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.
Specifications
Vintage: 2014
Harvest Date: 1 October 2014
Harvest Sugar: 20.7 Brix
Fermentation techniques:
100% crush/destem
Anchor VN112 yeast inoculum
7 gm/L untoasted Alliers chips, air seasoned 2 yrs
Winery: Clark Smith
Owner: Clark Smith
Founded: 1993
Location: Sebastopol, CA
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 a 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.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MN, MO, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
It’s a great pleasure to reunite with my tribe of ex-wooters. My wines are a bit out of the ordinary, and to be honest, the majority of winelovers who really grok what I’m up to are right here.
This is my first time, so I hope you’ll be gentle. I have a general idea of the improvements David and his merry crew have installed, and I think they’re great. While free shipping is very important to y’all, it really takes a bite at the smaller pack size, so we can give way better prices if you can build up a case order.
Beyond that, I’m a babe in arms here, so please instruct me in your casemating rituals. In particular, has anybody come up with a verb analogous to “to woot” that describes an action taken in this community? I hardly think “to casemate” passes muster.
On to the wine. Many of you are familiar with it from the days of woot and the recent gathering. I like it well enough that I poured it during the wedding ceremony and composed with RuthE a ditty called The WellSmith Blessing Cup which the gathered beloved sang while passing around 26-ounce Riedel glasses of the stuff inscribed with a Garrison Keillor poem.
This is Santa Cruz Mountain wine. I consider this the best winegrowing region in California. It’s no typical Grenache strawberry jello fruit bomb, and possesses great depth, complexity and weirdness. While it has much to offer, body-wise it’s closer to a Pinot Noir than to a Cabernet or Rhone red.
This wine isn’t a blockbuster tannin bomb, so some might speculate that it’s not long-lived.
Wine is like baseball. Some wines are pop-flies; others swing for the fences.
We speak about the trajectory a wine has. If it tastes great young, it tends to decline rapidly.
Grenache shares with Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc a great multiplicity of expression dependent on local conditions of soil, altitude, rainfall, temperature and humidity.
Santa Cruz Mountains wines tend to have a really flat trajectory. I think this is due to their limestone/greenstone soil profiles.
I didn’t like this wine very much when it was young, but it has emerged after three years as a complex and profound wine which much to say.
For these reasons, I expect this wine to improve for a decade or more. I may be wrong, but I certainly intend to undertake the experiment, reserving enough to check in frequently.
In particular, has anybody come up with a verb analogous to “to woot” that describes an action taken in this community? I hardly think “to casemate” passes muster.
Well, I certainly hope “to mate” doesn’t become the term! But what really matters is great wine, great prices, and the opportunity to learn and interact in the process. (Oh, and reconnecting with someone you lost touch with for 50 years can be fun.)
@chipgreen Help me out, you guys. This is my first expedition into the Casemates model, which is slightly different (and a big improvement) over the woot system. As I see it, you are getting a 42% off SRP with the three-pack and 58% with the case. Am I on base?
Welcome, Clark! My wife and I had the pleasure of attending a Kathy Joseph wine dinner the other night and we brought along a bottle of your 2005 Second Fiddle Pinot to share with her later in the evening. It was enjoyed by all and Kathy had such wonderful things to say about you and your time together at UC Davis!
@chipgreen Good heavens, Chip. Thank you so much for that. Kathy was my Phycial Chemistry study partner at UC Davis in 1982. Since she was also Hugh Hefner’s lawyer’s daughter and had Playboy magazines strewn about her flat, we got along pretty well.
Kathy was the first among us to realize the virtue of starting one’s own small brand, and I’ve admired Fiddlehead Cellars ever since. Twenty years later I followed suit with WineSmith.
In 2005, the movie Sideways had just come out, focusing on her region and ruining Pinot Noir by enflaming a feeding frenzy for Pinot Noir among fashion followers who didn’t understand it. They loved Merlot’s color and body, but dumped it as untrendy. They bought into Pinot Noir with insane alacrity, but hated its light color and body. This brought tremendous pressure upon winemakers to make BIG PINOT. The way you do that is to go for long hang-time so the wines smack with high alcohol and dry tannins.
These practices ruin Pinot Noir’s grace, depth, etheriality and longevity potential.
Kathy’s 100-acre Fiddlestix Vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills had acquired a great reputation with a couple dozen wineries who suddenly wanted her to harvest at high brix and make BIG PINOT for these idiots.
So in 2005 I conceived a project to use the vineyard properly and craft a Côte de Beaune-style Pinot harvested at normal maturity, a 50:50 blend of clones 115 (sturdy tannic structure, cherry fruit) and 667 (perfume and spice, silky tannins).
The good news is that after three years in neutral barrel, the wine came out silky, ethereal, and, well, magnificent in a thoroughly understated way. The bad news is that even now the wine is only beginning to show itself, to bloom beyond its hibiscus tea terroir aromatic into the rich terciary manifestation of truffles and romano nuances that are its destiny, perhaps ten years hence.
This wine taught me that in future, I need to leave my pinots in neutral wood longer. That’s why my 2007 Russian River Pinot got eight years in barrel.
News flash: I’m bottling my 2008, a blend from all around California, with 111 months in neutral wood (Yum).
Anyhow, Chip, I really appreciate your generosity in sharing this blast from the past with Kathy. Wish I’d been there. She continues to be one of the best and most lovable winemakers in California.
@winesmith My pleasure! She noted that the last time she talked to you, you mentioned that the wine was still in its infancy, so we decanted half the bottle and PnP’d the other half to taste the difference. It was a little tight and tart right out of the bottle but smoothed out considerably after some time in the decanter. The owner of the Inn where the dinner was held (and his son, who interned with Kathy for a summer) also sampled and greatly enjoyed the wine.
@Winedavid49 I talked up casemates to Kathy after a brief history of wine.woot and reminded her of it again the following day as we also attended her wine tasting at a local wine shop. She will be back in CA from OH on Wednesday, so I told her I would email her with your contact info towards the end of the week. Feel free to whisper your preferred contact info for me to forward to Kathy.
@chipgreen@winesmith@Winedavid49 When I die, can you guys get Clark to write my eulogy? I’m serious as the heart attack I’m likely to suffer in the next five years of hedonism.
Help me out, y’all. I’m trying to be precise with a slightly different model than woot. The way I figure, the diffence between the 4-pack and the case is 42% off SRP vs 58%. Am I about right? Please instruct me.
Then let’s get on to talking about this here wine. I’ve spilled my guts. How 'bout some comments for the Casemates folks who haven’t grokked the WineSmith weirdness? Somebody 'splain.
@winesmith Clark, if this question is in response to the @chipgreen post above then the % he calculated is the % additional savings per bottle when you buy the case vs the 3 pack.
@winesmith Using the retail bottle price = $35 x12 = $420 for case SRP instead of the $422.44 amount noted by Casemates above (which credits $84 for a case purchase but then adds back $86.44 worth of tax and shipping) and compare that with the Casemates case price of $187.99 before tax and shipping, the difference is 55.24%. The difference for the smaller allotment works out to 40.96%.
If you’re wondering about my “How much more…” post above, it simply compares the Casemates pricing on the case vs. the smaller allotment to show the additional savings on the case relative to what is already being saved on the 3-pack.
@chipgreen Thanks, Chip, for this in-depth analysis. Stop me if I’m off-base, but it seems to me that the tricky part is to compare the shipping costs we can offer with those available at CaseMates. These are fixed at CaseMates, but for us you need to calculate an average cost depending on the buyer’s location. I think the CaseMates deals are always cheaper than standard UPS, but it’s going to vary a lot. Unless I’m wrong, this difference will always increase the benefit from what you calculated, so maybe my calculation of 42%/58% isn’t too far off.
@winesmith The Casemates shipping charge is fixed at $8 for the smaller allotment (regardless of whether it’s 2, 3 or 4 bottles) and $12 for the case. I agree wholeheartedly that the nominal shipping charge provides additional savings above and beyond the already discounted bottle price! Some of us have even paid for VMP membership ($60 annually) that provides “free” shipping for one year.
@Winedavid49 Good question. Grenache had over 11,000 acres planted in 2000, but it all went to Gallo and Bronco for Grenache Rose. In 2015, we had 114 acres. Yes, that’s a decline of 99%.
In France, Grenache has two purposes. People are crazy about Taval Rose, which benefits from the simple strawberry character you get from heavy crops on rich soils. At the other end of the spectrum, we have Chateau Reyas, the king of Chateauneufs du Pape, which is almost pure Grenache from special clones on special soils, producing a dark and intense vin de garde for the ages.
This wine is right in the middle. It is not a BIG wine, but displays the zany terroir of the Santa Cruz Mountains with even greater virtuosity than the region’s better known Pinots and Chardonnays.
These elements are not easy to enumerate, and I am loathe to list their intriguing complexities here. Suffice it to say that this is not a delicious wine, nor an impactful wine; it is a transformative wine which, once you smell it, makes clear why I chose it to unite a new tribe at my wedding last August.
@Winedavid49@winesmith Not sure those numbers are correct about the number of acres of Grenache in CA - me thinks that they are MUCH higher than low 100’s, my friend . . .
@karenhynes@Winedavid49@winesmith There were 38,000 tons of Grenache crushed in CA according to the 2017 CA Grape Crush Report - don’t think yields are THAT high per acre, my friends
@tercerowines@Winedavid49@winesmith
I’m seeing 5294 fruit bearing acres in 2015 in the link above, if I’m reading it correctly. But its after midnight in Chicago and I should be in bed (stupid insomnia!). Sounds like a more reasonable number.
@karenhynes@tercerowines@Winedavid49 I stand corrected. I misread the grape report. 140 acres was the newly planted acreage in 2016. There were 4474 total acres in 2016. Hard to say what the yield per acre is; probably 10 tons/acre for rose. This vineyard got about three tons per acre.
This is great stuff. I got some on futures directly from Clark, then a bit more with a wooting last fall. With 2 remaining I’d be happy to take a pair off somebody in SoCal, but sure can’t go in for a case with too much overflow already taking over the living room.
@noodles Hard to say no, I opened a bottle last week and enjoyed it, have 2 left. The case price is a steal, I’m in for a split however anyone wants to do it.
@noodles We don’t live in Buffalo, but have family that still does (NT). Now we’re coastal GA area and I haven’t seen anyone from around here yet. Where abouts are all of you up there?
Lucky enough to be a first-time lab rat with this wine!
Pours a crystal-clear pale brick color, slight browning at the edges. Nose is dominated by strawberry with floral notes and undertones of mint. It was very tart - great to cut through rich/sweet food, but a little cloying on its own.
Benefited from an hour in the decanter, everything mellowed out a bit, the strawberry took a back seat to some of the more complex flavors, and the oak came through a bit more.
Overall very good, and a welcome change from most of the reds on our shelf.
Opened one of my two remaining bottles last weekend (when we thought the offer was last Monday) to see how the wine was drinking, because I planned to buy more during this offer. This has been a favorite wine of ours, (we love interesting Grenache), and we’ve gone through half a case of this, since bringing the first bottle to dinner for our 26th anniversary last June.
I find Clark’s tasting notes to be detailed, and right on the money. This wine is still drinking similarly to the first bottle we opened. A thinking wine, hard to describe, yes some strawberry and light red fruit, very Pinot like texture, but with a little bit of a lovely glycerin mouthfeel. But then lots of herbs, savory bits, I get the leather and Asian spice from Clark’s notes, and a good acidity and energy to the finish. Delicious, thoughtful, and moving, the nose alone is worth the price of admission. We have enjoyed it paired with a variety of lighter foods, from cheese plates to roasted duck breast.
Can’t believe the bottle price for this at the case buy, splitting a case with a friend. This was one of the wines I was really hoping to see up on Casemates. Thanks, WineDavid and Clark!
@rhinothewino I won’t repeat the answer I framed for @stingingJ above, but in short, despite its light tannins, I certainly expect this wine to improve and open over the next decade in good cellar conditions.
@winesmith howdy! I didn’t get a chance to try your previous Grenache. That said, Priorat Grenache ranks up there as some of the best wine I’ve ever had.
Can you give a synopsis of how your Grenache might compare/contrast with Priorat Grenache?
@vaaccess I like the Priorat, too. It’s not very similar, apart from that always-present strawberry note. The Priorat is ample yet soft, quite straightforward and generous. This wine is leaner and more intriguing - you can see how the lab rats struggle to define its character. It’s also quite minerally, with a lot of palate energy in the finish. It also promises to bloom and gain expression over the next decade or so, while the Priorat is quite ready to go.
@hscottk Absolutely. We will honor any Casemates or previous woot deal we still have in stock. Call Sandra at 707-332-0056 between 9AM and 4PM Pacific Time.
@klezman@radiolysis@rjquillin Just opened my bottle of this vintage to try and I’m hooked even before the decanting is done. I will definitely help with this case, or order my own to split with someone. (maybe i could split with @radiolysis and Ron could split with @klezman?)
@radiolysis@rjquillin@losthiwayz@tklivory
It looks like there is plenty of interest! I’m in for 2-3 bottles if any should go wanting. If not, I have more than enough wine anyway, so nbd.
@rjquillin Soulful, romantic music. My playlist includes Laura Sullivan’s “Greensleeves,” Eli “Paperboy” Reed’s “Roll With Me,” Tom Waits “Down On Mainstreet,” and surprisingly, “All Stripped Down” off Bone Machine, Ruben Romero “Romanza,” George Jones “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” Gipsy Kings “Allegria,” and London Symphony “Love Theme From Superman.” Similar to what works for Pinot Noir, but edgier.
@rjquillin@Winedavid49 Yeah, me too. It was sobering to discover how well my wines all work with depressing music. Well, not exactly sobering. Alarming, but not sobering.
So nice to see Clark here and as always, with his front line, fabulous participation. Really looking forward to this. Any chance it will be here by Easter? Would probably be great with the ham etc.
Cheers!
I think you’re right about ham. The 12.9 alcohol works well with salty foods, and the smoked character will definitely compliment its rich fruit and earthy aspects,while the energetic, minerally finish will be great with the Mac n cheese or scalloped potato side. (BTW, the secret to great M&C is to grate turnip into it).
@winesmith Indeed; but this offering didn’t ship to Maine Can you put us on your list for the future? (I have no clue how many hoops you need to jump through to make that happen…)
I hate to say we’ve run out of case storage room- but, can’t let this get away. Got started on WineSmith a ways back with the Faux Chablis- hadn’t tried the Granache, so looking forward to trying it out.
/giphy lethal-slate-giant
Tasting Notes
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.
Specifications
Price Comparison
$422.44/case at WineSmith Cellars
About The Winery
Winery: Clark Smith
Owner: Clark Smith
Founded: 1993
Location: Sebastopol, CA
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 a 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.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MN, MO, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, Mar 29 - Monday, Apr 2
@WineSmith is here!
(Check out their User Profile for recent activity.)
@olafolafson shares their first Lab Rat Review.
WineSmith Grenache
3 bottles for $61.99 $20.66/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $187.99 $15.67/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2014 WineSmith Grenache
Previous offer: 8/20/17
It’s a great pleasure to reunite with my tribe of ex-wooters. My wines are a bit out of the ordinary, and to be honest, the majority of winelovers who really grok what I’m up to are right here.
This is my first time, so I hope you’ll be gentle. I have a general idea of the improvements David and his merry crew have installed, and I think they’re great. While free shipping is very important to y’all, it really takes a bite at the smaller pack size, so we can give way better prices if you can build up a case order.
Beyond that, I’m a babe in arms here, so please instruct me in your casemating rituals. In particular, has anybody come up with a verb analogous to “to woot” that describes an action taken in this community? I hardly think “to casemate” passes muster.
On to the wine. Many of you are familiar with it from the days of woot and the recent gathering. I like it well enough that I poured it during the wedding ceremony and composed with RuthE a ditty called The WellSmith Blessing Cup which the gathered beloved sang while passing around 26-ounce Riedel glasses of the stuff inscribed with a Garrison Keillor poem.
This is Santa Cruz Mountain wine. I consider this the best winegrowing region in California. It’s no typical Grenache strawberry jello fruit bomb, and possesses great depth, complexity and weirdness. While it has much to offer, body-wise it’s closer to a Pinot Noir than to a Cabernet or Rhone red.
For more info, check out our previous wine.woot comments section.
@winesmith would love to hear your prediction on how this wine will age! Thanks in advance!
@winesmith Welcome back Clark! Glad you’re on board, and it wouldn’t be as much fun without you!
@StingingJ
A really interesting question.
This wine isn’t a blockbuster tannin bomb, so some might speculate that it’s not long-lived.
Wine is like baseball. Some wines are pop-flies; others swing for the fences.
We speak about the trajectory a wine has. If it tastes great young, it tends to decline rapidly.
Grenache shares with Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc a great multiplicity of expression dependent on local conditions of soil, altitude, rainfall, temperature and humidity.
Santa Cruz Mountains wines tend to have a really flat trajectory. I think this is due to their limestone/greenstone soil profiles.
I didn’t like this wine very much when it was young, but it has emerged after three years as a complex and profound wine which much to say.
For these reasons, I expect this wine to improve for a decade or more. I may be wrong, but I certainly intend to undertake the experiment, reserving enough to check in frequently.
@winesmith
Well, I certainly hope “to mate” doesn’t become the term! But what really matters is great wine, great prices, and the opportunity to learn and interact in the process. (Oh, and reconnecting with someone you lost touch with for 50 years can be fun.)
@winesmith It is an honor and a pleasure to have you here. Thank you!
@Mark_L @winesmith can we break it apart? “To case, mate!” that way if we get any Aussie/New Zealand offerings they’ll feel right at home.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2014 WineSmith Grenache - $60 = 24.18%
@chipgreen Help me out, you guys. This is my first expedition into the Casemates model, which is slightly different (and a big improvement) over the woot system. As I see it, you are getting a 42% off SRP with the three-pack and 58% with the case. Am I on base?
@winesmith Sorry for the confusion.
It’s just an illustration of the additional savings when buying a case vs. the already discounted 3-pack.
@chipgreen @winesmith We dont’ have the heart to tell Chip his math skills are subpar.
Anyone in the sf peninsula want to split a case?
@sdfreedive where? I’m in SJ and could be convinced.
@ajrunr near sfo
Welcome, Clark! My wife and I had the pleasure of attending a Kathy Joseph wine dinner the other night and we brought along a bottle of your 2005 Second Fiddle Pinot to share with her later in the evening. It was enjoyed by all and Kathy had such wonderful things to say about you and your time together at UC Davis!
@chipgreen Good heavens, Chip. Thank you so much for that. Kathy was my Phycial Chemistry study partner at UC Davis in 1982. Since she was also Hugh Hefner’s lawyer’s daughter and had Playboy magazines strewn about her flat, we got along pretty well.
Kathy was the first among us to realize the virtue of starting one’s own small brand, and I’ve admired Fiddlehead Cellars ever since. Twenty years later I followed suit with WineSmith.
In 2005, the movie Sideways had just come out, focusing on her region and ruining Pinot Noir by enflaming a feeding frenzy for Pinot Noir among fashion followers who didn’t understand it. They loved Merlot’s color and body, but dumped it as untrendy. They bought into Pinot Noir with insane alacrity, but hated its light color and body. This brought tremendous pressure upon winemakers to make BIG PINOT. The way you do that is to go for long hang-time so the wines smack with high alcohol and dry tannins.
These practices ruin Pinot Noir’s grace, depth, etheriality and longevity potential.
Kathy’s 100-acre Fiddlestix Vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills had acquired a great reputation with a couple dozen wineries who suddenly wanted her to harvest at high brix and make BIG PINOT for these idiots.
So in 2005 I conceived a project to use the vineyard properly and craft a Côte de Beaune-style Pinot harvested at normal maturity, a 50:50 blend of clones 115 (sturdy tannic structure, cherry fruit) and 667 (perfume and spice, silky tannins).
The good news is that after three years in neutral barrel, the wine came out silky, ethereal, and, well, magnificent in a thoroughly understated way. The bad news is that even now the wine is only beginning to show itself, to bloom beyond its hibiscus tea terroir aromatic into the rich terciary manifestation of truffles and romano nuances that are its destiny, perhaps ten years hence.
This wine taught me that in future, I need to leave my pinots in neutral wood longer. That’s why my 2007 Russian River Pinot got eight years in barrel.
News flash: I’m bottling my 2008, a blend from all around California, with 111 months in neutral wood (Yum).
Anyhow, Chip, I really appreciate your generosity in sharing this blast from the past with Kathy. Wish I’d been there. She continues to be one of the best and most lovable winemakers in California.
@winesmith My pleasure! She noted that the last time she talked to you, you mentioned that the wine was still in its infancy, so we decanted half the bottle and PnP’d the other half to taste the difference. It was a little tight and tart right out of the bottle but smoothed out considerably after some time in the decanter. The owner of the Inn where the dinner was held (and his son, who interned with Kathy for a summer) also sampled and greatly enjoyed the wine.
@Winedavid49 I talked up casemates to Kathy after a brief history of wine.woot and reminded her of it again the following day as we also attended her wine tasting at a local wine shop. She will be back in CA from OH on Wednesday, so I told her I would email her with your contact info towards the end of the week. Feel free to whisper your preferred contact info for me to forward to Kathy.
@chipgreen @winesmith @Winedavid49 When I die, can you guys get Clark to write my eulogy? I’m serious as the heart attack I’m likely to suffer in the next five years of hedonism.
Help me out, y’all. I’m trying to be precise with a slightly different model than woot. The way I figure, the diffence between the 4-pack and the case is 42% off SRP vs 58%. Am I about right? Please instruct me.
Then let’s get on to talking about this here wine. I’ve spilled my guts. How 'bout some comments for the Casemates folks who haven’t grokked the WineSmith weirdness? Somebody 'splain.
@winesmith Clark, if this question is in response to the @chipgreen post above then the % he calculated is the % additional savings per bottle when you buy the case vs the 3 pack.
@winesmith Using the retail bottle price = $35 x12 = $420 for case SRP instead of the $422.44 amount noted by Casemates above (which credits $84 for a case purchase but then adds back $86.44 worth of tax and shipping) and compare that with the Casemates case price of $187.99 before tax and shipping, the difference is 55.24%. The difference for the smaller allotment works out to 40.96%.
If you’re wondering about my “How much more…” post above, it simply compares the Casemates pricing on the case vs. the smaller allotment to show the additional savings on the case relative to what is already being saved on the 3-pack.
@chipgreen Thanks, Chip, for this in-depth analysis. Stop me if I’m off-base, but it seems to me that the tricky part is to compare the shipping costs we can offer with those available at CaseMates. These are fixed at CaseMates, but for us you need to calculate an average cost depending on the buyer’s location. I think the CaseMates deals are always cheaper than standard UPS, but it’s going to vary a lot. Unless I’m wrong, this difference will always increase the benefit from what you calculated, so maybe my calculation of 42%/58% isn’t too far off.
@winesmith The Casemates shipping charge is fixed at $8 for the smaller allotment (regardless of whether it’s 2, 3 or 4 bottles) and $12 for the case. I agree wholeheartedly that the nominal shipping charge provides additional savings above and beyond the already discounted bottle price! Some of us have even paid for VMP membership ($60 annually) that provides “free” shipping for one year.
Thanks Clark! Just wouldn’t be right here without you. Do your u know how much Grenache varietal is grown in ca?
@Winedavid49 Good question. Grenache had over 11,000 acres planted in 2000, but it all went to Gallo and Bronco for Grenache Rose. In 2015, we had 114 acres. Yes, that’s a decline of 99%.
In France, Grenache has two purposes. People are crazy about Taval Rose, which benefits from the simple strawberry character you get from heavy crops on rich soils. At the other end of the spectrum, we have Chateau Reyas, the king of Chateauneufs du Pape, which is almost pure Grenache from special clones on special soils, producing a dark and intense vin de garde for the ages.
This wine is right in the middle. It is not a BIG wine, but displays the zany terroir of the Santa Cruz Mountains with even greater virtuosity than the region’s better known Pinots and Chardonnays.
These elements are not easy to enumerate, and I am loathe to list their intriguing complexities here. Suffice it to say that this is not a delicious wine, nor an impactful wine; it is a transformative wine which, once you smell it, makes clear why I chose it to unite a new tribe at my wedding last August.
@Winedavid49 @winesmith Not sure those numbers are correct about the number of acres of Grenache in CA - me thinks that they are MUCH higher than low 100’s, my friend . . .
@tercerowines @Winedavid49 @winesmith
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/California/Publications/Fruits_and_Nuts/2016/201604grpac.pdf
@karenhynes @Winedavid49 @winesmith There were 38,000 tons of Grenache crushed in CA according to the 2017 CA Grape Crush Report - don’t think yields are THAT high per acre, my friends
@tercerowines @Winedavid49 @winesmith
I’m seeing 5294 fruit bearing acres in 2015 in the link above, if I’m reading it correctly. But its after midnight in Chicago and I should be in bed (stupid insomnia!). Sounds like a more reasonable number.
@karenhynes @tercerowines @Winedavid49 I stand corrected. I misread the grape report. 140 acres was the newly planted acreage in 2016. There were 4474 total acres in 2016. Hard to say what the yield per acre is; probably 10 tons/acre for rose. This vineyard got about three tons per acre.
@tercerowines @Winedavid49 @winesmith
We still love you…and your wines!!
Anyone in Sea open to splitting a case? I’d be in for 4!
This is great stuff. I got some on futures directly from Clark, then a bit more with a wooting last fall. With 2 remaining I’d be happy to take a pair off somebody in SoCal, but sure can’t go in for a case with too much overflow already taking over the living room.
anyone in Houston/Sugarland willing to split the case
@tnguyencase I’m interested in 3-4. Perhaps we could find another friend as well.
@raccoon81 ordering it now … if there are more .i am good with not picking up entire case
@raccoon81 @tnguyencase I want some! I could take 3,4,6… whatever works. Thanks!
@SDL3 @tnguyencase awesome! I’m the Grenache drinker at home. So I’ll take 3 or 4. However you want to split it.
@raccoon81 @SDL3 @raccoon81, let’s do it three way … we still come out 4 for each …
@tnguyencase If you’d like to share 2 bottles i’d love to try this.
@raccoon81 @SDL3 @tnguyencase @ponyo4 i am ordering another case and i do not have to keep it all. Probably want 6 bottles but can also keep the rest.
@raccoon81 @SDL3 split three way come out to be $70 per .for 4 bottles … email: tnguyen00001@yahoo.com so we can arrange payment. thank you everyone
This sounds intriguing. Buffalo folks, want to split a case? @ddeuddeg @catcoland @lamplighter
@noodles Definitely. Clark’s wines are amazing.
@noodles Hard to say no, I opened a bottle last week and enjoyed it, have 2 left. The case price is a steal, I’m in for a split however anyone wants to do it.
@catcoland @noodles No thanks
@noodles We don’t live in Buffalo, but have family that still does (NT). Now we’re coastal GA area and I haven’t seen anyone from around here yet. Where abouts are all of you up there?
@Luv2hug I’m near the airport, @catcoland and @ddeuddeg who are splitting this case with me are both in the south towns.
Lucky enough to be a first-time lab rat with this wine!
Pours a crystal-clear pale brick color, slight browning at the edges. Nose is dominated by strawberry with floral notes and undertones of mint. It was very tart - great to cut through rich/sweet food, but a little cloying on its own.
Benefited from an hour in the decanter, everything mellowed out a bit, the strawberry took a back seat to some of the more complex flavors, and the oak came through a bit more.
Overall very good, and a welcome change from most of the reds on our shelf.
Opened one of my two remaining bottles last weekend (when we thought the offer was last Monday) to see how the wine was drinking, because I planned to buy more during this offer. This has been a favorite wine of ours, (we love interesting Grenache), and we’ve gone through half a case of this, since bringing the first bottle to dinner for our 26th anniversary last June.
I find Clark’s tasting notes to be detailed, and right on the money. This wine is still drinking similarly to the first bottle we opened. A thinking wine, hard to describe, yes some strawberry and light red fruit, very Pinot like texture, but with a little bit of a lovely glycerin mouthfeel. But then lots of herbs, savory bits, I get the leather and Asian spice from Clark’s notes, and a good acidity and energy to the finish. Delicious, thoughtful, and moving, the nose alone is worth the price of admission. We have enjoyed it paired with a variety of lighter foods, from cheese plates to roasted duck breast.
Can’t believe the bottle price for this at the case buy, splitting a case with a friend. This was one of the wines I was really hoping to see up on Casemates. Thanks, WineDavid and Clark!
Hi Clark - what is the drinking window on this?
@rhinothewino I won’t repeat the answer I framed for @stingingJ above, but in short, despite its light tannins, I certainly expect this wine to improve and open over the next decade in good cellar conditions.
There are lots of other tasting notes and discussion in last year’s woot discussion board on this wine.
@winesmith howdy! I didn’t get a chance to try your previous Grenache. That said, Priorat Grenache ranks up there as some of the best wine I’ve ever had.
Can you give a synopsis of how your Grenache might compare/contrast with Priorat Grenache?
Thanks!
@vaaccess I like the Priorat, too. It’s not very similar, apart from that always-present strawberry note. The Priorat is ample yet soft, quite straightforward and generous. This wine is leaner and more intriguing - you can see how the lab rats struggle to define its character. It’s also quite minerally, with a lot of palate energy in the finish. It also promises to bloom and gain expression over the next decade or so, while the Priorat is quite ready to go.
Clark, is it still possible to contact the winery directly for states not listed? Thanks!
@hscottk Absolutely. We will honor any Casemates or previous woot deal we still have in stock. Call Sandra at 707-332-0056 between 9AM and 4PM Pacific Time.
Any NYC Midtown East folks in to split?
@hammi99 If, you’re still looking for a split, I’ll take 4-6. Live in Queens.
@edwoz @hammi99 I’m in for a split if you ordered this. Traveling abroad at the moment.
I’m a big fan of Clark’s wines. Despite this, I don’t need a full case. Anyone from the Reno area interested in a split?
How come I never had his Granache…
In for a case
In for a case. This stuff is my husband’s jam (pun intended) and I also like it!
Any San Diego interest? this stuff was fantastic when i ratted at woot, so i’ll take a few bottles if there are others who want in.
@radiolysis Debating a full case or not.
Happy to do a split, but I’d like six bottles, the other six could divvy up as desired.
@Klezman may want to help on some of the other six.
done for the case:
obscene-deep-hedgehog
@klezman @radiolysis @rjquillin Just opened my bottle of this vintage to try and I’m hooked even before the decanting is done. I will definitely help with this case, or order my own to split with someone. (maybe i could split with @radiolysis and Ron could split with @klezman?)
@klezman @radiolysis @rjquillin ill take 3 if splitting case three ways-klez, rj, lost
@radiolysis @rjquillin @losthiwayz @tklivory
It looks like there is plenty of interest! I’m in for 2-3 bottles if any should go wanting. If not, I have more than enough wine anyway, so nbd.
@klezman @radiolysis @rjquillin @losthighwayz all right, ordered a case so we can figure out logistics later. And I have to giphy this.
/giphy nasty-jazzy-fairy
@tklivory wow some of those giphys were NSFW
Glad for the edit functionality!
@tklivory if you have 3 or 4 in your pack that i could take over, that would be fantastic.
@radiolysis Sounds good.
@rjquillin @klezman @losthighwayz Sounds like Ron’s case works for all three of you, right?
@WineSmith
It has to be asked…
What do we listen to?
@rjquillin Soulful, romantic music. My playlist includes Laura Sullivan’s “Greensleeves,” Eli “Paperboy” Reed’s “Roll With Me,” Tom Waits “Down On Mainstreet,” and surprisingly, “All Stripped Down” off Bone Machine, Ruben Romero “Romanza,” George Jones “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” Gipsy Kings “Allegria,” and London Symphony “Love Theme From Superman.” Similar to what works for Pinot Noir, but edgier.
@rjquillin @winesmith that George Jones song gets me every time.
@rjquillin @Winedavid49 Yeah, me too. It was sobering to discover how well my wines all work with depressing music. Well, not exactly sobering. Alarming, but not sobering.
Any NJ interest in a split? Will cross post on gathering thread.
In for a case!
/giphy expert-killer-feeling
So nice to see Clark here and as always, with his front line, fabulous participation. Really looking forward to this. Any chance it will be here by Easter? Would probably be great with the ham etc.
Cheers!
I think you’re right about ham. The 12.9 alcohol works well with salty foods, and the smoked character will definitely compliment its rich fruit and earthy aspects,while the energetic, minerally finish will be great with the Mac n cheese or scalloped potato side. (BTW, the secret to great M&C is to grate turnip into it).
@winesmith love me some white truffle Mac and cheese. Good thing I have some thanks to the remote party pack!
@jml326 @winesmith Wow; the truffle M&C would have been lots better than the bread mix…
@jml326 @uncleop Bit of lobster doesn’t hurt either. Live a little.
@winesmith Indeed; but this offering didn’t ship to Maine
Can you put us on your list for the future? (I have no clue how many hoops you need to jump through to make that happen…)
@uncleop @winesmith If you contact Sandra at 707-332-0056 she will add you the email list. Her email is sandra.winesmith@gmail.com
I hate to say we’ve run out of case storage room- but, can’t let this get away. Got started on WineSmith a ways back with the Faux Chablis- hadn’t tried the Granache, so looking forward to trying it out.
/giphy lethal-slate-giant
Can you guess the secret to solving your wine storage problems?
@winesmith The solution is to quite purchasing, and just drink…
but what fun would that alone be?
Any WineSmith is a go. Almost forgot about this due to the delayed offer. Luckily I saw WineSmith’s reminder e-mail. Just made it in for 3.
@SoSmellyAir Yeah, you didn’t want to miss this one.
It is unique, if you didn’t already understand that from the comments.
@rjquillin And I just bought 6 Hibiki Harmony at Costco too. (Japanese whisky is getting so hip that it never stays in stock.)
3 pack only, need to find some casemates but it’s a little hard here in Utah, thankfully I also have an Idaho address to ship to.
terrible-magical-fan