2022 WineSmith Cellars Tannat, Heringer Vineyards, Yolo County
I was trained on winemaking techniques by the great Patrick Ducournau in Madiran, a small appellation in southwest France in sight of the Pyrenees which specializes in Tannat. He invented the technique of micro-oxygenation to tame the tannins of this extraordinary grape, which can have three times the tannin of Cabernet Sauvignon. His hunch that the wine was starved for oxygen proved correct, and the technique is similar to conching chocolate, which the Aztecs discovered converts cocoa into chocolate.
I was delighted to find a rare planting of this little-known grape in Clarksburg, California. It was even more astonishing to discover how oily and feminine the Tannat wines from this special vineyard proved to be. Generally, Tannat needs several years to soften and open, yet here we are, just 23 months after vintage, bottling a highly drinkable wine with round, voluptuous mouthfeel.
The nose is instantly alluring. These generous and approachable tannins support intriguing aromas of tar, violets and sweet fennel. Its weight and authority tempt one to pair it with peppered steak, but I think the natives of Madiran are right to suggest that it is at its best with grilled duck breast. Check out my cooking show, Gracious Living in the Time of Corona, for tips on preparing duck.
Specs
Vineyard Location: Heringer Estate Vineyards
Clarksburg, Yolo County experimental planting
Harvest Date: 27 September 2022
Harvest Sugar: 21.9 Brix
Fermentation techniques
100% crush/destem
Lalvin D80 yeast inoculum
7 gm/L untoasted Alliers chips, air seasoned 2 yrs
Elevage details
Micro-oxygenated pre-ML at 90 mg/L/month
Malolactic fermentation in barrel
Neutral French oak aged 23 months
TA 6.7 g/L
pH 3.56 at bottling
Alcohol 13.4%
121 cases produced
Bottling Date: July 26, 2025
What’s Included
4-bottles:
4x - 2022 WineSmith Cellars Tannat, Heringer Vineyards, Yolo County
Case:
12x - 2022 WineSmith Cellars Tannat, Heringer Vineyards, Yolo County
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.
Available States
AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Apologies for the delay. I re-directed the lab rat bottle and wasn’t able to get to the UPS store before it closed on Saturday. I will be back tomorrow with my/our notes. Hopefully there is an additional rat who is a little more timely than this one!
Greetings, folks. It’s just great to be back among my casemates homies. This group understands more than any other just what WineSmith is all about.
For those of you new to these boards, WineSmith is a Eurocentric experimental project, by which I mean that I often deal with varieties outside the mainstream, but always in a balanced, moderate, age-worthy style that showcases regional character with graceful understatement. My wines are never oaky or high in alcohol. I do like what happens in a neutral barrel, though, but I avoid extractives.
This Tannat is certainly a prime example. Strangely, it is not the tannic bruiser one normally sees from this variety. For some reason, the Heringer vineyard gives us a richly fruity wine supported by silky, feminine tannins. It’s quite yummy right now and should probably be drunk up in the next 3 to 5 years.
I am eager to hear what the ratage may have to say.
@winesmith Hey Clark - what’s the VA on this in the labs? We had a rat bottle (more to come below) and the consensus was there was a whole lot of acetone for the first couple hours it was open.
@klezman The VA is 0.76 gm/L, a normal level for a well-structured wine. I think what you’re seeing is just explosive fruit. This happens commonly in Zinfandel. This might be exacerbated by temperature. What was the service temp?
Hi Clark, happy to see you back on Casemates! We are down to our last 2 bottles of the 2019, which was delish. In for a case, at the same price as 5 years ago, thanks!
Hi everybody! Got the email last week, just in time for a gathering at my place to start bidding farewell to SoCal. Instead of doing the traditional evening or two with the bottle, we decided it was right and proper to open this at last night’s gathering so all could sample and opine.
As things went, I only got to taste this at the start of the evening and the bottle and then again at the very end of the night.
When I first saw this was the wine I recalled having a bottle of the 2019 (iirc) Tannat from the same vineyard and being blown away by the aromatics and easy drinking nature of the bottle, given the variety. I was figuring it would be more of the same, but this bottle came out of the gate a bit more harsh on the nose and much more muted in the kinds of aromas of flowers and blue fruit I remember from the earlier vintage. Others (who may weigh in themselves) noted aromas of acetone, although I didn’t pick up on it until somebody mentioned it. (Maybe it’s the lingering semi-stuffed nose.) Even without that, though, this first glass wasn’t particularly enjoyable and rather unlike the 2019. Muted fruit, no flowers, and a bit of a rough edge to it.
Fast forward about 3 or 4 hours, and everything had changed. The harshness had evaporated, along with the VA. Those who were debating earlier whether it was acetone or some other related acetic compounds were now enjoying it, as was I. The fruit had come out and it had rounded out nicely. It never got to the aromatic heights of that bottle of 2019, but it was very enjoyable and not the sort of wine that required food although it would certainly play well with some.
Hard to know what to think of this bottle - could have been a bit flawed or maybe this vintage is simply less aromatic than the 2019. But if the bottles are like how this one was at the end of the evening then it’s a great buy.
I can’t help thinking that this bottle was somehow mistreated in shipping. It’s been hot in FedEx land. Your initial experience doesn’t match what I’m looking at.
I see this vintage as much like the 2019 - showing more fruit, though the 2019 is a somewhat bigger wine. This vintage is, if anything, more forward and certainly not in need of breathing.
WineSmith Cellars Tannat
2022 WineSmith Cellars Tannat, Heringer Vineyards, Yolo County
Specs
Fermentation techniques
Elevage details
What’s Included
4-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$307.20/Case of 12x - 2022 WineSmith Cellars Tannat, Heringer Vineyards, Yolo County at WineSmith Cellars
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Jul 20 - Tuesday, Jul 21
2022 WineSmith Cellars Tannat
4 bottles for $89.99 $22.50/bottle + $2/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $199.99 $16.67/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
Apologies for the delay. I re-directed the lab rat bottle and wasn’t able to get to the UPS store before it closed on Saturday. I will be back tomorrow with my/our notes. Hopefully there is an additional rat who is a little more timely than this one!
Greetings, folks. It’s just great to be back among my casemates homies. This group understands more than any other just what WineSmith is all about.
For those of you new to these boards, WineSmith is a Eurocentric experimental project, by which I mean that I often deal with varieties outside the mainstream, but always in a balanced, moderate, age-worthy style that showcases regional character with graceful understatement. My wines are never oaky or high in alcohol. I do like what happens in a neutral barrel, though, but I avoid extractives.
This Tannat is certainly a prime example. Strangely, it is not the tannic bruiser one normally sees from this variety. For some reason, the Heringer vineyard gives us a richly fruity wine supported by silky, feminine tannins. It’s quite yummy right now and should probably be drunk up in the next 3 to 5 years.
I am eager to hear what the ratage may have to say.
@winesmith Hey Clark - what’s the VA on this in the labs? We had a rat bottle (more to come below) and the consensus was there was a whole lot of acetone for the first couple hours it was open.
@klezman The VA is 0.76 gm/L, a normal level for a well-structured wine. I think what you’re seeing is just explosive fruit. This happens commonly in Zinfandel. This might be exacerbated by temperature. What was the service temp?
Explosive fruit…
@winesmith It was in perfectly standard room temp. Our house fluctuates from 17-22 degrees, and it was served probably in the 21-22 degree range.
Youtube video
Can somebody please remind me how to post a YouTube video here?
@winesmith
Hi Clark, happy to see you back on Casemates! We are down to our last 2 bottles of the 2019, which was delish. In for a case, at the same price as 5 years ago, thanks!
Hi everybody! Got the email last week, just in time for a gathering at my place to start bidding farewell to SoCal. Instead of doing the traditional evening or two with the bottle, we decided it was right and proper to open this at last night’s gathering so all could sample and opine.
As things went, I only got to taste this at the start of the evening and the bottle and then again at the very end of the night.
When I first saw this was the wine I recalled having a bottle of the 2019 (iirc) Tannat from the same vineyard and being blown away by the aromatics and easy drinking nature of the bottle, given the variety. I was figuring it would be more of the same, but this bottle came out of the gate a bit more harsh on the nose and much more muted in the kinds of aromas of flowers and blue fruit I remember from the earlier vintage. Others (who may weigh in themselves) noted aromas of acetone, although I didn’t pick up on it until somebody mentioned it. (Maybe it’s the lingering semi-stuffed nose.) Even without that, though, this first glass wasn’t particularly enjoyable and rather unlike the 2019. Muted fruit, no flowers, and a bit of a rough edge to it.
Fast forward about 3 or 4 hours, and everything had changed. The harshness had evaporated, along with the VA. Those who were debating earlier whether it was acetone or some other related acetic compounds were now enjoying it, as was I. The fruit had come out and it had rounded out nicely. It never got to the aromatic heights of that bottle of 2019, but it was very enjoyable and not the sort of wine that required food although it would certainly play well with some.
Hard to know what to think of this bottle - could have been a bit flawed or maybe this vintage is simply less aromatic than the 2019. But if the bottles are like how this one was at the end of the evening then it’s a great buy.
AuoBuy - in for a case: as always thanks for all the years you have given us truly Great wines!!(Say hi to Ruthy)
I can’t help thinking that this bottle was somehow mistreated in shipping. It’s been hot in FedEx land. Your initial experience doesn’t match what I’m looking at.
I see this vintage as much like the 2019 - showing more fruit, though the 2019 is a somewhat bigger wine. This vintage is, if anything, more forward and certainly not in need of breathing.
Let’s see how chipgreen experiences it.