The 2018 Smashberry Red is Cabernet dominant, with cassis, blackberry and sweet pipe tobacco. Hints of grape cotton-candy from the Grenache, and dense structure from the rare Lagrein grape. Delicious from first sip to the last, the wine finishes with red & blackberry fruits, and sweet black grape. Perfect by itself or with comfort foods such as Prime Rib, BLT, or your favorite Grilled Cheese sandwich.
Clinging to tradition is not what fires the imagination of the winemakers at Smashberry. We are dedicated to bringing you untraditional, unpredictable, and unparalleled flavors. Our unique and distinctive Smashberry blends produce flavors quite unlike anything you’ve ever tasted. Creatively blending multiple grape varieties, our winemaker seeks to smash old paradigms and establish bold new ones.
Appropriately, our grapes are born in the soils of Paso Robles, a region only now emerging and growing in reputation along California’s Central Coast. From this dynamic region comes the exotic new flavors of Smashberry Central Coast red wines. Don’t overthink, just pour and enjoy!
Smashberry wines are an expression of the Miller Family’s vineyards and winemaking. A Central Coast family who has farmed the area for five generations, our vineyards and winery are Certified Sustainable.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, OR, PA, SC, TX, WA, WY
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2018 Smashberry Red Blend - $20 = 16.66%
@Jackinga@TimW I posted the comments below, Reverse Wine Snob sold this in June, and they mention 4.9 g/l residual sugar. That does put it in the “dry” category but it is not bone dry. And yes there are other factors in play when it comes to perception of sweetness. Just an observation as long as the topic was brought up.
@kaolis@TimW Thanks for clearing that up. As it is my cellar overfloweth. I have way too much wine, dry, mostly, and a paucity of anything on the sweeter side.
@Jackinga@TimW … So it sounds like it is “off-off-dry” i.e. just getting to the little bit of sweet but not at all what would be called a Sweet. But in a Red it’s all a matter of your expectations.
I don’t want to “insult” the wine (and not having tasted it or knowing the winemaker), but this sounds like it might be a good candidate for “mulled wine” for the Winter. I hate to say that because I view it as Blasphemy to do that to a wine same as flavored coffee or “colorized” old B&W films.
EDIT meant to finish that a nice mulled wine is actually OK especially sitting by a fireside or something, and you want to start with something fairly nice going in to it. So this might be the thing that’s perfect for that. But again I can see a winemaker (who’s input would of course be welcome here!) saying, “no, don’t do that to my prized creation!”
@Jackinga@pmarin@TimW Even though I’m not the winemaker for Smashberry, I know that Roxie Ward (WM) would love her wine to be shared and consumed in any way you see fit! You buy it, and you do what you will with it, easy peasy! We are here to make good wine, not to judge how it’s consumed!
Hope everyone had a happy Halloween. We were lucky enough to receive a bottle for ratting. Thanks, Alice.
It was a cold, damp autumn evening – the night before Halloween. We opened the wine to a nose of blueberry with a hint of dark chocolate. First tasting suggested the wine would live up to its name: lots of blueberry; hints of strawberry, cranberry, black cherry, and pomegranate. Lots of tannin. There was a notable toastiness and a hint of cinnamon in the finish. This is a fun one, we thought.
We tasted with two cheeses: a fontina and a brie. The intense fruit of the wine overwhelmed the demure, creamy brie. But the fontina’s nutty sharpness really complemented the wine’s fruit and emphasized the flavors of toast. One of us said, “this wine would go really well with a sausage stuffing or some spiced nuts.”
Our tasting was interrupted by the arrival of our ten-year-old son and three of his friends. The kids horsed around outside, screaming and laughing with the joy of unbridled youth. It was cold though, so they came inside to a dinner of pigs in a blanket and fruit. We sat down in the other room with a second pour, with their chatter and periodic shrieks of laughter as a soundtrack in the background. The house felt warm, full of fun and pleasure. The tannins had subsided significantly in the wine, bringing a full-fledged fruit of blueberry, pomegranate, and cranberry.
Later we had our own dinner: baked eggs in purgatory. The wine complemented the sausage, tomato, white beans, and eggs well. It even paired with the chocolate chip cookies we nibbled at the end of the meal, the fruit holding up with the cookies’ sweetness. This is a versatile wine that really comes to play well with others.
As we basked in last sips and cookie crumbs, we thought ahead to Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaching, anticipating warm reunions with family and friends after a tough two years. This is a happy wine that opened over time with each course, ending in a final fruity celebration. If you are looking for a wine that can take you through a feast from appetizers to savory main course to holiday dessert cookies, this is an excellent choice.
We had it pegged at $20/bottle retail. At this Casemates price, it’s a no brainer.
Good Morning Wine Enthusiast!
87 Points. Roasted blackberry, mahogany, walnut and slightly sour plums aromas show on the nose of this kitchen sink blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Lagrein and Grenache. There’s a slight sweetness to the palate, where candied blackberry and cassis flavors are sprinkled with herbs. MK 8/1/20
Some notes from Reverse Wine Snob, where this was recently offered at $72 for a 6 pack.
“The 2018 Smashberry Paso Robles Red Blend opens with lots of berry aromas just as you would expect from the name but also nice touches of spice, coffee, tobacco and a little earth. It’s an excellent start.
Taking a sip reveals a smooth and undeniably tasty wine featuring lots of ripe, juicy fruit, great structure, nice touches of spice and dusty tannins. With just a bit of sweetness to it, this is quite an attractive blend. (And at only 4.9 g/L of residual sugar, you get that nice touch of sweetness but still end up with less than 1 gram of sugar per glass.)
It ends dry, long, chewy and delicious. Not only is this quite fun to drink but its got a decent amount of complexity to it as well.”
@kaolis@pmarin@rjquillin@winesmith
Great book. Pushed my ancient college level chemistry memories to the limit, but still worth it with no chemistry knowledge.
@kaolis
Cold soaking is allowing the crushed red berries to sit on the skins at temps too low for primary ferment to engage. Even though it used ubiquitously, there is zero evidence it increases extraction in fermentation. It’s a fickle mistress that seems to hide in the lab…much like ghost sightings. #sadbuttrue
@kaolis I share Wes’s skepticism for the widespread practice of cold soaking. In general there is little justification for its widespread use. I prefer early onset of fermentations so I am not rolling the microbial dice.
That said, Sergio Traverso used it to very great effect at Concannon in 1972 when he used it to extract color from Petite Sirah before alcoholic fermentation, then pressing at high brix, thus favoring anthocyanins over its otherwise brutal tannins, thus making the world’s first highly drinkable Petite Sirah. Fifty years later, Concannon still dominates this category.
This works because anthocyanins have a partial positive charge and thus are easily extracted into aqueous solution, whereas tannins are apolar and need alcohol to extract them.
So the justification “Cold soaked for anthocyanin extraction” makes sense.
I was excited to get to rat again. I opened this one last night with a group of non-wine geek friends while eating pizza and watching our kids chase each other with glow sticks and occasionally hand out candy.
Dark purple in the glass, not much of a nose besides some berry/cherry. Palate was jammy fruit front and center. Not a ton of secondary notes besides a little peppery spiciness. Tannins were well under control, enough to have a nice full mouth feel without it being a mouth pucker.
Smashberry is aptly named. General consensus from the crowd was fine to good, which sounds right to me. If you like jammy wines this will be right up your alley.
Well, this is interesting… the notes of Jammy and the name don’t at all sound like what I’d seek out. But Rat reports are positive.
Most of all, I’m intrigued by the “8% Lagrein” – I’ve never heard of that. I’m going to look it up on the DeLong’s wine chart in my hallway! (bought framed from W.W long ago.)
@pmarin In my view, the Lagrein is what gives it the tannins and structure that saves it from being a flabby fruit bomb. My wife and I are not fans of jammy but we thoroughly enjoyed this wine. And we went in for a case.
@losthighwayz@pmarin we both came back for additional glasses. We had the cheeses and it had the acidity to cut through the fat. I love brie and I was happy with the pairing. My wife, who has an admittedly better palate than I, felt the fontina was a better match.
We are pretty picky. Don’t expect a Bordeaux muted fruit kind of wine. This is a wine that wine snobs like us appreciate but will please our non-wine geek friends.
So, yes, there is a nice acid backbone. Our preference is for more but, hell, when we grill Korean short ribs with friends, we’re not looking for wines that we need to analyze.
Edit: Forgot to add that it is a Pasi Robles blend. It’s going to have a fruit forward expression. But it’s still dry. We enjoyed.
With the Lagrein tannins and less than .5% RS (residual sugar), I don’t think there is perceptible sweetness from a supermarket perspective. Now if you’re used to drinking bone dry Italian wines with a hint of brett, yeah, this might seem a bit broad and fruity, but certainly not sweet.
Lagrein is a local wine from the Sudtirol in the Alps (and Dolomites) of North Eastern Italy. I worked there for a few years, and have a soft spot for Lagrein (and for Pinot Nero, their light, balanced version of Pinot Noir; the other end of the Pinot spectrum from big CA Pinots). The unique feature of Lagrein is the grain; not the pucker-up hair-on-your-tongue grain of South American Malbec, But a subtle graininess that would convince you that it would leave sediment in a coffee filter (spoiler alert: it doesn’t). I’m pleased to see more Lagrein being grown in Paso, they make a great version of it. Not sure how much grain this small percentage will add to Smashberry’s blend.
@CDTobie Thanks for sharing the great memories! I think I read that Roberto Zuech, from Piedra Creek Winery (they sold here a bunch of zin and pinot in the past 6 months) brought the Lagrein in the USA in the '80s I think, because he was missing that grape so much (he was originally from SudTirol).
Glad Lagrein is taking hold!
Most of the Lagrein in Paso is in our French Camp Vineyard in the Highlands. It makes an amazing varietal wine for a half dozen producers and the J Wilkes label where I was the winemaker for 5 years.
Very impressed with this wine, especially for how cheap it is. It has that little bit of genuine sweetness that I find very palatable, balanced by some bitter notes. I think it might be even better chilled, so will have to try.
Really bummed. Ordered a case and tracking says they tried to deliver Nov 10, but my apt number was wrong or missing and they were trying to resolve.
There is no apt number, it’s a house and I’ve had many other Casemates orders shipped here, no problem.
Despite having a UPS account, no one contacted me trying to resolve an address issue.
Checked with Casemates to try and get this solved, they said they were having it redelivered, due to arrive the 23rd. Got an email from Casemates on the 23rd saying it had been delivered. Huzzah! But then no sign of a package… and checking UPS tracking, it shows it “out for delivery” and “returned to sender” at the same exact time, both logged at the CA facility (I’m in NYC).
Casemates refunded me for the order, but had no further explanation. Was really hoping to try this one and am still confused what might have gone wrong. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
2018 Smashberry Red Wine, Paso Robles
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
6-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$180/Case at Smashberry for 12x 2018 Smashberry Red Wine, Paso Robles
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, OR, PA, SC, TX, WA, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Nov 22 - Friday, Nov 26
Smashberry Red Blend
6 bottles for $59.99 $10/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $99.99 $8.33/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2018 Smashberry
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2018 Smashberry Red Blend - $20 = 16.66%
So is it sweet or not? Don’t get me wrong, sweet is not necessarily bad. If it is sweet, I’m interested. Rats, where are you?
@Jackinga the audio note from the winemaker said it is NOT sweet or even off-dry…he said it’s a dry wine
@Jackinga @TimW I posted the comments below, Reverse Wine Snob sold this in June, and they mention 4.9 g/l residual sugar. That does put it in the “dry” category but it is not bone dry. And yes there are other factors in play when it comes to perception of sweetness. Just an observation as long as the topic was brought up.
@kaolis @TimW Thanks for clearing that up. As it is my cellar overfloweth. I have way too much wine, dry, mostly, and a paucity of anything on the sweeter side.
@Jackinga @TimW … So it sounds like it is “off-off-dry” i.e. just getting to the little bit of sweet but not at all what would be called a Sweet. But in a Red it’s all a matter of your expectations.
I don’t want to “insult” the wine (and not having tasted it or knowing the winemaker), but this sounds like it might be a good candidate for “mulled wine” for the Winter. I hate to say that because I view it as Blasphemy to do that to a wine same as flavored coffee or “colorized” old B&W films.
EDIT meant to finish that a nice mulled wine is actually OK especially sitting by a fireside or something, and you want to start with something fairly nice going in to it. So this might be the thing that’s perfect for that. But again I can see a winemaker (who’s input would of course be welcome here!) saying, “no, don’t do that to my prized creation!”
@Jackinga @pmarin @TimW Even though I’m not the winemaker for Smashberry, I know that Roxie Ward (WM) would love her wine to be shared and consumed in any way you see fit! You buy it, and you do what you will with it, easy peasy! We are here to make good wine, not to judge how it’s consumed!
@WesHagen
So, get her on the boards with us…
Hope everyone had a happy Halloween. We were lucky enough to receive a bottle for ratting. Thanks, Alice.
It was a cold, damp autumn evening – the night before Halloween. We opened the wine to a nose of blueberry with a hint of dark chocolate. First tasting suggested the wine would live up to its name: lots of blueberry; hints of strawberry, cranberry, black cherry, and pomegranate. Lots of tannin. There was a notable toastiness and a hint of cinnamon in the finish. This is a fun one, we thought.
We tasted with two cheeses: a fontina and a brie. The intense fruit of the wine overwhelmed the demure, creamy brie. But the fontina’s nutty sharpness really complemented the wine’s fruit and emphasized the flavors of toast. One of us said, “this wine would go really well with a sausage stuffing or some spiced nuts.”
Our tasting was interrupted by the arrival of our ten-year-old son and three of his friends. The kids horsed around outside, screaming and laughing with the joy of unbridled youth. It was cold though, so they came inside to a dinner of pigs in a blanket and fruit. We sat down in the other room with a second pour, with their chatter and periodic shrieks of laughter as a soundtrack in the background. The house felt warm, full of fun and pleasure. The tannins had subsided significantly in the wine, bringing a full-fledged fruit of blueberry, pomegranate, and cranberry.
Later we had our own dinner: baked eggs in purgatory. The wine complemented the sausage, tomato, white beans, and eggs well. It even paired with the chocolate chip cookies we nibbled at the end of the meal, the fruit holding up with the cookies’ sweetness. This is a versatile wine that really comes to play well with others.
As we basked in last sips and cookie crumbs, we thought ahead to Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaching, anticipating warm reunions with family and friends after a tough two years. This is a happy wine that opened over time with each course, ending in a final fruity celebration. If you are looking for a wine that can take you through a feast from appetizers to savory main course to holiday dessert cookies, this is an excellent choice.
We had it pegged at $20/bottle retail. At this Casemates price, it’s a no brainer.
@lionel47 I enjoyed reading this! Thanks for sharing.
Good Morning Wine Enthusiast!
87 Points. Roasted blackberry, mahogany, walnut and slightly sour plums aromas show on the nose of this kitchen sink blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Lagrein and Grenache. There’s a slight sweetness to the palate, where candied blackberry and cassis flavors are sprinkled with herbs. MK 8/1/20
https://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/smashberry-2018-red-paso-robles/
Some notes from Reverse Wine Snob, where this was recently offered at $72 for a 6 pack.
“The 2018 Smashberry Paso Robles Red Blend opens with lots of berry aromas just as you would expect from the name but also nice touches of spice, coffee, tobacco and a little earth. It’s an excellent start.
Taking a sip reveals a smooth and undeniably tasty wine featuring lots of ripe, juicy fruit, great structure, nice touches of spice and dusty tannins. With just a bit of sweetness to it, this is quite an attractive blend. (And at only 4.9 g/L of residual sugar, you get that nice touch of sweetness but still end up with less than 1 gram of sugar per glass.)
It ends dry, long, chewy and delicious. Not only is this quite fun to drink but its got a decent amount of complexity to it as well.”
fwiw
In for a case (though I have no storage).
/giphy knobby-dependable-move
@lionel47 There’s always room for wine. Love the gif.
Raise your hand if you googled “Cold soaked for anthocyanin extraction” and still not sure what it means…
@kaolis
Page 75
@rjquillin I figured that was probably in his playbook
@kaolis @rjquillin Dang I guess I have to get his book! Otherwise I’ll never know what’s on page 75.
@kaolis @pmarin @winesmith
tagging Clark here
@kaolis @pmarin @rjquillin @winesmith
Great book. Pushed my ancient college level chemistry memories to the limit, but still worth it with no chemistry knowledge.
@kaolis
Cold soaking is allowing the crushed red berries to sit on the skins at temps too low for primary ferment to engage. Even though it used ubiquitously, there is zero evidence it increases extraction in fermentation. It’s a fickle mistress that seems to hide in the lab…much like ghost sightings. #sadbuttrue
@kaolis I share Wes’s skepticism for the widespread practice of cold soaking. In general there is little justification for its widespread use. I prefer early onset of fermentations so I am not rolling the microbial dice.
That said, Sergio Traverso used it to very great effect at Concannon in 1972 when he used it to extract color from Petite Sirah before alcoholic fermentation, then pressing at high brix, thus favoring anthocyanins over its otherwise brutal tannins, thus making the world’s first highly drinkable Petite Sirah. Fifty years later, Concannon still dominates this category.
This works because anthocyanins have a partial positive charge and thus are easily extracted into aqueous solution, whereas tannins are apolar and need alcohol to extract them.
So the justification “Cold soaked for anthocyanin extraction” makes sense.
@winesmith @WesHagen Thanks!
Any NYC folks interested in splitting a case?
I was excited to get to rat again. I opened this one last night with a group of non-wine geek friends while eating pizza and watching our kids chase each other with glow sticks and occasionally hand out candy.
Dark purple in the glass, not much of a nose besides some berry/cherry. Palate was jammy fruit front and center. Not a ton of secondary notes besides a little peppery spiciness. Tannins were well under control, enough to have a nice full mouth feel without it being a mouth pucker.
Smashberry is aptly named. General consensus from the crowd was fine to good, which sounds right to me. If you like jammy wines this will be right up your alley.
Well, this is interesting… the notes of Jammy and the name don’t at all sound like what I’d seek out. But Rat reports are positive.
Most of all, I’m intrigued by the “8% Lagrein” – I’ve never heard of that. I’m going to look it up on the DeLong’s wine chart in my hallway! (bought framed from W.W long ago.)
@pmarin In my view, the Lagrein is what gives it the tannins and structure that saves it from being a flabby fruit bomb. My wife and I are not fans of jammy but we thoroughly enjoyed this wine. And we went in for a case.
@lionel47 @pmarin did it have proper acidity? That is, did you want to come back for a 2nd or 3rd glass? Any perceived sweetness?
@losthighwayz @pmarin we both came back for additional glasses. We had the cheeses and it had the acidity to cut through the fat. I love brie and I was happy with the pairing. My wife, who has an admittedly better palate than I, felt the fontina was a better match.
We are pretty picky. Don’t expect a Bordeaux muted fruit kind of wine. This is a wine that wine snobs like us appreciate but will please our non-wine geek friends.
So, yes, there is a nice acid backbone. Our preference is for more but, hell, when we grill Korean short ribs with friends, we’re not looking for wines that we need to analyze.
Edit: Forgot to add that it is a Pasi Robles blend. It’s going to have a fruit forward expression. But it’s still dry. We enjoyed.
@lionel47 @losthighwayz @pmarin
With the Lagrein tannins and less than .5% RS (residual sugar), I don’t think there is perceptible sweetness from a supermarket perspective. Now if you’re used to drinking bone dry Italian wines with a hint of brett, yeah, this might seem a bit broad and fruity, but certainly not sweet.
Lagrein is a local wine from the Sudtirol in the Alps (and Dolomites) of North Eastern Italy. I worked there for a few years, and have a soft spot for Lagrein (and for Pinot Nero, their light, balanced version of Pinot Noir; the other end of the Pinot spectrum from big CA Pinots). The unique feature of Lagrein is the grain; not the pucker-up hair-on-your-tongue grain of South American Malbec, But a subtle graininess that would convince you that it would leave sediment in a coffee filter (spoiler alert: it doesn’t). I’m pleased to see more Lagrein being grown in Paso, they make a great version of it. Not sure how much grain this small percentage will add to Smashberry’s blend.
@CDTobie Thanks for sharing the great memories! I think I read that Roberto Zuech, from Piedra Creek Winery (they sold here a bunch of zin and pinot in the past 6 months) brought the Lagrein in the USA in the '80s I think, because he was missing that grape so much (he was originally from SudTirol).
Glad Lagrein is taking hold!
@CDTobie
Most of the Lagrein in Paso is in our French Camp Vineyard in the Highlands. It makes an amazing varietal wine for a half dozen producers and the J Wilkes label where I was the winemaker for 5 years.
/giphy brutish-creepy-gnome
I can’t help but pull the trigger on a sub $100 twist top case. Especially given the fun label!
@connorbush
Thanks for the support! Without it I’d have to go back to teaching high school, and I much prefer teaching and selling wine.
@WesHagen my wife teaches middle school, what is the secret that will allow her to leave that behind for a career in wine?!
In my case: the kids drove me to drink and I went pro. And mommy owned a vineyard, so there’s that.
Just gifted to a new couple who love wine…
/giphy fishy-frail-pump
@bunnymasseuse my gifted couple were over the moon with their gift, much appreciated!!! thanks @WesHagen
If I didn’t have too much wine, I’d be all over this.
I am out of storage but couldn’t resist getting a case with the rattage, external reviews, and Vinter comments! Sounds like a great bang for the buck!
Just opened up a bottle.
Very impressed with this wine, especially for how cheap it is. It has that little bit of genuine sweetness that I find very palatable, balanced by some bitter notes. I think it might be even better chilled, so will have to try.
Very Berry yummy - pleased
Really bummed. Ordered a case and tracking says they tried to deliver Nov 10, but my apt number was wrong or missing and they were trying to resolve.
Checked with Casemates to try and get this solved, they said they were having it redelivered, due to arrive the 23rd. Got an email from Casemates on the 23rd saying it had been delivered. Huzzah! But then no sign of a package… and checking UPS tracking, it shows it “out for delivery” and “returned to sender” at the same exact time, both logged at the CA facility (I’m in NYC).
Casemates refunded me for the order, but had no further explanation. Was really hoping to try this one and am still confused what might have gone wrong. ¯_(ツ)_/¯