranch
Elevage details:
Fermentation techniques:
Elevage details:
2014 WineSmith Grenache, Santa Cruz Mountains, Bates Ranch
Elevage details:
Fermentation techniques:
Elevage details:
Clark Smith is an MIT drop-out who wandered out to California in 1972 and sold wine retail in the Bay Area for several years, where he acquired a love of Bordeaux, Burgundy and all things French and observed first hand the California winery explosion in the 1970s. After a three year stint at Veedercrest Vineyards, he secured enology training at UC Davis and spent the 1980s as founding winemaker for The R.H. Phillips Vineyard in Yolo County. In 1990, he founded WineSmith Consulting and patented a group of new winemaking techniques involving reverse osmosis, spinning off Vinovation, which went on to become the world’s largest wine production consulting firm over its 17-year history. Frustrated with California’s winemaking trends, Clark started WineSmith Cellars in 1993 as a teaching winery to make Eurocentric wines to explore traditions beyond the mainstream, expanding for his winemaking clients the range of possibility for California fruit.
Choosing to create long-term partnerships with committed growers rather than growing his own grapes, Clark has become an renowned expert on Cabernet Franc, having vinified twenty vintages from a wide variety of sites. Teaching at Napa Valley College gave him access to the Student Vineyard for Faux Chablis and his Pauillac-style $100 “Crucible” Cabernet Sauvignon. From Renaissance Vineyards in North Yuba County he has made a sulfite-free Roman Syrah and also produces a Pinot Noir from Fiddlestix Vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills in a delicate, age-worthy Côtes de Beaune style. These wines are vinified in an ancient beat-up warehouse in Sebastopol, California.
WineSmith wines are noted for their longevity, classic balance, structural integrity, minerality and understated soulfulness. They often are aged extensively prior to release. When drinking a WineSmith wine, always ask yourself “What is this wine trying to teach me?” Clark is a vocal advocate of living soil and graceful longevity, and generally avoids excessive oak, alcohol, or extended hang-time. He is not shy about employing new tools when they are needed, such as alcohol adjustment to bring fruit into balance or micro-oxygenation to build refined structure, but always fully discloses techniques which are controversial and is outspoken in explaining his rationale.
His book, Postmodern Winemaking, is the culmination of four decades of reflection on wine’s true nature.
| 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
|---|